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Tourist Outlet Village would 'improve Kildare's tourism status' NEWBRIDGE, 22 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. The proposed Tourist Outlet Village at Kill would significantly address a shortfall in tourist attractions in County Kildare, a former director-general of Bord Failte told the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing on the project yesterday. Michael McNulty said the village would help the county to improve its status in Irish tourism, with economic benefits for all. The hearing, which enters its fourth day today, is on foot of an appeal against planning permission for the project, taken by the Naas & District Traders Association. It is being heard in Hotel Keadeen. Mr McNulty also said such outlet villages bring benefits to local tourism through their ability to pull significant extra visitors into a locality and encourage significant number of visitors to extend their stay and shop in the locality. “Opportunities for joint marketing also arise within clusters of attractions which tend to put destinations particularly without great scenic beauty firmly on the tourist map,” he said. A director of the applicant company, Padraig O hUiginn, told the hearing that the village would provide 400 jobs, most of which would be for school-leavers who don’t continue to third level education. “If school-leavers are not hired here in this community, they will have to travel further to places like Blanchardstown, which is not desirable,” he said, adding that the project would also inject £8m into the local economy every year and with a 1.3m visitors projection it would be the biggest tourist attraction in the country. Earlier the hearing was given details of traffic elements of the proposal from traffic expert Frank Jordan, and also from Michael Moran of Denis Wilson Partnership. Mr Moran said the developers would be carrying out road improvements for the project, and that any such work will not impede any further road improvements planned by Kildare County Council. 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. Tom Dowling's KNN Racing Commentary It’s a remarkably busy week of racing for the end of October and I take Duinin (4.30) to get the week off to a flyer for Carlow trainer Pat Hughes. There may be some slight doubt about his ability to handle the going but the five-year-old is nicely treated on his best form and is worth a wager at Monday’s Ballinrobe meeting More

UDC gets injunction against travellers NAAS, 22 October 1999: by Brian Byrne. Naas UDC yesterday succeeded in getting an interlocutory injunction against the owners of almost 50 traveller caravans illegally parked at St Gabriel’s Place. The council was granted the order in Wicklow Circuit Court and can now order the travellers to leave. However, the situation may not yet be resolved fully, because if they don’t move, the council has to go back to court for a Committal Order before gardai can take direct action. Earlier this week, town officials and elected members called on the Government to change the legislation relating to moving on travellers, after town clerk Declan Kirrane served notice to 46 caravan owners of intention to seek the injunction (above). Residents of the area attended the monthly meeting of the council on Tuesday night to show their anger at how slow the procedures being followed by the council were. Meanwhile, they’ve also called for support for legislative change from local TDs Charlie McCreevy, Emmet Stagg and Bernard Durkan.

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Dun Carraig developer appeals to Planning Board over refusal LEIXLIP, 22 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. Orlynn Homes has lodged an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against Kildare County Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for 24 apartments in the wooded amenity area at Dun Carraig, Leixlip. The appeal seems timed to allow the procedure before the estate is taken in charge by Kildare County Council - it was one of 19 estates in the county which the council agreed to take in charge at last Monday’s monthly meeting. Built in the mid-eighties, Dun Carriag is just off the Captains Hill close to the town centre. The estate will be taken over only after agreement is reached on way leaves, vesting maps and the completion of outstanding work by the developer. Assistant county manager Terry O Niadh said in the case of Dun Carraig the developer had asked that the estate be taken in charge. Residents of Dun Carraig fear the developer could be successful in his appeal to An Bord Pleanala, which had to be taken before the estate was taken in charge. “Obviously if he did not own or have a material interest in the land, any appeal by him would seem strange to say the least,” local councillor Catherine Murphy (above) told KNN. Deputy Emmet Stagg has strongly criticised Orlynn’s decision to appeal and said that he would lodge his own submission as an observer.

