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Flooding at GAA pitch to be fixed
LEIXLIP, 5 February 1999: Kildare County Council has agreed to undertake works at the GAA pitch at Leixlip Amenity Centre to alleviate flooding which began appearing following services works nearby. This follows representations by local councillor Catherine Murphy, who has warmly welcomed the news. "The council says it has had a report on the situation from consultants, and while it does not accept that the flooding is a consequence of the works carried out on its behalf, it does accept that the problem occurred subsequent to them, and will be implementing the recommendations of the report."
The GAA Club first brought the issue to the attention of Kildare County Council last October. Club secretary Denis Enright had pointed out that the ditch which borders the pitch at one end suffers from flooding during winter and spring and this affects the entire field as the drainage systems appeared to be blocked. In addition, serious flooding also occurs along the boundary with the main Leixlip/Maynooth Road during periods of heavy rain. Cllr Murphy - a director of Leixlip Amenity Centre - requested that the county engineer evaluate the work which had been carried out. "We were losing a valuable facility ... and such facilities are in short supply in the area." She also noted that because of the ponding at the ditch, there seems to be a problem with rats and youngsters retrieving a ball could face potential health risks.
Leixlip GAA has been using the grounds for the past ten years and, according to Mr Enright, the flooding has only occured since water and sewerage works were carried out in the area.
Information wanted on first councillors
LEIXLIP, 5 February 1999: Kildare County Council is looking for information on several members of the first council which sat in April 1899, to be used in a history of the council being written as part of its centenary celebrations. Those about which there's a scarcity of information are Messrs Fenelon, Cassidy, Kelly of Bothar Bui, Hayden, Sir G R Dyse, Kelly of Morristown Biller, John Cribben of Kilmeague, Stephen Murphy of Rathangan, and F Colgan JP of Timahoe.
The history is being written by Naas historian Liam Kenny, and according to KCC information officer Charlie Talbot it will be 'user-friendly and accessible'. The centenary celebrations begin with a commemorative meeting of the council on April 22 next.
RealAudio: Charlie Talbot on the council history.
Wall criticises army cuts proposals
KILDARE SOUTH, 5 February 1999: The recently-leaked of a plan to cut the Defence Forces by 3,500 was drawn up by somebody who 'knows the price of everything and the value of nothing' Labour Party spokesman on defence and Kildare South TD Jack Wall TD said yesterday. And he called on the minister for defence to 'become a powerful advocate' for the defence forces instead of 'standing idly by' while others 'undermine their integrity'.
He said any minister for defence worth his salt would reject out of hand the proposals made in a Department of Finance memo. "However, minister Michael Smith refused to do so in the Dail last night," he said. "By refusing to reject the proposed cutbacks, the minister has given them a certain legitimacy."
The proposals include cutting three divisions to one and amalgamating the Air Corps and the Naval Service.
High finance at Sceala!
NAAS, 5 February 1999. Finance minister and Kildare North TD Charlie McCreevy pictured with Newbridge AIB manager Michael Hanrahan at the recent Sceala 99 performance by schools from County Kildare, held in St Mary's College in Naas.
New centre to strengthen Kildare arts links
NEWBRIDGE, 4 February 1999: by Brian Byrne. The new county Arts Centre which will be incorporated in the County Library headquarters complex in Newbridge will 'connect and strengthen' the various elements of the arts community in Kildare, according to Peter Hussey, chairman of Strategic Arts Management Ltd (SAM), which will run the centre. SAM is an independent company representing Kildare County Council and the arts communities of county Kildare, and Peter Hussey was speaking yesterday at the official signing of the contracts for the building of the complex (see previous story). "We've been waiting for this day for quite a time," he told KNN. "Little did we know that when we got together three years ago to see what we could do to gather together the arts communities of the county that it would end up with an Arts Centre. It is a great day."
