'Government should support snooker' - Goffs 'wild card'
STRAFFAN & KILL, 3 March 2000: by Trish Whelan. Ireland’s Irish Masters hopeful Fergal O’Brien says the Government should provide support to snooker as they do to other competitive sports, in order to stimulate young people to achieve world-class standards in a game that has a growing international following and in which Irish players are highly respected. (He's pictured on the right above, with Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and RTE sports presenter Des Cahill, during a press launch of the Benson and Hedges Irish Masters at the K Club this week.)
O’Brien, who was the 1998 British Open Champion, is one of the ‘wild card’ entrants in the event, which takes place at Goffs in Kill from March 21-26.
“Irish people are naturally good at snooker, but there’s no point in a Government jumping on the bandwagon when we have a world champion,” he told KNN in an interview this week. “They should put money into developing it, and that way we’ll get a lot of world champions. If we were getting the same achievements in tennis, sailing or golf, they'd be doing cartwheels to get involved.”
Fergal O’Brien was given a small snooker table as a present by his granny when he was eight and he played on it ‘day and night’. “Then I started going into junior tournaments with my dad, travelling around the country and playing the amateur tournaments. I got into the top five amateurs and in May 1991 I turned pro and progressed my way up.”
O’Brien feels the state of snooker in Ireland is as high as it has ever been at the moment. “There are two players in the top ten in the world, and Rodney Goggin from Wexford is world under-21 champion. In years to come, like it was for tennis after Borg, we’ll have those kids who stayed up to watch Ken Doherty get the world title and then wanted to do the same. They’ve been practising, and over the next four to five years the next batch will come on through.”
Fergal O’Brien plays the opening encounter at Goffs against Alan McManus, and the winner will play current Irish Masters title holder Stephen Hendry on the Thursday night.
The draw is as follows: !st Round - A McManus v F O’Brien; J Parrott v S Davis; S Lee v Jimmy White; K Doherty v M Stevens. Quarter Finals - M Williams v Davis or Parrott; S Hendry v McManus or O’Brien; R O’Sullivan v Doherty or Stephens; J Higgins v Lee or White.
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This has meant aid through food vouchers to the Naas Branch of St Vincent de Paul as well as a cheque to help flood disaster victims in Venezuela. The food vouchers were accepted (above) by Eunice Finlay, President, Naas branch of St Vincent de Paul and fellow member Jim O’Reilly.
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COILL DUBH, 3 March 2000: by 
Irishman 
The news has been welcomed by local councillors — Cllr Paul Kelly said they had been working on the project for so long now, that it seemed like ‘it was going to take forever’. “But at last things are on the move,” he said in a statement. “We must now make sure that the work is done as quickly as possible, and that the Demesne be opened up to the public - especially the hard pressed sports clubs in the Confey area - without delay."
NEWBRIDGE & COUNTY HALL, 1 March 2000: by 
The broadsides against were opened by Cllr Mary Glennon, who said she was ‘absolutely astounded’ by what she was hearing, particularly having followed the ‘machinations’ in the finalising the County Development Plan last year. “If we pass this application, we are sending a message that it is fine to build first and then ask for retention,” she said. “The perpetrator of this application has both ignored zoning and built without planning permission, in an historic coaching area and depriving nearby people of their privacy. No matter what way you look at it, it is wrong.”
At this point, council chairman P J Sheridan tried to push the motion to a vote, but was prevented from doing so by protests from several other councillors. Subsequently, Cllr Senan Griffin said the application was ‘a tricky one’ and that there was no doubt the development had ‘disimproved the comfort’ of the nearby Geraghty family. “Is it possible to put a penalty clause in the permission?” he wondered, suggesting that if it was refused it would probably be passed by An Bord Pleanala. “We’re really kicking football against the wall here.”
DUNSTOWN, 29 February 2000: by 
He admitted that the higher parts of the building will be visible above the screening trees that will be planted. Earlier, local resident Paul Carey had told a capacity audience at the meeting that it would be ‘visible from 60 miles away’, would be ‘lit up like a city at night’ and would ‘eliminate sunlight’ for 200 metres around it during daylight.
He suggested that a plant like that proposed ‘could work in harmony with the community’ and noted that they did in other countries, and ‘provided a benefit’ to the community.
MONASTEREVIN, 29 February 2000: by 
Mary Fanning (left) says she firmly believes there is nowhere else in the world where she has seen people experiencing peace like this place of prayer where pilgrims find an answer. Where depression, hurt and anger lift. 
NAAS & DUNSTOWN, 28 February 2000: by 