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Blood Clinics working normally NAAS & NEWBRIDGE, 22 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. The next Naas Blood Transfusion Clinic will be held at the VEC on the Limerick Road next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Further information from Teresa Scanlon. Meanwhile, the clinic is in Newbridge this week, at Keadeen Hotel until this evening. All donors welcome. NOTE: The clinics are not affected by the nurses' strike, as they are staffed by specially-trained technicians rather than nurses.

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Naas Order of Malta celebrates the order's 900th anniversary NAAS, 21 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. The weekend of celebration by the Naas Unit of the Ambulance Corps of the Order of Malta for the 900th anniversary of the Knights of Malta organisation kick-started with a party for the senior citizens of the area on Saturday in the Care of the Aged Centre, Naas. The evening started with Mass celebrated by the Chaplian of the Order of Malta, local curate Fr Jimmy Doyle. The next day there was a special Mass for the order, followed by the presentation of service medals at a lunch in the Town House Hotel. Pictured above at the old folks party are Bridie Connell from New Row, a member of the Naas Unit in 1942 when it was founded, with Comdt Bill Reid and Ciss Corcoran.

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Naas Hospital contract signed NAAS & KILDARE GENERAL, 21 October 1999: by Brian Byrne. A £26m tender for the improvements to Naas General Hospital has been accepted by the Department of Health. In addition to improving existing services, the works will include the building of a new 31-bed General Medical ward. Preparatory work has been under way for several months, and new temporary administration and service accommodation has been put in place. Hospital manager Susan Grey told KNN that the full project is expected to be under way next month. Welcoming the move, Deputy Charlie McCreevy said the hospital, when finished, will be on a par with any in the country.

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Floodlight church costs KILDARE GENERAL, 21 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. To provide a floodlight for all the churches in County Kildare to mark the Millennium would cost some £43,000 and the provision of floodlighting would also involve maintenance and electricity charges of £10,000 a year. County secretary Tommy Skehan told councillors that, depending on the size of the location, some churches may require four floodlights and larger ones would need a maximum of 12 in order for the lighting to be effective. He told councillors that the cost implications for the project will have to be assessed at estimates time, next month. Councillors had agreed a proposal by Councillor Rainsford Hendy (above) to provide a floodlight for all churches of each denomination in the county, to mark the turn of the century and the birth of Christ. He said if churches wish to provide extra lights, that could do so at their own cost. He said he had also been thing of the safety aspect when putting forward the proposal. Councillor Senan Griffin proposed the cost be included in the estimates.

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Raised money for Care of the Aged NAAS, 21 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. Four regular Bingo players in Naas have raised £4,000 for Naas Care of the Aged, by running a '60s Night, a Race Night, and a Raffle Night in local hostelries. Pictured below with the result of their efforts are Ann O'Sullivan, Pacelli Road; Jackie Farrell, Pacelli Road; Mary McGarr, Our Lady's Place; and Mary Burke, Lacken View.