The centre is expected to be open in January of next year and it has been adopted by Kildare County Council as a Millennium project. It will incorporate a gallery and a 200-seat theatre, and there will be provision for artists to present and sell their work. "It will not be just a building-based centre, though," notes Peter Hussey, well-known for his own work with the Newbridge-based Crooked House Theatre Company. "There will be a lot of outreach ... trained staff from the centre will work with artists throughout the county."
Call for changes in well grant system
KILDARE SOUTH, 4 February 1999: Cllr Martin Miley wants the Minister for the Environment to change the law concerning grants for private wells so that people don't have to wait ten years before they get a grant to sink a well. He says that many young couples building a home, especially in the south of the county where there is no regional water scheme, have had to sink their own wells at a cost of up to £3,000. "While domestic water charges have been removed, these people have to pay to have water on tap." He believes a grant of £1,600 would be of great help for many young families."
Cllr Miley says anybody building a house and who has to sink a well should be able to avail of the grant and hopes the Minister will see the logic in this. He says it should apply to anyone who has built a house since the grant was introduced. "Ten years' wait is a scandal in this day and age."
Crooked House host Clown Show
NEWBRIDGE, 4 February 1999. Crooked House continue their series of lunchtime theatre - the Gaze While You Graze sessions - with installment number six. This time they are hosting the students of the VTOS Theatre Studies class who perform their own devised sketches called 'Clown Show'. The performance begins on Tuesday 9th Feb and runs until Sat 13th. Admission is £4.00 and this includes a light lunch. Performance times are 1.05 - 1.50pm daily. As usual, the show takes place in The Blue Room in VTOS, George's Street, Newbridge.
Clown Show features six pieces of red-nose clowning (a particularly non-verbal style of theatre) which explore the various embarassments and hypocracies endured by ordinary people in everyday situations. The pieces were devised by the class of seven and directed by their tutor Peter Hussey. Readers may remember the first-ever clown show in Newbridge which occured last January. It was the third Gaze While You Graze production and was called 'Fears of a Clown'. This proved to be hugely popular with audiences, as indeed has the whole lunchtime theatre series.
As there are only 30 seats in the Blue Room, audience members are advised to arrive on time in order to avoid disappointment. Seats can be reserved by phoning 045 434297 and asking for a member of the Performing Arts class.
Art company had successful 'Showcase'
MAYNOOTH, 4 February 1999. Sun Art Ltd of Maynooth are planning to take on a marketing executive later this year following a successful exposure to some of the world'smost important buyers of craft and giftware at the recent Showcase exhibition in the RDS. The company is based at Coates Lane and was established by Hugh O'Neill (pictured) in 1984 to manufacture reproduction fine art images on canvas. The pictures look like original canvas paintings and are based on a selection of originals that hang in the National Gallery, and some of the top galleries in Dublin as well as from private collections and Christie's in London. They are available rolled and tubed, ready for framing or can be framed by arrangement. Hugh says the company is now Europe's largest manufactuers of quality canvas art.
Contract signed for £2.2m Library HQ/Arts Centre
COUNTY HALL, 3 February 1999: by Trish Whelan. Contract documents for the proposed £2.2m County Arts Centre and County Library Headquarters to be located at Main Street, Newbridge, were signed at County Hall in Naas this morning. The new centre has been chosen as Kildare County Council's Millennium project and will provide a balance of workshops, residencies, exhibitions, concerts and community-led arts projects throughout the county. The construction of the 15,000 sq. foot building will be carried out by a Newbridge building company, Joseph Murphy Builders Limited, and work is expected to start within weeks. Because of the sloping nature of the site, access to the building will include ground-level entry into both of its two stories.
