County farmers urged to 'take action' on agriculture plan
IFA president Tom Parlon (above) noted that there is a weakness in the whole support structure for farming, with massive pressure from the Celtic Tiger, from developers, and from Dublin encroaching on all sides in the counties around the capital. He said Kildare farmers should use all their political influence to the full in working to implement the recommendations of the report. Rural women are also addressed in the study with the report noting that the significant role of farm women in Irish farming has not been sufficiently recognised. It states women and families are 'key pillars in rural and farming society'.
|
![]()
|
![]() Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com |
|
First Drive |
KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOPOpen 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. |
|
|
|
Athy UDC celebrates centenaryATHY, 7 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Athy UDC celebrated its 100th Birthday on Saturday April 2 with a special meeting in the council chamber at midday, with minister for the environment & local government Noel Dempsey as special guest. The present nine councillors and ex-members, together with spouses of deceased members were each presented with a pewter dish to mark the occasion. A plaque showing the names of chairpersons who served on Athy UDC since 1900 was also unveiled. |
|
Travellers urged to 'log' refusals of service
The seminar brought together the travellers of the county along with their representative groups, local authority and public representatives, service providers and those with a role to play in traveller inclusion. The programme included oral contributions and workshops on issues such as health, education, accommodation and discrimination with a follow-up report and recommendations to the relevant bodies. Other speakers included women of the Pavee Point Health Project; Gearoid O'Riain of Pavee Point spoke on education issues, while Fintan Farrell of the Irish Traveller Movement talked about accommodation.
|
![]()
|
![]() Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com |
|
First Drive |
KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOPOpen 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. |
Presented with mementoes
Among the former councilllors who received the coins were Paddy Behan, Teresa Scanlon, Mary French Coghlan, Andy Shirran, Mick Mulvey, Tony McCormack, Tom Connolly, Brinsley Sheridan and Michael Lawlor.
|
|
|
Toll roads 'could swamp Maynooth, Naas'NAAS, 6 April 2000: by Brian Byrne. A proposal by the minister for the environment that national primary roads would be tolled could have 'thousands' of cars, trucks and buses pouring back through Naas and Maynooth, according to the AA. This scenario was suggested by the organisation's public affairs manager Conor Faughnan, in a comment on the proposals made by Noel Dempsey TD, whose idea is that new national roads, such as the motorway systems proposed in the National Development Plan, would be paid for by the use of tolls on individual motorists. |
|
|
Wyeth project loss a 'bad day' for Newbridge
The AHP campus will be a new Wyeth Medica complex, complete with a development installation, incubation blocks and final product facility. The aim is to take products from the research idea straight through the development pipeline to commercial manufacturing
|
![]()
|
![]() Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com |
|
First Drive |
Travellers inclusion seminar todayNAAS, 5 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Naas Equality for Travellers (members pictured above at a recent press briefing) is today hosting a one-day seminar on traveller inclusion in Tougher's, Newhall, Naas. The seminar aims to create an awareness and understanding of traveller issues and explore ways as to how they can be tackled. It will be formally opened at 10.30am by Philip Watt, director of National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. This is the first seminar of its kind to be held in Kildare, bringing together the travellers of the county along with their representative groups, local authority and public representatives, service providers and those with a role to play in traveller inclusion. The programme will have oral contributions and workshops on issues such as health, education, accommodation and discrimination with a follow-up report and recommendations to the relevant bodies. Speakers include Women of the Pavee Point Health Project; Gearoid O'Riain of Pavee Point will speak on education issues, while Fintan Farrell of the Irish Traveller Movement will speak on accommodation. A major discussion and workshops on all aspects of discrimination as it affects travellers in their day to day life is scheduled for the afternoon. Ann Scully of the Mercy Justice Office in Limerick and Thomas McCann of the Irish Traveller Movement will speak on discrimination. The seminar is supported by The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism and Kildare VEC. |
|
KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOPOpen 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. |
Traffic calming measures funded
|
|
|
|
UDC celebrates its centenary
Minister Dempsey (audio here) expressed his appreciation for being present on a 'very special day'. "Many of the tasks that faced the councillors of 100 years ago are still the tasks that face public representatives today," he said, adding that in the various centenary celebrations he has attended during the last year, it has always been a great pleasure to meet former members of local authorities on such occasions. "I have used the opportunity to thank them for their service over the years, and I've always held the view that in the past we have tended to accept the commitment, and devotion in many cases, of public representatives and officials of local authorities, and we've never really publicly acknowledged it." Pictured above are Kildare TDs Bernard Durkan and Sean Power, with Tony Osborne of Brown & McCann, Jimmy Cox of Bank of Ireland, and county manager Niall Bradley. Concluding by leading his fellow councillors in their own thoughts on the day, cathaoirleach Seamie Moore said it was important that they 'not take their eye off the ball' and 'hold focus on the work that has to be done', to ensure that in the many opportunities for progression, particularly in the economic sense, they measure everything by the quality of life which evolves from economic progress. He said the town 'needs help' for infrastructural development, and to provide affordable housing for the town's young people, many of whom now have to travel south in the county to buy homes they can afford.
