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Printmaking
studio to look for foreign artists exchange
CLANE, DECEMBER 11,
1998: by Brian Byrne. The only printmaking studio in Leinster
is to look for foreign artists to come to County Kildare on exchange
visits in order to spread their style and expertise for the benefit
of local and Irish national artists using the studio's facilities
in Clane. The Leinster Printmaking Studio was officially opened
this week by minister for finance Charlie McCreevy TD. The project
is the brainchild of artist and stained glass designer Margaret
Becker, who set up the operation in part of the Old Convent in
Clane with the help of Cormac Nolan and support from the Arts
Council and KELT among others. The facility is being used to
train printmaking and also as a resource for some of the country's
foremost artists. The organisation has charity status and donations
of over £100 are completely tax-deductible by the donors.
Margaret says the printmaking course is full at the moment and
they have a waiting list of people from a hinterland comprising
Kildare, West Wicklow, West Dublin, Meath, Offaly and Laois -
areas she adds, that are 'rich in artistic talent'. Further information
from Margaret at 045 868168 or 087 2310114.
RealAudio
: Margaret Becker on the Leinster Printmaking Studio
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Schools' drugs
awareness poster exhibition
KILDARE COUNTY COUNCIL,
DECEMBER 11, 1998: An exhibition of posters and models related
to drugs has been on view in the offices of Kildare County Council
in Naas for the last week. They are selected from the entries
received from schools in an EHB-sponsored competition during
the recent national Drugs Awareness Week. They include this mask
by Sarah Cosgrove which illustrates the two kinds of life, with
and without drugs. She says the left side 'represents drugs and
their effects on people's future, with black symbolising death
and the unhappiness drugs bring to people's lives ... the right
side shows life without drugs, and the enjoyment of activities
such as sports, drama and reading'.
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Council should
encourage more to refuse collection
SOUTH KILDARE, DECEMBER
11, 1998: Kildare County Council should conduct a campaign
to encourage more people to join its refuse collection service
in the South of the county, Cllr Martin Miley said this week.
He said that the continued privatisation of the refuse collection
would mean that those people currently with waivers from paying
for their refuse collection will end up having to pay money they
can't afford if there is no council service. And he suggested
that with County Council lorries going all over the county anyway,
there's no reason why they can't be used to collect refuse from
the more remote areas of the county.
RealAudio
: Martin Miley on refuse collection
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Ireland's best motoring news and reviews, visit MotorWeb
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Brownstown
writer does well in major RTE competition.
THE CURRAGH, DECEMBER 11, 1998:
Brownstown writer Martin Malone came fourth in the recent
RTE Francis McManus short story competition, for which there
were more than 820 entries. Martin is a member of the Cill Dara
Writers Circle and has been writing for several years. A member
of the Defence Forces, he has served several tours in the Lebanon
and many of his stories reflect his observations and experiences
in that part of the world. The winner of the competition was
Coilin O hAodha from Galway, at 23 the youngest-ever winner of
the competition, which has been running for 13 years in commemoration
of the highly-respected writer of short stories, Francis McManus.
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 Newbridge,
Co Kildare
Main dealers
for Mazda cars & Mercedes-Benz commercials
Phone 045
431130
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Kildare Community
Network is officially launched
NAAS, DECEMBER 10,
1998: by Trish Whelan. County Kildare's innovative internet
website was officially launched by the chairperson of Kildare
County Council, Cllr Jim Reilly (pictured left with ASK chairperson
Colm Flynn and ASK IT manager Reg Youster), in the County Hall
at St Mary's in Naas today. He said the website represents 'the
coming together of Kildare County Council and Action South Kildare
to provide the people of the county with a one-stop access point
for information about themselves, their services, organisations,
environment, business supports and local news. It is in fact
becoming an all-embracing information service'. The new site
is also supported by FAS. The Kildare Community Network chairperson,
county librarian Breda Gleeson, said the site is 'quite unique
because it deliberately creates one site for information delivery
and communication'. Students of Confey College in Leixlip represented
schools from the county and introduced those present to their
own website. ASK chairperson Colm Flynn said 'today we embrace
technology and have created a model we can be proud of. The dream
is here. It fundamentally provides a conduit for the free flow
of information. One of the aspects of this project was to train
young people in basic computing and IT skills, and trained trainers
to train in their own organisations'. He congratulated councillors
for setting an example and said 'together we will build a network
unparallelled in Ireland'. The Kildare Community Network has
been active since February and is set to become the most important
source of information on up-to-date news, community activities,
organisations and events in the county, proving a boon to visitors,
from home and abroad. To date it has received over 39,000 visitors
and is expected to attract well over 100,000 visitors over the
next year. As part of an improvement in communications, each
councillor in Kildare has been provided with internet access
in their own homes and an e-mail address so that electronic interaction
between public representatives and the people will become commonplace.
