KildareNet News is the INDEPENDENT internet news service for and about Kildare, located on the County Kildare Community Network. Site best viewed with NETSCAPE browser and with the VERDANA font. All content © Telling Tales Ltd. Phone 045 481090 or 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com SCROLL for CURRENT stories. EARLIER stories and ARCHIVES KNN Special FEATURES Visit our flagship sponsor For audios get free REALPLAYER KNN-KildareNet News was awarded three shamrocks by Doras THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

Council to check lake development amid fears for Naas Harbour levels NAAS, 27 August 1999: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. Kildare County Council is to investigate recent work at a private 10-acre lake at Jigginstown (above) which is used for water sports purposes. Earth mounds around the 10-acre lake require planning permission from the local authority and owner Robin Skelton, a prominent Naas businessman who is very involved with competitive waterski jumping, was to have informed Kildare County Council as to how he was going to deal with this ‘spoil’. That was two years ago and the matter had not been followed through by the authority until now. Evidence of apparently fresh work was recently noted at the site, which borders the Naas to Corbally stretch of the Naas branch of the Grand Canal. A number of years ago, permission to retain a lake development at the site was turned down by Kildare County Council and the landowner then appealed to An Bord Plenala for a decision as to whether permission was required. The Bord decided that the lake was exempt from planning permission (the applicant had suggested that it was the same as a ‘pond’ on privately-owned land) but ruled that the spoil of earth mounds around the lake did require planning permission. The matter came to light recently when the issue of low water levels in Naas Harbour was raised at a meeting of Naas UDC. Fears were expressed by some councillors that the lake could be the cause of the problem. Naas UDC chairman Cllr Seamie Moore (right) recently visited the site which he said is now amenity land. “That’s a change of zoning which I didn’t see in the planning file,” he said. He also expressed concern that the lake is taking water which would eventually have found its way into the sourcewaters. He suggests that An Bord Pleanala may have believed the lake to have been ‘a pond’ as stated in the brief original application and had not taken account of the actual water tables in the area as well as ‘ignoring objections lodged by some neighbouring farmers’. Councillor Moore also felt the development had gone way over the size of that proposed in any one of the stages of applications. “When I was out here originally there was a heavy machine and a truck working around the lake.” He added that a pump, which he had seen pumping water from the diverted stream into the lake a day earlier, had since been taken away. CHAPMANS OF KILDARE Main Rover, Land Rover and Volvo dealers, Kildare town. Phone 045 521203; Fax 045 521785. See our selection here. And read Brian Byrne's review of the new Rover 75. CURRENT DAILY NEWS STORIES ARE HERE and access to weekly ARCHIVES Check out the weather here

DUCHAS CILL DARA 99 Kildare International Folk Arts Festival "Celebrating 15 Years Of Cultural Exchange" Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 August 1999

Naas woman offers course for people who love textiles NAAS, 26 August 1999: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Dressmaking is, well, dressmaking ... but ‘Creative Textiles’ is dressmaking with attitude, and a unique course is available in Naas from the first week in September that could set some young people soaring up a rainbow of a colourful career future. “Or somebody working in the home who might like to brighten up part of their life could equally benefit from it,” says Claire Osborne-Murphy, who is organising an initial 9-week course in dressmaking from which she hopes to pass on what she has learned herself about needlework from as far away as Hawaii and Tibet, and at the same time provide the basic skills necessary for the individual requirements of the students. It is, in fact, the start module for a full two-year course that will bring those taking part all the way into a kaleidoscope of style and colour. Imagination is the key. “And people must have a love of fabric,” Claire adds. “The course will teach them how to select colours that suit them, and what kind of clothes to make and wear that best suit their figures.” As well as learning to make their clothes, they are shown how to dye fabrics, and to make their own designs based on what they see in nature about around them. Students can go on to learn batik, embroidery, and the inclusion of art in dressmaking. It is suitable for people who would like to go on later to such places as the Grafton Academy and delve further into the world of fashion and fabrics. “There’s a real gap in Kildare for this type of course. And the beauty about it is that once somebody has done it, their portfolio can bring them anywhere ... indeed, in many cases, they could WEAR their portfolio to the interview.” Claire recalls some of her earlier sources of inspiration, one of which included crumpling a clean piece of scrap paper, and from resultant creases she developed a design that ended up on a complete collection of articles. “You can get designs from just about anywhere ... one, in fact, was from a detail in the stone wall of my mother’s house in Ballyknocken, the village where I was reared in the most beautiful of Wicklow’s natural surroundings. Another piece of embroidery was based on a scene from the Kings River in Co Wicklow where we used to go as children to swim, and I even have a design based on the pattern made by raindrops flowing down my car windscreen.” Claire’s artistic development began when she was very young, as her mother was an artist and used to bring her children on sketching trips. “I used to wonder why she was sketching unusual things like ruined pillars, or even fallen fences ... but I learned from that that there is indeed design in everything.” In recent years she studied art for an NCVA certificate in St Conleth’s VEC College, Newbridge, worked to earn a diploma in embroidery from the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, and she has numerous qualifications in related areas such as flower-arranging and dressmaking. Her work has been snapped up by discerning buyers in the Tuckmill Gallery in Naas, and her output includes quilts, cushions, tablecloths, special hand-embroidered towels. The ‘Creative Textiles’ classes will be held in the Old Parish Centre in Naas, and the first module costs just £50. A course which Claire ran last year with Co Kildare VEC proved very successful.