The library headquarters will be the engine of the public library arts network and will include a dedicated book processing facility while the Arts Centre will include an exhibition area, art gallery, foyer and coffee dock area. A 200-seat theatre is part of the structure. The old familiar library headquarters building, at the bridge, will now have a new lease of life from the year 2000 as the county's Local Studies, Genealogy and Archives Centre. Kildare County Council chairman Cllr Jim Reilly (pictured above with council architect Brian Swan and builder Niall Murphy) acknowledged the imput of all who have been associated with the project - 'those who have brought it to this stage, and those who will bring it to its completion'. He said the new centre 'would provide significant facilities not just for Newbridge ... but for the entire county and would form an important part of the Council's legacy to the people of County Kildare for the start of the third millennium.'
County manager Niall Bradley (pictured below on right with county secretary Seamus Stokes) said it will meet a variety of educational and cultural needs for County Kildare while providing an important resource for the people of the county. The Arts Centre will be operated by SAM (Strategic Arts Management Ltd), an independent company representing Kildare County Council and the arts communities of county Kildare, whose chairman is Peter Hussey of the local Crooked House Theatre Company (pictured below right with county arts officer Mary Lenihan and county librarian Breda Gleeson).
Smaller gardens submission rejected by councillors
COUNTY HALL, 3 February 1999: A Construction Industry Federation submission to the draft county development plan to reduce the size of back gardens in order to squeeze in more houses has been rejected by members of Kildare County Council. Members agreed a further proposal by Cllr John McGinley that they should retain the right to increase development levies on developers to ensure that necessary infrastructure is put into place - should they see fit to do so.
During the debate Clane Area Cllr Sean Reilly (pictured) said it does not follow that if 'you increase the density, then prices will fall'. He said the authority has to face up to the fact that land is now £200,000 an acre in much of the county. Maynooth-based Cllr Senan Griffin pointed out that some 80% of houses in one north Kildare estate had been snapped up by investors for renting purposes while Naas Area Cllr JJ Power believed that traditional designs of housing estates will have to be changed to allow for additional car parking with up to four cars now parked outside many houses as adult children opt to remain in the family home.
It was pointed out that 3.5 persons per household and six houses to the acre has been the council's guidelines and at present, there is no requirement for a minimum size of front garden to allow for parking. Present requirements are for one car space per 3-bed units and for two car spaces for larger homes.
Call for council clerk of works
CELBRIDGE, 3 February 1999: Kildare County Council should appoint a clerk of works to supervise and control developments such as road openings by utilities like Telecom Eireann, Bord Gais, the ESB as well as private developers according to Celbridge Area Cllr John McGinley who claims the council has lost control over such openings 'because its area engineer is overburdened with work'. He said a supervisor would ensure that flooding presently the case in places like the Rathcoffey Road, Maynooth, Straffan and Leixlip becomes a thing of the past.
"Drains and gullies have been closed in ... in the Rathcoffey Road there is a 200-metre section of road where people cannot access their homes without having to wade through water." He said developers are rushing work in order to have it completed, and the care normally associated with such work is not there at present. "Drains and such take second place."
Council staff submit ideas for better service
COUNTY HALL, 3 February 1999: Kildare County Council is evaluating more than 100 ideas for better service to the public which have been suggested by members of the council's own staff. Employees were invited to take part in a quality initiative competition with a view to improving the speed, quality and manner of service delivery to the public. The entries were assessed by an in-house group, and marks were awarded to each one on the basis of its practicality.
Prizes were awarded on the basis of marks obtained. The first prize went to Johnny O'Connor, who works in the Southern Area of the council's Engineering Services Section. Cllr Jim Reilly, Cathaoirleach of the council (pictured), welcomed the initiative. "In the long run the delivery of quality service is what the County Council should be about and none of its power or status means anything if it does not serve the needs of the people," he said.
County manager Niall Bradley added that the quality project is only one of a number of initiatives being taken by the council to give a better service to the public. "We want to equip the council to meet the needs of today's society, and to move forward with a whole range of services that are responsive and user-friendly. This is an important step in that process, and we will support its implementation."