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Outbursts at UDC discussion on travelling traders situation NAAS, 20 October 1999: by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Last night's meeting of Naas UDC had to be suspended for a time by the chairman following interruptions by a member of the public during discussions on the current 'invasion' of the St Gabriel's Place area by travelling traders. Afterwards, people from the locality dissociated themselves from the outburst by the man, who only identified himself later as being from Corballis. But at the same time, the residents expressed their emphatic anger at a situation they say would not have arisen if promises to fence in the Pairc na nOg area, made by the UDC in April of last year, had been followed through. Up to 50 people from the area went to last night's meeting to express their feelings, though only 25 were allowed into the public gallery. At the outset, chairman Seamie Moore asked that they not interject into the proceedings, and brought forward a motion by Cllr Pat McCarthy on the issue, asking for - among other things - fencing of the area, and pursuit of the trespassers for restitution for damage. Cllr McCarthy said the residents had suffered from an 'invasion of brazen and hard-necked' people who had no consideration for them and who had subjected some local people to not getting 'a minute's sleep' in the last weeks because of their noisy generators. To murmurs of 'hear, hear' from the gallery, he said he feared that some people might 'take the law into their own hands'. "These travelling traders are not poor people," he continued. "They have property worth millions of pounds, top-of-the-range caravans with satellite dishes, and phone numbers for nationwide businesses. They have damaged property, and when they're gone it shouldn't end there - they should be pursued and prosecuted for this." He suggested that the existence of a builder's store on part of the Pairc na nOg site, which has been a source of contention locally, and the hard surface of the former tennis court had both contributed to the attractiveness of the site for the travellers. He called for the erection of notices which would clearly warn anyone attempting to park there that they would face the full rigours of the law. In his contribution, Cllr Pat O'Reilly said that legislation was needed which would break up convoys of three or more caravans 'and send them in different directions', and he asked if nothing could be done to prevent travellers coming in from outside the jurisdiction gaining entry to the country? Cllr Timmy Conway said the councillors had a responsibility in that promised bollards were not put in place by the council. "If we had to put up with what the residents here have had to for the last three weeks, we'd be up there roaring too," he said, adding that the UDC should be 'securing every open space in the town'. Cllr Evelyn Bracken noted that she had walked along the canal behind the area and that the situation under the bridge was 'disgusting'. "I'm worried that the health board is not involved," she said. Suggesting that the local people were 'prisoners in their own homes', Cllr Willie Callaghan said he didn't accept that gardai and the council had no powers to move such travelling traders on. He said that he had spoken with colleagues in other counties where there didn't seem to be a problem. "Where there's a will there's a way ... these people have broken fences, for instance, and I'm sure that they could even be got at under the Noise Pollution Act." Cllr Charlie Byrne said that Naas might as well have a sign up saying that the town 'was twinned with the travelling community', the situation was so bad. "How come gardai don't ask a convoy of caravans at 11 o'clock at night where they're going?" he asked. "If it was me coming out of a pub with two pints in me, they'd be onto me very quick. The sooner we get legislation that gives us the same rights as these travellers seem to have, the better." Many other areas of Naas with open spaces were wondering 'if they were going to be next', Cllr Mary Glennon said, and called on the gardai to act tough. "These people are living outside the law - if the gardai confiscated their £90,000 vehicles, often not taxed or insured, and put them up for sale for compensation for damage done, that would soften them. We need to have a strong talk with the gardai about their responsibilities. And the Revenue Commissioners probably know as much about the activities of these people as they did about the Ansbacher accounts." Town Clerk Declan Kirrane read from a letter circulated last evening to all residents, detailing the position concerning the injunction being applied for on tomorrow. He said that when trespass occurs on public property, the only recourse to the council is to seek such an injunction, and the council or gardai do not have the power to physically remove mobile homes or vehicles from the site. Town manager Terry O Niadh said that travelling convoys was a national problem and would have to be 'addressed nationally'. The leaflet also makes it clear that no consideration has ever been given to the possibility of establishing a halting site in the St Gabriel's Place area. "It's impossible to make any town secure against a travelling convoy like this who want to go into an open space," he said. "Everyone here understands the feelings and frustrations of people living in the area. Meanwhile, some people in town are obviously doing business with these traders, or they wouldn't be here. If people stop doing business with them, that will solve the problem.' Concluding, prior to what turned out to be unanimous support for his motion, Cllr McCarthy said he didn't want Naas 'turned into a fortress. "Nor do I want a blanket condemnation of people living in caravans ... but we have to do something." Councillors praised town clerk Declan Kirrane and his officials for their work behind the scenes in trying to resolve the situation. The town manager and council officials are to word a proposal to the ministers for justice and the environment asking them to put legislation in place to allow local authorities to deal with this kind of problem