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more.  THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114

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Catering course will help county's unemployed and hotel industry KILDARE GENERAL, 26 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. An eight-week training course in banqueting, food service, bar operation and lifeskills to begin on 13 September is aimed specifically at providing unemployed people in County Kildare with the skills to allow them work in the catering and tourism industry. The course will be run by CERT and has been collaboratively organised by local development agencies OAK Partnership, Action South Kildare, KELT, the Kildare County Enterprise Board, Kildare County Council, the Kildare Local Employment Service (LESN) and the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs. The course will accommodate 60 people, and interest shown already indicates that it will be oversubscribed. However, further courses will be made available if there are a sufficient number of people left outside the first course. CERT’s head of training operations Tony Lenehan said the course is also a great opportunity for the local hotel and catering industry to avail of a pool of trained people who are interested in working in the industry. “It will also give participants an opportunity to train towards National Certification if they so wish.” The initiative was welcomed by the chairman of Kildare County Council, P J Sheridan, who said that as a member of the board of CERT he was aware of the difficulties that the hotel industry have been encountering in recruiting staff. Pat Leogue of the OAK Partnership said that this was a further development of the Training-Employment Links Project which, with the commitment of of local employers can assist in upskilling local unemployed people to take up jobs which in the long run will be ‘of immense benefit’ to the local economy. Further information on the course is available from 0405 32688.

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin

KNN is a completely INDEPENDENT professional news service for County Kildare, with no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. The service is operated by Telling Tales Ltd, Naas, Co Kildare, under the editorial direction of Brian Byrne and Trish Whelan. It is our policy to report accurately and fairly on any subject, and we offer right of reply to anyone who has differing opinions to those expressed in any story. Any such opinions published on KNN are not necessarily the views of KNN's proprietors or any network on which we are hosted or to which we may be linked. Email us, or phone 045 481090; fax 481091.

Remembers Naas CBS 26 August 1999: Dear Editor, I read today about the Leaving Certificate results for Naas CBS and secondary educational institutes across Kildare. This occasion brings back many memories of both anxiety and then relief, as you learn that you have been successful in achieving this level of education. Although the importance of this level of education has lost some of its meaning over the years as more and more emphasis is placed upon third level and post graduate education, it remains a time of celebration, in that this is a significant achievement and should be celebrated. As a past pupil at Naas CBS I am very proud of this institution, and would welcome the opportunity as a past pupil to respond to Mr Merrick's solicitation of feedback from past pupils. However, I have searched the "WOO WOO WOO" only to find that Naas CBS has no e-mail address, or least one that I could find using web search engine's. So if you have the Naas CBS e-mail address I would appreciate it and welcome the opportunity to communicate with the current teaching and student population. Thanks Niall P Bracken

