County farmers urged to 'take action' on agriculture planPUNCHESTOWN, 7 April 2000: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. A report that gathers dust on a shelf is one that might as well not have been done at all, Dr Jim Phelan (left) of UCDs Faculty of Agriculture told Kildare farmers and agri-business representatives at the launch last night of a report on the future of agriculture in the county. Dr Phelan had led a research team from the universitys Department of Agribusiness, Extension and Rural Development in the production of Kildare Farming 2000 - Change, Challenge and Opportunity. He urged those who had commissioned the report to make sure action was taken as a result of it. 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'.
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New development board inauguratedNAAS & KILDARE GENERAL, 7 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. The chairman of the new Kildare County Development Board, Cllr Timmy Conway, says it is the most exciting job Ive ever got and is a blueprint for the future development of the county. The Board, which held its inaugural meeting on March 28, was the first County Development Board to be established in the Mid East Region. It is part of a Government programme to mainstream local development initiatives and the Board will be responsible for the design and implementation of a long-term county strategy for economic, social & cultural development. The 27-member Kildare Board is drawn from four sectors: local government, local development, state agencies and social partners. Cllr Conway is chairperson of Kildare County Councils Economic Development & Planning Strategic Policy Committee and is a former chairperson of Kildare County Council. He said: There is a genuine commitment to this new process which over the next five years should be most beneficial to the development of this county and its people. The job of the new Board will be to map out the way ahead using the expertise of all the sectors on the Board. The outcome will be an integrated Shared Vision for the economic, social and cultural development of the county. Clane man Willie Carroll, the director of Community and Enterprise in Kildare County Council, is director of the new Board. Also representing local government on the Board are Cllrs PJ Sheridan, Catherine Murphy, Sean O Fearghail, Senan Griffin and county manager Niall Bradley. Cllr Mary Glennon (Naas UDC) has been selected to represent the countys four urban authorities on the new Board - Naas, Athy, Newbridge and Leixlip. She says she will be looking for guidance as to their respective needs. Other members include Donal Dalton and Paddy Brennan of the Kildare County Enterprise Board Ltd; Justin Larkin and Ciaran Duggan of Leader 2 Company Ltd; Karl Duffy of Action South Kildare Ltd; and Sheila OMeara of OAK Partnership in Edenderry. Statutory Bodies are represented by: Eddie Prendergast of FAS; Colm OCeannabhain, VEC: Kevin McCarthy, IDA Ireland Ltd; Vincent Colman, Enterprise Ireland; Harry Lynch, MERTO; Con Feighery, Teagasc, Kevin Ward, South Western Area Health Board; Maureen Waldron, Dept of Social, Community & Family Affairs; Chief Supt Sean Feely, Naas. Social Partners are represented by Michael Mullally of Bandenberry Ltd, with trade unions represented by John Delmer of the County Kildare Centre for the Unemployed in Newbridge; Agriculture/Farming representative is Ger Smith from Lewistown in Newbridgbe. Community/Voluntary organisations representatives are Gail Maher fromTimahoe West, Coill-Dubh and Aidan Keane, from Ballycahan, Kilcock. The Kildare Development Board will be formally launched by finance minister Charlie McCreevy on 14 April. |
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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. |
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Travellers urged to 'log' refusals of serviceNEWBRIDGE, 6 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Members of the travelling community in County Kildare have been urged to keep a record of businesses in the area who refuse them entry or service, with a view to taking legal action against the businesses at a later date. The move was suggested by a featured speaker at the first ever seminar on travellers in the county, organised by Naas Equality for Travellers. It was held at Tougher's yesterday. 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.
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Presented with mementoesNAAS, 6 April 2000: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Councillors and officials were presented with commemorative coins marking the Centenary of Naas UDC at the council's celebrations in the Town Hall on Monday last. The presentations were made by the minister for the Environment & Local Government, Noel Dempsey TD, pictured on left giving the first coin to UDC chairman Seamie Moore. 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.
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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. |
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Wyeth project loss a 'bad day' for NewbridgeNEWBRIDGE, 5 April 2000: by Brian Byrne. The loss of a 1,300-job biotechnology operation which had been targeted by Newbridge has been described as a bad day for the town, which possibly could have serious repercussions for industrial development in Newbridge in the future. 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
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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. |
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Traffic calming measures fundedKILDARE GENERAL, 5 April 2000: by Bill Trapman. £200,000 has been allocated for Traffic Calming Projects in Kildare, with £100,000 targeted at Urban North Kildare. |
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UDC celebrates its centenaryNAAS, 4 April 2000: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Almost to the hour, Naas Urban District Council celebrated the 100th anniversary of its foundation with a special meeting yesterday that included a review of the key parts of its history; a congratulations from special guest Noel Dempsey TD, minister for the environment and local government; and the unveiling of a list of the names of all the chairpersons of the council to date. 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.
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Maynooth racer seeks track stardomMAYNOOTH, 4 April 2000: by Fergus Brennan. Eighteen-year-old Ian Barrett from Maynooth takes his first steps on the road to International Motor Racing stardom this year when he competes in the highly competitive British Formula Vee Championship. Barrett will drive a Kildare-built Leastone chassis with backing from TRITON Showers and Barretts of Maynooth. |
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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. |
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Residents up in arms over trees vandalismNAAS, 3 April 2000: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Irate residents who live close to the Monread District Park are considering setting up a Community Watch Group to try and stamp out vandalism in the area. 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.
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Seeks new Engineering Area in countyLEIXLIP, 3 April 2000: by Bill Trapman. Cllr Catherine Murphy is seeking the immediate creation of a new Engineering Area in North Kildare. This follows complaints by her about the low level of staffing and unequal road funding the North of the county receives. 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. |
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'Community suffers' from absentee landlordsMAYNOOTH & COUNTY HALL, 3 April 2000: by Trish Whelan. Up to 50% of houses in one new estate in Maynooth are owned by absentee landlords with many of the houses, and their frontages, not maintained to a proper standard, according to Celbridge Area Cllr John McGinley. He believes the whole community suffers in this situation. |
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New contract signed for Rathcoffey housesRATHCOFFEY, 3 April 2000: by Brian Byrne. A contract for 14 new family homes in Rathcoffey has been signed by Kildare County Council and work is expected to begin on the project in a few weeks. It is the second phase of a 34-house project, and is part of a £50 million programme for local authority housing in Kildare over the next four years. |
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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. |
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