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Nurse's strike sees Naas Hospital coping initially NAAS, 20 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. The beginning of yesterday’s national nurses’ strike saw Naas General Hospital running without serious complications yesterday, though all day clinical and outpatients services are suspended. “It's early to say how it will pan out if the situation goes on, but at this stage we're managing,” hospital manager Susan Grey (right) said. “Nurses are providing essential cover in all wards and in A&E. We have a very good relationship with the strike committee at the hospital, and I can tell you that patients are not at risk. The committee is also keeping in close touch with the conditions of critical patients.” Some 150 general nurses as well as a number of psychiatric nurses are on strike at Naas Hospital, which as of yesterday morning had 108 patients - a discharge programme is under way to make as many beds as possible available for emergencies, but a notice on the door asks people who think they need hospital attention to contact their GP first. Meanwhile, on the picket line, Staff Nurse Imelda Brown - vice president of the Irish Nurses Organisation - - told KNN that she believes the Government is using the nurses ‘to keep the rest of the civil servants under control’. “Being largely a women’s group, they think we’re an easy target and will cave in ... but I don’t think people will go back until they see that something is actually being done about our situation.” She also noted that the profession has lost a large number of nurses nationwide because of the inadequate pay and conditions.

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Tourist Village appeal opens NEWBRIDGE & KILL, 20 October 1999: by Brian Byrne. At the opening yesterday of the An Bord Pleanala appeal against the proposed Tourist Outlet Village beside Goffs in Kill, Naas & District Traders Association outlined their reasons for opposing the permission granted by Kildare County Council. The hearing is being held in Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge and is expected to last through tomorrow. The inquiry is being conducted by ABP senior inspector Jim Brogan (right). The traders claim the £20m development - among other things - contravenes both the 1985 and 1999 Kildare County Development plans, is contrary to directives on large scale retail outlets and to the 1999 Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area, and was recommended for refusal by Kildare's county engineer and the Roads Design Section of KCC on traffic safety grounds. Cllr Timmy Conway, for the objectors, claimed that traders from Bicester in England, where a similar operation has existed for several years, said as late as last week that the proposed development 'would destroy the town'. Conversely, Cllr Anthony Lawlor of Kill said the 'whole community of Kill is behind the project. The case for the applicants was outlined by Dermot Gleeson SC.

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'Get legislation changed' town clerk tells angry residents NAAS, 19 October 1999: by Brian Byrne. Naas town clerk Declan Kirrane told angry residents of St Gabriel’s Place (above) yesterday that they should ‘get on to their national politicians’ to change the legislation in relation to moving on travellers who park illegally on public property. He was responding to criticism of Naas UDC over the arrival of scores of traveller caravans into the area over the weekend. The residents had demanded to know why fencing hadn’t been put up around the green areas and Pairc na nOg following a similar situation last year. Mr Kirrane replied that ‘a fence up is a fence down’ but the real problem was that the local authorities had to go through a long and expensive legal process for every individual instance of trespass. “Until the law is changed, this kind of thing is going to keep happening,” he said. Residents said ‘the rot had set in’ when the council had allowed a building contractor to store his materials on part of the Pairc na nOg playground while he was carrying out work on behalf of the UDC in the area. Mr Kirrane had earlier served notice on the owners of the caravans of an intention to seek an injunction against them at next Thursday’s sitting of the Circuit Court in Wicklow. Last Friday, he had issued similar notices to the owners of 13 caravans which had parked on the former tennis courts almost three weeks ago. In all, almost 50 owners of caravans in the area have been issued with such notices. Yesterday’s operation was carried out with garda support. There were no incidents and children chatted happily with gardai as they escorted the council officials around the site. Most of the occupants at the time were women and children. One of the few men there remonstrated with gardai inspecting a new 3-series BMW coupe (value c. £40,000) with foreign registration plates. Other vehicles on the site included three British-registered Landcruiser Amazons, which in Ireland cost up to £78,000. Meanwhile, a special meeting of local authority, garda and health bodies was also held yesterday afternoon in Naas to see what can be done to deal with the latest influx of travellers. And Naas councillors were informed last evening of the situation. Meanwhile, KNN understands that many local residents intend to go to tonight’s monthly meeting of Naas UDC to show the strength of their feelings.