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie

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Celbridge confrontation on lights averted by KCC backoff CELBRIDGE, 25 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. A confrontation between Celbridge businesspeople and Kildare County Council has been averted by the postponement of the provision of two new sets of traffic lights at the bridge in Celbridge, following local objections. The lights were recommended as part of a package of measures to deal with traffic congestion at the bridge at peak commuting times. Delays of up to 15 minutes can be experienced at the bridge. But local people had objected strenuously to the provision of the traffic lights without adding the other elements of the independent report, which included the provision of car parking and the completion of a ring road around the town with direct connection to the motorway between Leixlip and Kilcock. So high was the feeling that a protest had been planned for today at County Hall, with Celbridge businesspeople bussing objectors to the county town. “We called off the protest because of the council’s postponement and a request from our new local independent councillor Catherine Walsh,” says Londis supermarket proprietor Damian Donegan (pictured above with Cllr Walsh). “What Catherine says goes a long way in Celbridge - she commands respect here. The basic situation is that commuting traffic wants access away from the town - they’re disrupting traffic in the village and they’re in a hurry into work, so they don’t want to come into the village. So the first priority is the finishing of the ring road.” Making it clear that he’s not getting personal about people in Kildare County Council, Damian feels the village has ‘been neglected’ by the council over recent years, and is strongly of the opinion that local businesspeople ‘should not suffer’ because of this ‘neglect’. He now believes that with Celbridge having its own representation of three councillors, things will improve. “I’ve been walking up and down the street all morning and the reaction from local people to the council’s decision has been total delight,” says Catherine Walsh. “We need traffic flow here - we’ve enough traffic congestion. Our objections to the traffic lights have been very well received by the officials of the council and their first priority now is going to be the completion of the ring road and the provision of car parking. At the very least, things will be done in tandem, and not one at a time.” An area at the back of the premises on the main street was identified 12 years ago as suitable for a car park for the town. Local people now hope that the council will go ahead with acquiring that. In the meantime, if the link to the motorway went ahead - the latest time frame is two years - the bit of ring road (below) could be completed in as little as two weeks, according to local belief. “We have had discussions with the objectors,” a council spokesman said in a statement on Monday. “We have decided to postpone the completion of the traffic lights for the present, in order to allow time for the objectors to state their case and to explore the possibility of a solution which will be satisfactory to all concerned.” He added that the existing situation is ‘unsatisfactory and unsafe’ for road users generally and for local people in particular, and the problem needs ‘urgent resolution’.

KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

Corporate Magazine Production & Publishing - Business Writing - Journalism & Broadcasting Training - Internet Marketing Consultants - Web Site Design - Book Writing Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com

Kildare businesswomen headed for the bluegrass country KILDARE GENERAL, 25 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. Fourteen businesswomen from County Kildare are travelling to Kentucky on 28 August to take part in a business exchange programme organised by the Kildare County Enterprise Board. Part of their programme will be to attend the 7th Annual Conference on ‘Women Mean Business’ being held in Lexington. Among the topics covered will be ‘Using Research to Grow your own Business’, Presentation Skills’, ‘Retail Merchandising’, ‘Internet and E-Commerce’’ and ‘Developing a Strategy and Marketing Advantage for your Business’. A keynote speaker at the conference, which concludes on 3 September, will be the Tanaiste, Mary Harney TD. During their trip, the Kildare entrepreneurs will be paired with operators of similar businesses in the region, so they can mutually benefit from experiences and expertise. Those travelling are Ger Dunne from Kildare Town; Rosemary Burns from Newbridge (pictured top preparing some of her products for the trip); Collette Healy from Clane; Mary Murphy, Linda Dempsey and Judith Owens from Rathangan; Lorna Watkins from Straffan; Caroline O’Farrell, Cal Doyle and Mary O’Brien (right with one of her bridal dress creations) from Naas; Marion Willis from Ballitore; Orla Cahill from Maynooth; Margaret McEvoy from Prosperous; and Dolores McCarthy, Women’s Enterprise Project Manager, Kildare County Enterprise Board. “It’s an opportunity to market my cards especially,” says Rosemary Burns (arcdesign@tinet.ie), who has sets of special cards for Christmas and most recently of scenes inspired by the flora and landscapes of the Bog of Allen. “I’m also marketing my original watercolour paintings to galleries over there. I realise that I have to export ... I have a meeting set up with distributors over there.” Rosemary is very complimentary of the Women in Business course which she did with many of her trip colleagues last year, organised by the County Enterprise Board. “It was terrific ... there was quite a bit of study involved, which I could have done without, but the actual networking of the group of women worked very well.” Kildare Town potter Ger Dunne (gerdunne.pottery@indigo.ie) is also looking forward to the trip which she says is a chance to extend her business to the US. She produces several lines in tableware and giftware. “There’s a real opportunity because of the twinning of Kildare and Kentucky. And if something comes out of this trip, expansion is a possibility.” Orla Cahill from Maynooth (orla.cahill@indigo.ie) is also looking to the possibility of expanding her business to the US, though she’s very clear in her mind that nothing like this ‘happens overnight’. She specialises in making fashion hats for women, and hopes to introduce her products to some stores in Kentucky. “Where you have racehorses you have women wearing hats, and there’s always the possibility that I could persuade one place to buy from me instead of exclusively from London.” Meanwhile, Marion Willis from Ballitore has no particular expectations from the trip beyond what insights she gets from interaction with Kentucky women who are in business just like she is with her hackney operation. For her, though, the Women in Business course was really good. “Though we really didn’t realise what we were getting into when we began it,” she laughs. The trip to Kentucky is being financially supported by the Kildare County Enterprise Board and the Department of Enterprise and Employment.