Kildare public library network will provide public access to
this website and generally to the internet - this begins in January
with Athy and Naas libraries which have been piloting their service
for some months and will extend to all branches. Pictured below
at the launch are (pix from left) assistant county manager Terry
O Niadh with Charlie Talbot, County Kildare freedom of information
officer; and Fiona O'Driscoll, Aoife Brittain and Emily Ryan,
all from St Mary's School in Naas.
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Kildare Failte
constrained by funding, manpower shortage
ATHY, DECEMBER 10,
1998: by Brian Byrne. Kildare Failte's year was 'quite
positive' in lots of ways, acting chairman Tom Malone said last
night after the AGM of the County Kildare tourism promotion organisation.
But he said that while there has now been a recognition that
the county has a tourism product second to none, there is a difficulty
in that tourists tend not to move out of the Dublin city area
when they come to the country. "We need to market more widely,
in order to get more people to come to us," he said. The
Kildare Failte accounts for the year showed a turnover of some
£37,446, with the largest element of the organisation's
income coming from an £11,000 grant from Kildare County
Council. The meeting, in Kilkea Castle, was relatively quiet,
but several reservations were expressed about the constraints
on the organisation's activities because of low funding and the
fact that there is only one full-time employee. There is to be
a Tourism Forum in the new year to discuss the future direction
of tourism promotion and structures in the county.
RealAudio
: Tom Malone on Kildare Failte
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Leixlip schoolgirl
designs Intel Christmas card
LEIXLIP DECEMBER
10, 1998: The designer of this year's Intel Christmas
cars is Sarah Donovan of 6th class in Scoil Bhríde in
Leixlip. Her design was chosen from hundreds of ideas submitted
by pupils in North Kildare, in an initiative run by Intel Ireland's
Public Affairs Group. The theme suggested for the 1998 card was
'Santa's computing class for the elves'. Sarah's school will
be presented with a high power Pentium II processor PC in recognition
of her achievement, while Sarah herself gets a £50 voucher
for HMV record sales.
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top farming news and views
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Quality award
for National Stud
KILDARE, DECEMBER 10, 1998:
by Brian Byrne. The National Stud at Tully, Kildare, will
be awarded the 'Q' quality mark at a function next week. The
county's premier tourist attraction is the first stud to be awarded
the Q mark and according to the former marketing director of
Kildare Failte, Frieda O'Connell, it could also be the first
tourist attraction to receive it. The award will be presented
next Thursday during a lunch at which the minister for agriculture,
Joe Walshe, will be the guest of honour.
Call for Drugs
Clinic in Newbridge
NEWBRIDGE, DECEMBER
10, 1998: by Trish Whelan. The seriousness of the drug
problem in Newbridge has been highlighted by Town Commissioner
Murty Aspell who has asked commissioners to insist that the Eastern
Health Board provides a drugs clinic in its new health centre
in Newbridge. He also wants drug users to be able to get the
professional help and support they need to come off drugs. He
fears the problem will worsen if something is not done to remedy
the situation. He also wants TDs lobbied to push for heavier
sentences for those convicted of selling drugs and is seeking
a meeting between commissioners, the Gardai, GPs, teachers and
parents 'to provide a good community spirit to remove the scourge
from the town, once and for all.'
RealAudio
: Murty Aspell on drugs clinic
Private buses
'could help' with Newbridge parking problem
NEWBRIDGE, DECEMBER
9, 1998: A private bus service for the Newbridge area could help
solve a serious parking problem in the town according to town
commissioner Joe Kearns. At this month's meeting of the commission
he said that contact should be made with the operators of the
private double-decker service in Naas to see if there was a possibility
of them doing something similar in Newbridge. Commissioner Kearns
was joined by colleague Cmmr Ray O'Brien in highlighting what
they see as an 'impossible' situation for parking, with the town's
only car park always full and the problem now spreading to housing
estates on the edge of the town centre, where residents are finding
difficulty parking their own cars because of vehciles left by
people working or shopping in the town.
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to Ray O'Brien and Joe Kearns
Farming community
'needs alternative industry'
KILDARE GENERAL, DECEMBER 9, 1998:
There's an urgent need to plan for alternative occupations for
the farming community, which faces a continuing situation of
declining on-farm incomes. That's the view of Cllr Paddy Power,
who told the estimates meeting of Kildare County Council that
he had been given what he termed 'alarming' figures about the
problem, and he asked that industrial development plans for the
county should take account of this. He suggested that there are
many farm buildings and barns which could be converted to small
industry use, and this is a possibility which the relevant agencies
should look into.