Councillor brands circular as 'Hitlerite' ... another expresses disgust
NAAS, 2 February 1999: by Trish Whelan. Two Naas councillors have reacted angrily to the contents of an anonymous circular put through the doors of local estates last week. UDC chairman Cllr Paddy Behan denounced as 'Hitlerite' warnings from a so-called 'Public Awareness Group' that uncontrolled development would lead to a 'disproportionate amount of youths ... and a much lowered tone to the town and surrounding area'. He said such sentiments were 'typical of Hitler's Germany of the 1930s when they wanted to get rid of people who they considered unncessary to their ideals - or those at variance with their ideals'.
Cllr Behan also said the contents of the circular 'spoke volumes about the mentality of those thinking in this fashion' and has asked those responsible to 'come out of the nooks and crannies in which they are hiding, sign their letter and come forward with it'. He said he would be willing to discuss concerns on planning issues but said he wouldn't even walk the same side of the street with anyone who talks about 'surplus' youths. "That anyone in this day and age would think in that regard is reprehensible. People who think that way should be locked up. Young people are the real wealth of this country."
Cllr Evelyn Bracken said she was 'disgusted at the tone of the circular', which called on the people of Naas not to re-elect councillors who 'do not represent you' and gave the names and private phone numbers of UDC members who recently voted in favour of rezoning for large housing developments.
Delegation to minister on Devoy Barracks site may face rezoning pressure
NAAS, 2 February 1999: by Brian Byrne. A delegation from Naas UDC visiting the minister for defence, Michael Smith TD, on Wednesday may face pressure to look positively at a rezoning of the former Devoy Barracks site, which is currently zoned for educational use only. The former Army Apprentice School, closed last year under the current army restructuring scheme, is now a prime site in the county town for development. It has been valued at some £1.5 million as an educational site, but minister Smith is known to be looking for £4-£6 million in a planned sell-off, a value which could only be realised if the 22-acre area is rezoned as residential/industrial.
Naas UDC has in the past insisted that the property will never be changed from educational zoning, and there are efforts currently underway to attract an Institute of Technology for the site. This is said to be unlikely, given the number of third level institutions which are already within easy reach of Naas, but one prospect being investigated is that an outreach centre from one of the existing IOTs might be established.
KNN understands that officials from the minister's department were due in Naas last night to assess local feelings on the future of the barracks.
Civic awards are presented
NAAS, 2 February 1999: by Trish Whelan. The first-ever 'Hall of Fame' award to be presented by the protocol committee of Naas Urban District Council has gone to Sister Bernadette from the local Convent of Mercy (pictured receiving her award from UDC chairman Paddy Behan). Originally from County Tipperary, Sister Bernadette has spent the last 63 years in the town. The award was presented in recognition of her 'outstanding service to Naas down through the years'. Other presentations included a bouquet of flowers by Cllr Evelyn Bracken on behalf of the council and a framed painting by local artist Ray Ryan including with a poem in her honour by Cllr Timmy Conway. The Sisters of Mercy have been in Naas since 1839.
Committee chairman Cllr Willie Callaghan presented the award for achievement in sport to Naas Rugby Club, founded over 100 years ago and which now caters for 250 young people. The award was accepted by former president Pat Brophy (below left). The cultural award went to the Irish Figure Dancers who are celebrating 25 years in existence, and cater for some 70 young dancers. Marie Kelly (below centre) accepted the award on their behalf. Lt John Loughran (below right), OC Naas Unit of the Order of Malta accepted the community award on behalf of the unit, which was founded in 1942 to help the sick. Members are involved with the Care of the Aged and are on hand to offer assistance at race meetings and other events.
Special praise was given to town clerk Declan Kirrane and his staff, who had organised the evening.
Tourist outlet village promoters counter 'doomsday' allegations
KILL, 2 February 1999: The company proposing to set up a tourist outlet village at Goffs in Kill has again strongly refuted what it says are 'false allegations' being circulated about the project. In a statement issued yesterday, Irish International Tourist Outlets Limited (IITO) says the allegation that the project is 'an out of town shopping centre by another name' is completely incorrect and the company will sign legal agreements to ensure that it never can be such a centre. Another claim, that it is 'not genuinely a tourist-driven project', is 'total nonsense' according to IITO, because the reality is that only the attraction of the estimated four million tourists who pass the site annually will allow the village to survive.