A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

Corporate Magazine Production & Publishing - Business Writing - Journalism & Broadcasting Training - Internet Marketing Consultants - Web Site Design - Book Writing Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com

Kildare County Council wages war on litter COUNTY HALL, 25 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. Kildare County Council has been awarded the highest grant for any county in Ireland for a litter awareness campaign by the Department of the Environment & Local Government. The recently-announced £23,000 grant was also more than twice the national average of such grants awarded to Irish local authorities under the scheme. Meanwhile, the council is spending £358,000 on street sweeping in the county this year, some 79% more than was spent two years ago. A second litter warden has also recently been appointed to extend the campaign against littering - some 500 prosecutions have already been imposed by the council for litter offences. Following the success of a trial programme in Newbridge (above), the use of new street and footpath sweeping machinery will now be extended to other urban locations in the county, starting with Leixlip. As part of its work with community groups to further eliminate litter, Kildare County Council makes available wheeled bins for such groups conducting tidy-up operations. Grants are also available to residents associations and other groups to assist them in improving their areas - further information from 045 873838.

THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114

Have you checked in to our KNN Special Features pages? Visit regularly to read more about the people and places of County Kildare. If you have an idea for a feature, email us.

Money raised for grave memorial to Mickey Gordon KILCULLEN, 24 August 1999: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. An estimated £1,200 was raised at the weekend in Kilcullen in a Memorial Weekend to get funds for a memorial Celtic Cross on the grave of the late Mickey Gordon (left), a well-known local character. He was buried recently in St Corban’s Cemetary, Naas, following his death in Peamount Hospital, aged 62. He was predeceased by his brother, ‘Butsy’. A number of fundraising ‘musical tributes’ were held over the past weekend in pubs throughout the county which Mickey had frequented. They included establishments in Kilcullen, Naas, Ballymore Eustace, Rathangan and in Sallins. A keen traveller, Mickey could be found as far off as Cork and Tralee and was seen at the arrival of The Tall Ships in Cobh. He was also a regular traveller with the Kilcullen pilgrimage to Knock shrine. “He was a ‘knight of the roads’ who travelled north, south, east and west,” John Brady, Brannockstown (right), recalled. John is the prime organiser of the campaign to raise funds for the grave memorial, and has been stopped many times recently on the street by people wishing to make a donation to the memorial fund. Anyone wishing to contribute can do so at participating pubs. A film buff, Mickey Gordon’s knowledge of actors and films was nurtured in the 60s and early 70s when he was the cleaner in Kilcullen’s Town Hall cinema and he would often be found singing tunes from film hits. He even had his own collection of films at home which he used to show on an old Bell & Howell projector until it finally broke down. Any funds remaining after the cross is purchased will go to Meals on Wheels in Naas.