|
![]()
|
![]() Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com |
|
First Drive |
Maynooth racer seeks track stardom
|
![]() |
KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOPOpen 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. |
Council seeks to regulate takeaway outletsCOUNTY HALL, 4 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Under current legislation, local authorities in County Kildare are prohibited from introducing new bye laws to regulate the opening hours of fast food outlets in the county. Officials of Kildare County Council have written to the Department of the Environment and Local Government asking them to come up with a means of remedying the situation. |
![]() |
|
|
Residents up in arms over trees vandalism
This follows the mindless destruction of over 100 trees recently planted in the Monread area, some of which had been specially selected to form an avenue of trees in the new parkland. Other trees on green space at the junction of Dun na Ríogh Avenue and Monread Road, had also been vandalised. Locals want to stamp out this kind of behaviour and to get the park back into shape by keeping an eye out for such vandalism, UDC chairman Seamie Moore said while inspecting the damage (above). He had received numerous calls from irate residents of the area voicing their utter disgust over what had happened. "Many residents would have been familiar with similar parks in Dublin and had asked the Council to complete this park to the same high standards. The Council had got the best designer group in Ireland, the South Dublin County Council Parks Section, to lay out the area," he told KNN. He was disappointed for the residents over what had happened. "Each tree cost at least £60 to buy, plant and secure, and a beautiful avenue of trees is now ruined." The trees will now have to be replaced, at considerable cost to the Council.
|
![]()
|
|
First Drive |
|
Electoral Area | Councillors | Electorate | Outdoor Staff |
Athy | 3 | 12,461 | 22 |
Clane | 4 | 16,438 | 26 |
Kildare | 6 | 25,040 | 23 |
Naas | 5 | 22,432 | 27 |
Leixlip | 4 | 16,315 | 20 (Share with Celbridge) |
Celbridge | 3 | 11,182 | 20 (Share with Leixlip) |
Cllr Murphy made complaints about this situation at a recent meeting of Kildare County Council, which was allocating road funding. She pointed out that the funding for Councils now comes from Road Tax and there is a complete absence of equity in the handling of both staffing and funding. She also noted that the number of councillors relates proportionately to the population and both staffing and funding should broadly do the same.
Cllr Murphy has tabled a motion for the Leixlip Area Committee seeking a date for the installation of a new Engineering Area together with staffing levels which would be on a par with other parts of the county.
KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOPOpen 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. |
'Community suffers' from absentee landlords
|
![]() |
![]() Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com |
New contract signed for Rathcoffey houses
|
|
|
UDC details letting prioritiesNAAS, 3 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Naas UDC's scheme of letting priorities 2000 will be more transparent than the previous scheme and each applicant will be able to see how many points they have and where they come on the housing list. This was the view of UDC officials when the scheme was discussed at a recent meeting of the council. There are currently some 300 people waiting to be housed by the Council. To be eligible for consideration, an applicant must be in need of such accommodation, in the opinion of the Council, and anyone who refuses two reasonable offers within a two-year period by the UDC will not be considered for another house for two years after their refusal. Officials said the first priority will be to separate the 'urgent and priority cases' before proceeding to the other categories using a points system. Urgent and priority cases include those displaced by fire, flood, dangerous buildings; people who are homeless; those living in overcrowded conditions; people sharing accommodation with others and who have a reasonable requirement for separate accommodation; young people leaving institutional care or without family accommodation; those in need of accommodation for medical or compassionate reasons; the elderly, disabled or handicapped; those who are or have pursued a nomadic way of life and those who are not reasonably able to pay their rent or get suitable alternative accommodation. Officials said the points system is used by six other local authorities, but the difference is that local residents, if they qualify, will be awarded a point for each year they have lived in the area in the last five years. While councillors felt this figure was too low, town manager Terry O Niadh said it was as high as they could go 'within the law'. Cllr Timmy Conway stressed that priority should be to house Naas people before others and Cllr Willie Callaghan formally proposed the 5 points refer to applicants within the urban boundary. There will also be points awarded for the length of time applicants are on the list. The scheme will be considered further at the Council's April meeting. |
|
the weekly roundup of Irish views and stories presented by Brian Byrne and Trish Whelan and broadcast from Vancouver on the Celtic Voices programme carried by Canada's largest independent radio network. You can stream it at 56k, or download to listen to later. Changed every Sunday. |
KNN-KildareNet News is produced by
PO BOX 106, NAAS, CO KILDARE, IRELAND.
All material on these pages © Telling Tales Ltd. Links must be notified to tellingtales@yahoo.com