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to Paddy Power
'Bite the
bullet' on travellers - Liam Doyle
LEIXLIP, DECEMBER 9, 1998: Kildare
County Coucil will have to 'bite the bullet' in relation to travellers
if the situation at Louisa Bridge in Leixlip is not to be repeated
elsewhere in the county, according to Cllr Liam Doyle. He says
the litter and dumped vehicles at the bridge and the nearby historic
Spa have spoiled what he believes is one of the most important
areas of the North Kildare Way, with car wrecks dumped in the
canal and the presence of traveller caravans 'inhibiting' people
from visiting the area. Proper halting sites have been urgently
needed for a long time, he said, and the council will have to
stop talking and 'bite the bullet'.
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to Liam Doyle
Naas Fire
Station before the elections?
NAAS, DECEMBER 9, 1998: Site
exploration has begun on the proposed location for Naas's new
Fire Brigade station, and it is understood approval that the
station will be forthcoming 'before the local elections'. In
response to a query at the recent estimates meeting of Kildare
County Council, county manager Niall Bradley would only say that
the council is 'actively pursuing' the approval, but it is understood
that this will be forthcoming in fairly short order. In the estimates
he notes that work has already commenced on the Athy station
and that there will be imporvements to the one at Monasterevin
when Naas is under way. The site currently being examined is
between the Harbour Hotel and Day Care Centre for the elderly
on the Newbridge Road.
Need for skateboard
facilities in Newbridge
LEIXLIP, DECEMBER 9, 1998: Facilities
for skateboarding should be provided for young people in Newbridge,
who are currently using the Market Square as a skateboarding
area. That's the view of Newbridge Town Commission chairman Seamus
Finn, who said that flower beds are being damaged from the activity.
"These are very nice young lads and the problem is that
they have nowhere else to go," he said at this month's meeting
of the commission. "This is now a world-class sport and
we should have somewhere safe where they can practice. If something
could be put in for them, and in my own capacity I will work
for them because I think young people should be encouraged."
Colleague Cmmr Fiona O'Loughlin agreed that something should
be done, but she pointed out that sometimes there's a lack of
awareness of the facilities that are already in place in Newbridge
for young people. She suggested that a newsletter be produced,
or an exhibition mounted by the commission, to show what's available
for them."
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to Seamus Finn and Fiona O'Loughlin
Naas planning
permission news
NAAS, DECEMBER 9, 1998: Kate
Conway-Behan has applied for permission to retain alterations
and conversion to a shop extension at 5 North MAin St, including
a window in the gable end. Sam McCauley Chemists Ltd have been
granted permission for alterations, a new shopfront and change
of use from a public house to a pharmacy of The Moate House,
the Moate Shopping Centre, Naas. The Eastern Health Board has
been granted permission for the retention as built, of structures
comprising a purpose-built Ambulance Centre at the Maudlins Industrial
Estate, Naas. J O'Connell, c/o Maguire & Associates of Railway
Terrace, has been granted permission for a 47-bedroom nursing
home with offices, staff quarters and related facilities, at
Craddockstown Road, Naas East. Naas Credit Union has been granted
permission for the demolition of a 3-storey building and the
construction of a 3-storey over basement extension to Naas Credit
Union offices at 19 North Main St, for public area, cashier points
and general offices.
New UDC planning
call could put Naas Draft Development Plan in disarray
NAAS, DECEMBER 8,
1998: (Exclusive by Trish Whelan and Brian Byrne) An
official request to consider rezoning further land in Naas could
lead to an increase of more than 50% in the amount of land rezoned
for the Naas Draft Development Plan. And it could put into disarray
the recently-voted package by members of the town's UDC in which
more than 90 acres was voted for rezoning as housing and commercial
development opportunity - against the strong advice of County
Planner Philip Jones. The new call for a special planning meeting
to consider a previously-rejected submission from Moorestar Ltd,
for a 40-acre development of housing, a hotel and parkland, has
come from the leas-cathaoirleach of Naas UDC, Cllr Seamie Moore.
This follows strong criticism of Naas UDC by the chairman of
the Caragh Court/Green/Meadows Residents Association, Tom Grace
(pictured at Caragh Bridge), for not even considering the Moorestar
application. He says it would have solved a long-standing safety
issue in the area where Naas UDC has failed to provide adequate
public lighting and a new bridge over the canal on Caragh Road,
and where some 240 houses were built in the last 15 years. According
to Tom Grace, levies for these facilities were paid on the house-buyers'
behalf by the developer of these houses and should have been
used to provide them. More on this story here.