The company also denies that reports on out-of-town shopping 'destroying' local retail communities are relevant to the Kill project and are being used to 'totally misrepresent and manipulate' the real facts. IITO also deals with allegations that local hotels and businesses would not benefit from the development, and presents arguments to back up its contention that some 600 jobs would be created by the retail outlet village.
Project director Dr Malcolm Hockaday said this week that the 'scaremongering' allegations by a 'small group' should not go unchallenged. "They are trying to frighten the people of the local community with false statements and misrepresentations," he said. Local councillors are being brought by Kildare County Council to view a similar development near Oxford. Meanwhile, Naas Chamber of Commerce last week decided not to recommend to its members that the Kill project should be supported.
Appeals to be taken against Ballymore planning decision
BALLYMORE, 1 February 1999: by Trish Whelan. Five Kildare councillors - Timmy Conway, Tony Lawlor (pictured), J J Power, John Dardis and Mary French Coughlan - are seeking an oral hearing on the decision to grant planning permission for 416 houses in Ballymore Eustace. And the village's lobby group ABCD has hired a professional planner to put their own appeal against the decision to An Bord Pleanala. Questions on the background to the decision are also being asked by the Kildare Alliance for Better Planning, and the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board. It is also understood that four TDs have also signed an ABCD petition against the development - Alan Dukes, Bernard Durkan, Emmet Stagg and Jack Wall. Cllr John Dardis has described the decision as 'crazy and a gross breach of the general objectives of the draft county development plan.'
Meanwhile, ABCD say they were 'shocked and horrified' that Chris Marshall of the sewage and water department of Kildare County Council only received a request for a report on the application at just two days' notice. Mr Marshall said this was 'completely impractical and unacceptable' and 'unless an extension of time was made for the issue to be investigated he recommended a refusal on both water and sewerage grounds.' Mr Marshall also asked why officials bothered sending his department files 'if their reports were going to be ignored?'.
The Kildare Alliance for Better Planning has questioned why queries on the availability of water supplies from Dublin by the water section were ignored. 'If the northern and central parts of Co Kildare and even parts of Ballymore itself experience low pressures on a number of occasions in the year, how will this tapping of further water almost at source affect the future situation?' a briefing document from the alliance on the matter asks, and adds that there is a 'deplorable' road infrastructure, an 'inadequate' bridge, a lack of public transport and a 'disavowal of any responsibility' for schools or other community facilities in the way the application was processed.
In a letter to the planning officer of the council, Eastern Regional Fisheries Board chief officer Alan McGurdy said permission for the development should only be contingent on the COMMISSIONING of the new sewerage treatment plant at Ballymore, but this recommendation has also been ignored.
Naas UDC gets replica of ancient mace
NAAS, 1 February 1999: by Brian Byrne. A replica of the ancient Mace of Naas was presented at the weekend to the chairman of Naas UDC, Cllr Paddy Behan, for use on ceremonial occasions of the council. Commissioned by the UDC and sponsored by Bank of Ireland, Naas, the replica was made by local silversmith Hugh Stratham. The original is in the National Museum.
Accepting the mace from town clerk Declan Kirrane, Cllr Behan said it was 'a dream accomplished' and the mace would be a source of 'pride and joy' for the council and the town. "It is an absolute jewel and a gem to have in the Town Hall," he said, and thanked the regional manager of the Bank of Ireland, Jimmy Cox (pictured above), for their sponsorship. He recalled that the first steps towards having a replica manufactured were made as far back as 1987, by Donal Corcoran and local historian Liam Kenny. At the presentation this weekend, Declan Kirrane read an account from Thomas John De Burgh about how the original 17th century mace was used. It was the property of Naas Corporation before it was disbanded in 1841. It subsequently disappeared, but surfaced in the possession of Royal Irish Academy, which had purchased it for £8 from a Dublin man in 1861. It was eventually identified as the Mace of Naas by E O R Armstrong of the National Museum in 1898.