A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more.

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Councillor unhappy with 'community benefit' stipulation NAAS, 23 August 1999: by Trish Whelan. A motion that ‘all material variations placed before Naas UDC in the future should contain a clear community benefit’ recently resulted in one councillor being of the view that ‘the implication is it would be perceived to be a condition laid down’. FG Councillor Pat O’Reilly said: “I don’t think we should be laying down conditions like this.” Explaining his motion councillor Timmy Conway told the meeting: “If this is passed, I’m saying that the county manager would bear this in mind when he is presenting us with a material contravention in future. I would suggest to him that he can take it or leave it, but if he wants a material contravention passed he should take it. We established in the development plan a major benefit to the town and community.” Town manager Terry O Niadh said he had no difficulty with the notice of motion. “I would not bring a material contravention before you unless there is some serious gain to the community.” He said examples could include a roadway within the plan. But he warned: “At the end of the day it’s you the members who would approve it. It would have to be a gain over and above the norm.” The motion was passed with councillor O’Reilly abstaining and asking that this be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

CHAPMANS OF KILDARE Main Rover, Land Rover and Volvo dealers, Kildare town. Phone 045 521203; Fax 045 521785. See our selection here.

KNN is a completely INDEPENDENT professional news service for County Kildare, with no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. The service is operated by Telling Tales Ltd, Naas, Co Kildare, under the editorial direction of Brian Byrne and Trish Whelan. It is our policy to report accurately and fairly on any subject, and we offer right of reply to anyone who has differing opinions to those expressed in any story. Any such opinions published on KNN are not necessarily the views of KNN's proprietors or any network on which we are hosted or to which we may be linked. Email us, or phone 045 481090; fax 481091.

Repeated call for car park at major tourist attraction MOONE, 23 August 1999: by Trish Whelan. The lack of facilities for tourists visiting the famous 6th century Celtic High Cross at Moone, one of the country’s finest Celtic crosses, has been highlighted by FG councillor Rainsford Hendy who called the present situation at the site ‘a disgrace’. Raising the issue at a recent meeting of Kildare County Council, he called for funding to be made available in this year’s book of estimates to provide for much needed bus and car parking facilities, in cooperation with the Office of Public Works which has responsibility for the High Cross. Councillor Hendy said talk of providing a car park at the site has been going on for at least ten years ‘with every excuse in the book that there should not be a car park there.’ He said it would require a ‘relatively small amount of money’ to provide proper facilities at the popular tourist spot.

THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114

Have you checked in to our KNN Special Features pages? Visit regularly to read more about the people and places of County Kildare. If you have an idea for a feature, email us.

Greetings from Buenos Aires Dear Editor, I'm originally from Celbridge, my father was a well-known builder (St Conleth's in Newbridge in front of the church on the banks of the Liffey, and the Dominican Church in Athy were his best known jobs in Kildare, if we omit a church in Coill Dubh which in its initial stages was blown down one night during a bad storm and had to be reroofed!) After Daddy the best-known member of our family was Andy Geraghty, who was a trainer on the Curragh, Ballysax. I haven't heard from him for years, so if you know anything about him, where to locate him, I'd appreciate it. As for me, well, I came to Argentina in 1966 with the Divine Word Missionaries and although I went back to Ireland on many occasions I always returned to Buenos Aires and I haven't been back to Ireland since 1982, the year Daddy died. I make a living selling English Language Services to companies and to schools. I sell homestay programs in Ireland & GB. I am also a writer and a freelance journalist and have been published both in English and Spanish. I am the English-language editor of the The Southern Cross, the 123-year-old Irish-Argentine community newspaper. I have a weekly radio program titled Ireland, Land of Legends and Leprecauns. I am the President of the local James Joyce Society and I have been teaching Gaelic (I was at Colaiste Mhuire, Parnell Square) once a week for 20 years. Sin a bhfuil. Keep up the good work. Michael Geraghty  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more.