Kildare student
wins Rotary competition heat
KILDARE & NEWBRIDGE,
DECEMBER 8, 1998: A young student at Presentation Secondary School
in Kildare is this year's winner of the Rotary Club of Newbridge
Youth Development Leadership Competition. She's Amanda O'Riordan,
who hopes to eventually make a career in broadcasting. She beat
nine other finalists in what organiser Conal Bradley described
as the 'toughest to choose' competition yet. According to Amanda's
teacher, Mary O'Sullivan, her win is a recognition of the level
of ability of all the girls in the school, while Rotary President
Tom Kelly (pictured here with Mary O'Sullivan and Amanda) said
the club is very proud to organise the competition, which was
open to schools throughout Kildare and West Wicklow (excluding
Naas, which has its own competition). Amanda will now take part
in the national finals in January, from which 24 young people
will be chosen to take a week-long trip to the European Parliament
and take part in debates in the parliament building with other
young people from all over Europe.
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to Amanda, Mary O'Sullivan and Paddy
Kelly
Kildare Book
of Estimates is passed
KILDARE GENERAL,
DECEMBER 8, 1998: Members of Kildare County Council yesterday
passed the Book of Estimates for 1999 following a prolonged discussion
on several aspects carried over from the previous Estimates meeting.
There was only one vote against the proposal, from Cllr Anthony
Lawlor. The estimates show a total expenditure of almost £41.5
million, with the largest single area being roads upkeep and
maintenance of over £12 million. This is followed by water
supply and sewerage of over £7 million, with housing and
environmental protection costing around £6 million apiece.
The expenditure will be met by rates of £17.29 million,
a Government grant of just over £10 million, income from
goods and services of almost £13 million and charges on
the county's urban authorities of £1.1 million. Cathaoirleach
of the council Jim Reilly (pictured) said it was probably the
most extensively discussed Estimates of recent years.
RealAudio
: Jim Reilly on discussions
Developer
appeals charges demand
NAAS, DECEMBER 8, 1998: A developer
who received planning permission for 38 apartments at Craddockstown
Road in Naas has appealed to An Bord Pleanala against being asked
to pay £83,000 to Naas UDC. The application is by Ravenshall
Developments Ltdfor a residential development of 38 2-bed and
2 1-bed apartments in four 2-storey blocks at a site adjoining
Ballycane House. Permission for this development was granted,
subject to 24 conditions, on 22/10/98 and the appeal was received
by ABP on 23/11/98 against a number of the conditions which the
applicant considered 'unreasonable and inconsistent with the
proper planning and development'. These included the requirement
to pay in advance to Naas UDC the sum of £8,000 towards
footpath/public lighting improvements, a contribution of £70,000
towards the provision of a distributor road network around Naas,
a contribution of £5,000 towards landscaping works inmprovements,
the proviso that two apartments in one block will not be constructed.
The developer says all these represent 'unreasonable and unfair'
treatment.
A 4% rates
increase demand 'too high'
KILDARE GENERAL,
DECEMBER 6, 1998: Kildare's ratepayers should not be asked to
accept an increase in their rates of 4%, Cllr John Dardis says.
He notes that there has been a very substantial increase in the
amount of money allocated to the council from central government
and that he feels ratepayers should not be asked to pay more
than the rate of inflation, at the very most 3%.
RealAudio
: Brian Byrne talks to John Dardis
Celtic Tiger
delays New Row apartments
NAAS, DECEMBER 6, 1998: Tenants selected
for the first phase of the new Naas UDC apartments being built
at New Row have been informed that they will not now be able
to get possession before Christmas. The reason is ironically
in part due to the success of the 'Celtic Tiger' economy, according
to Town Clerk Declan Kirrane. "We simply can't get people
to finish the project, because tradesmen are all working with
developers trying to meet the demand for private housing."
The 28 apartments project includes a number which are specifically
designed for the elderly and people with disabilities.
Help wanted
in Newbridge families tracing
NEWBRIDGE & NORTH CAROLINA,
DECEMBER 6, 1998: Mary K Hungerford of Murphy, North Carolina,
has contacted KNN looking for information on Gannon and Hyland
families in Co Kildare. She says she is descended from John Hyland
and Eliza Bambrick, shopkeepers in Newbridge in the late 1880s.
John's sister Catherine married a Richard Gannon and they also
lived in Newbridge. Their daughter Daisy married one Mr Brophy
and they had sons Bill, Edward and Charlie; while another daughter,
Ciss, married a Mr Brennan and they had daughters, now Mrs Maureen
Powell and Mrs Bernadette Redmond, and sons Liam, Bobby and Denis.
If anyone wants further information they can contact KNN, or
directly to Mary K Hungerford at mhunger@grove.net
Stories for week ending 5 December
1998 are here
Stories for week ending 28 November
1998 are here
Stories for week ending 21 November
1998 are here
Stories for week ending 14 November
1998 are here
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1998 are here
Stories for October 1998 are here
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