Maces were originally used by knights in the Middle Ages who protected sovereigns. They eventually became ceremonial items of often exquisite manufacture, and the original Naas one is described as 'priceless' by Cllr Behan.
Anger at pothole peril in Brannockstown
BRANNOCKSTOWN, 1 February 1999: Residents of Grangemore in Brannockstown feel they have become 'lost in a pothole' as far as Kildare County Council is concerned and are demanding to know why road improvements were only carried out as far as Upper Grangemore and were not continued the 300 yards into Brannockstown.
Local man Billy Horan has been campaigning on behalf of local residents 'for months' to have the offending holes filled, but on New Year's Day found himself £40 out of pocket due to a burst tyre which he says was the result of an encounter with a pothole. He promptly sent the bill to the council, but the authority denied any liability for the damage to the tyre stating that 'the pothole referred to was not caused by any action or any work carried out by Kildare County Council, but arose basically through the normal wear and tear of the road surface over a period of time.' Under the Civil Liability Act, a local authority cannot be held responsible for injury to the user or damage to property resulting from failure to repair a road, according to acting county secretary Seamus Stokes.
Mr Horan says people 'have to drive in the middle of the road' to avoid damage to cars, and children walking along the footpath have to 'walk in muck' because there are potholes there too. "There are three of them outside my own gate. All Grangemore people want is for Kildare County Council to finish what it started some years ago."
Band of the Curragh Command is no more
CURRAGH, 31 January 1999: Exclusive, by Brian Byrne. The Band of the Curragh Command has been signed out of existence by the minister for defence, Michael Smith TD. The papers ending the musical unit which has been in existence for more than half a century were signed on Monday evening. The 28 remaining members of the band will now have to be found a new role in the army. The move is part of the rationalisation programme in the army which has already in County Kildare resulted in the closure of Devoy Barracks in Naas and McGee Barracks in Kildare town and seen a downgrading of the Curragh Camp from an operational headquarters to a training unit.
The Band of the Curragh Command played for the last time on Friday in the Cadet School and in the past two weeks played three times for UN secretary-general Kofi Anan and also played for the incoming US ambassador, under the baton of its conductor Captain Mark Armstrong. The band has for decades been available to play in schools and at festivals around the county, and a request for it to play next week at Crookstown NS during a visit by the minister for education could not be accommodated.
The age range of the members is 30-60, and according to one bandsman the army will have to come up with options of early retirement or transfer to other units and duties in the defence forces. "The minister is on record as saying there will be no forced redundancies or no forced movement," one bandsman told KNN. "This means they will have to reactivate some form of the voluntary redundancy measure which finished last year."
Five gain estates management certificates
NEWBRIDGE, 31 January 1999: Five people from the Highfield Park, Dara Park and Lakeside Park areas of Newbridge have been presented with Estate Management and Maintenance certificates by the chairman of Kildare County Council, Jim Reilly. The course was run by RESPOND for the LHD Group which was formed by the residents associations of the three estates, and KCC community worker Mareid Johnston worked closely with the participants.
The initiative was supported by the provision by the council of a house to serve as a temporary resource centre, pending the provision of a permanent one. Cllr Reilly said he hoped the initiative will encourage continued cooperation with the council in the area, so as to improve the quality of life for the people there.
Pictured are (above) Cllr Jim Reilly with Anna Long of Lakeside Park, and (below) Rachael Christie and Helena Murphy of Highfield Park, Catherine Kearney and Frank Fagan of Dara Park, and Pauline McLoughlin and Eileen McNamara of Lakeside Park with Mareid Johnston (centre).
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