A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin  THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114

Corporate Magazine Production & Publishing - Business Writing - Journalism & Broadcasting Training - Internet Marketing Consultants - Web Site Design - Book Writing Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com

Naas wants detail of Sallins Road improvement plans NAAS, 20 August 1999: by Trish Whelan. Naas UDC is to seek a report from Kildare County Council on its plans for improvements to the Sallins Road from the traffic lights at North Main Street to the UDC boundary. This follows a motion by councillor Pat McCarthy who said he wanted to know the authority’s plans for traffic calming measures, improvements to footpaths, pedestrian crossings, as well as the banning of heavy goods vehicles and improved safety measures for traffic movement at entrances to housing estates along the route, which because it is a regional road, is the responsibility of Kildare County Council. Councillor Timmy Conway had also sought KCC’s plans for the road and that the plans be costed to include a pedestrian crossing at Hollywood Park with a time table of achievement. This was agreed by Hollywood resident Pat McCarthy who said he had been seeking crossing since coming to live in the estate in 1972 - to no avail - while the population has increased ten-fold. He also called for improvements to allow for improved visability for cars exiting St Joseph’s Road and for improvements to the footpath from Fullam’s to the Main Street. Town manager Terry O Niadh gave a ballpark figure of £2m for the improvements. He said KCC has already committed £80,000 to improve the junction at Hennessy’s Garage and Monread. Pat McCarthy said he could not see why all the traffic from Drogheda to Rosslare has to go down the Sallins Road. He believed many lorries find themselves on the road because of inadequate signage at the Monread Road junction. He felt any widening of the roadway would make it into a speed trap. He also felt more attention should be paid to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists as well as local traffic. Timmy Conway referred to the proposed new road from Millennium Park to the motorway and said a lot of heavy vehicles will be coming off the Sallins Road when this is built. Mr O Niadh agreed the UDC could impose weight limits on heavy vehicles on the Sallins Road. He said the only money the UDC could raise is through levies on developments at Oldtown estate. Chairman councillor Seamie Moore added that the policy is dictated by Kildare County Council while Naas UDC produces the money! It was agreed that EU funding should be sought to pay for the necessary improvements.

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin CHAPMANS OF KILDARE Main Rover, Land Rover and Volvo dealers, Kildare town. Phone 045 521203; Fax 045 521785. See our selection here.

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Greetings to Kilcock from New Hampshire Dear Editor, We lived at Courtown Stud farm in Kilcock, that is the one Brendan O'Mahony owns. Then we moved here 13 years ago. I’m married to an airline pilot and I work in management for a huge corporation - we have two plants in Ireland one in Cork and a company called C-Fab in Tallaght - a computer enclosure and telcom company. I have travelled all over USA but live now about 45 minutes north of Boston in New Hampshire. Very much like home. I have watched that movie ‘Waking Ned Devine’ about 15 times. Just had some people over for a visit and they had not seen it. I get home about once or twice a year - I like it here but you cannot beat Ireland, no matter where in the world you go. The only thing I see now is it is changing, I know for the best, but I hope we never lose what we have and are known for. MBurke@apw-premier.com

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie

PREVIOUS STORIES: Earlier news of the week, and access to weekly archives, are available here

Corporate Magazine Production & Publishing - Business Writing - Journalism & Broadcasting Training - Internet Marketing Consultants - Web Site Design - Book Writing Telling Tales Ltd, PO Box 106, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone 045 481090, 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com

KNN eDigest: We have a regular email newsletter to keep people up to date with main news and features from Kildare. If you would like to be on the mailing list, email us at tellingtales@yahoo.com

	by Liam Cahill The seminal account of the Limerick Soviet Available here
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VIOLET'S FLOWERS Do you need to send flowers home for that special remembrance? Station Road, Kildare - Registered Teleflorist - Phone 045 522210

ONE OF THE KILDARE WILD GEESE? Are you involved with any Irish organisations or groups abroad? Let us know where you are and what you're at by emailing KNN. And find out about your fellow wild geese.

LISTEN TO 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.

PREVIOUS STORIES: Earlier news of the week, and access to weekly archives, are available here

Motoring News	Garda Patrol	Farming Info
Results are here. Coverage is here. Candidates details are here.	Kildare's Wild Geese	Upcoming Service

 

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