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Frustrated Spike takes speed control into his own hands
NEWBRIDGE, 6 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. A former Kildare county councillor has finally given up on promises that the road where he lives will get speed limit repeater signs ... and he’s now - literally - taking the matter into his own hands.
“It looks like I’ll just have to stand here myself and slow the traffic down,” says Michael ‘Spike’ Nolan, who is pictured here ‘recycling’ a ditched repeater sign and reminding drivers that College Park in Newbridge is a 30mph zone. “I suppose since I lost my seat, I have a little more time to do this.”
Spike retained his position as a Newbridge Town Commissioner in the recent local elections and he has been asking for the repeater signs for years, claiming that College Park is a ‘speedway’ for motorists using it as a short-cut to bypass the busy Main Street. “They start here at 6am, racing down the road,” he says. “It’s like the first lap at Mondello Park, as if they’re going all out to get a good position.”
Spike says that neighbours had suggested they all park their cars on the road so that there’s only room for one lane of traffic to move easily, acting as a kind of ‘traffic-calming’ system but that’s not really the kind of solution that should be necessary. “This is a Kildare County Council problem, and surely it’s not going to break their bank to provide us with a few signs,” he says. “Besides, people here bought their cars to do more with them than slow down the traffic.”
While he waits, Spike ponders on the prospect of Kildare County Council coming looking for their battered old sign back. “They can have it, but only in exchange for a full set of repeater signs for the road,” he promises. “In the meantime, I’ll be coming out here myself regularly to do their job for them.”
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CHAPMANS OF KILDARE
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COUNTY HALL, 6 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. Kildare’s senior executive planning officer Philip Jones is packing his plans and pencils today as he ends a 13-year association with Kildare County Council and gets ready to start a new job with An Bord Pleanala on Monday. He becomes a senior planning inspector with the board and will be handling appeals from all over the country ... except Kildare.
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Following an exchange of gifts, the band gave an impromptu concert to the large attendance, which included many UDC councillors and officials. Also present were Rev Michael Wooderson and Keith Armstrong from St David’s Church; Cllr Pat O’Reilly, also representing Naas Twinning Committee; Naas Local History Group PRO Paddy Behan; the President of Naas Chamber of Commerce, Mary Bhogal; and local German teacher Orla O’Connell (pictured here on the right with Gudrun Maehl, who teaches English and PE in a school in Hamburg and who translated for the band).
BALLYMORE, 5 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. Purchasers of homes in the proposed Abbeydrive Developments at Ballymore Eustace will have to take responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the estate, the recent Bord Pleanala hearing on the schemewas told. Temporary chief executive planner Michael Kenny said that the developers intended to provide a management contract for the project, and that it would not be taken in charge by Kildare County Council.
Deputy Emmet Stagg said while he appreciated the very real crisis that exists in the matter of waste management and disposal of waste, ‘there is a continuing over-emphasis on landfill as the only way of disposing of waste. He voiced his concern at the amount of builders’ rubble deposited in the county dump when a high percentage of the rubble could be reused in the reconstruction of roads. 
In the first year of operation, 440,000 cars eight years old and more will be tested at 43 centres around the country, including three mobile units operating on a part-time basis on the country's western seaboard.
"We do look for synergies in our locations where possible," says Richard Hoque, managing director of NCTS Ltd. "For instance, one is being built beside a DIY Centre, and another is close to a hotel and shopping centre complex." Tommy Tougher agrees, and reckons that the new facility on his truckstop premises fits in well with his own business interests on the site, which include a restaurant and truck stop. He also notes that the location halfway between Naas and Newbridge means that the operation won’t cause extra traffic in either town.
UHF radio systems on board can work with the various systems used by the gardai, the civil defence, the fire service and the county engineering network. The briefing area has eircell phones and, a fax which provides direct communication with the HAZCHEM database in the event of hazardous substances being involved in the emergency. (Civil Defence member Patricia McNeelin is pictured on right using the communications system.)
County manager Niall Bradley emphasised the importance of a vehicle such as this for immediate responses. “At the end of the day it’s the team work that is important,” he said. “The ability to recognise, to respond and to work together is why a communications base like this is so essential.” He also paid tribute to all the emergency services who are continually on call across the county. “Over the last few years we have emphasised the important role which Civil Defence plays in our modern community,” he said and wished everyone who uses it and who has occasion to need it, every success in their work.
VICTORIA BRIDGE, 4 August 1999: by Brian Byrne. A County Kildare-based wildlife and environment awareness enterprise is making arrangements to provide live coverage of the upcoming total eclipse of the sun which will happen on August 11. The event will be visible as a total eclipse almost 100 miles south of Cork, will touch the extreme south-west of England and continue over Central Europe, Turkey, Iran and India.
Wild Ireland, of the Old Cornmill at Victoria Bridge outside Naas, has constructed a 
The site will also continue to bring the latest wildlife news and information to the web community. The website is free to anyone with internet access and contains a monthly magazine, a library of Ireland’s wildlife, an educational resource for schools, a shop, discussion forum and a host of information for the wildlife enthusiast on a number of topics, including daily weather, links to other sites of interest and listings of events nationwide.
The pamphlet was offically launched by Dan Flinter (pictured above on right with Cllr Rainsford Hendy and Cllr Frank English), locally born chief executive of Enterprise Ireland (IDA), who said that this initiative would both provide Athy with another way of enhancing its historical heriateg, and help the town's further development towards a prosperous economic future.