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New face for Kilcullen's theatre KILCULLEN, 19 October 1999: by Brian Byrne. A new face to Kilcullen’s Town Hall Theatre has been taking shape over the last few days as work proceeds on the expansion of the building to include a heritage centre and improved stage area. The new facility is planned to be officially opened on New Year’s Eve as part of a Street Party planned for the town’s marking of the advent of the new millennium. The cut stone walls which are being built will completely hide the old frontage of the building, which was originally built in the 20s as a community hall and over the years also saw service as what was once recognised as one of the most progressive cinemas in Kildare. But the building itself has little architectural merit, and the new frontage should significantly enhance this section of town, which may also see other improvements under the new Town Renewal tax-incentive scheme for which Kilcullen was recently selected along with four other towns in the county. A feature of the new building will be a gated glass-covered atrium in front of the entrance to a new foyer area. To mark the hall’s cinema heyday, one of the projectors used at that time will stand as a memento. The refurbished theatre itself is likely to be one of the most luxurious in the province, as the 100 seats will in fact be luxury car seats supplied by the Volvo Motor Company, thanks to the good offices of local Volvo dealer Pat Dunlea. “I have to sell an awful lot of Volvos to swing this one,” he said to KNN last week.

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Hackney licence fee increased COUNTY HALL, 19 October 1999: by Trish Whelan. Kildare County Council has tripled the fee for a hackney licence from £100 to £300. This emerged at yesterday’s meeting of the council when councillors also voted to reopen for receipt of applications for hackney licences until 31 December, and to review the situation in January 2000. The decision followed a lengthy discussion, with Cllr Sean O’Fearghail (left) stressing the importance of ensuring delivery of a quality service to the people of the county. He pointed out a disparity in the provision of service in various areas of the county, with ‘grave dissatisfaction among the ranks in Newbridge of even greater numbers in that area’. "We’re all inundated with people wanting into the market for the Christmas rush,” he said. Cllr Rainsford Hendy’s proposal to reopen until 31 December was accepted by a majority vote against a proposal by Cllr Catherine Murphy that the time for applications be open-ended. Council officials say they receive one request each day in respect of new hackney plates and this has been the trend for some time. At present there is a total of 507 hackney plates in County Kildare - Naas has 37 active plates, Newbridge 91, Leixlip 55, Celbridge 73, Maynooth 50, Kildare 5.

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Encountering the outback GAGADU, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, 19 October 1999: SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES by Susan Cunningham. The east coast of Australia is the most active holiday you will ever have. You can choose from a variety of sports and more. From toad golf to swimming with dolphins to visiting a crocodile farm. There is literally something for everybody, many of which are not for the faint-hearted. As backpackers we are limited by only two things - money and time. Fortunately, competition is fierce so it is very possible to do most of what is on offer. Never forget this is a country that loves backpackers and caters very well for their needs. As inexperienced campers we opted for a somewhat supervised bushcamp as our first stop in Queensland. Gagadu is 7km from Noosa Heads, just an hour and a half north of Brisbane. It is very much off the track. The turn-off to the camp is a sand path more suited to a four-wheel-drive. It is all part of a sandy national park on the banks of the Noosa river. The campsite is run by two former backpackers who had nowhere to live so chose to "go bush ". The hostel of sorts is 100% recycled and enviornmentally friendly. There is a common room/tent that will remind you of M.A.S.H. with cooking facliities and warm showers are also available. It is rather like staying at a friend’s house. The atmosphere is very relaxed. So much so you find yourself answering the phone and or cleaning the common tent. They also offer a 3-day canoe trip to an adjacent camping ground, which is most enjoyable even for the very unfit among us. Feeling like veteran campers, we pushed on up the coast for a pre-booked four-wheel-drive experience. A lot of the outback in Australia is very near impossible to drive without such a vehicle. Our trip took us to the largest sand island in the world (124 kilometers long covering 163,000 hectares). For the trip we grouped up with four Americans and, thank God, one could drive a 4WD. Our intro and training lasted all of an hour. Most of which was news footage of accidents other backpackers had had. The island itself is spectacular. Unfortunately, the weather was not great, but the contrast between the magnificent rainforest and the never-ending stretch of beach shone through the bleak weather. After all that sand, we were about ready for some water. We had booked ourselves on a 3-day sailing trip around the tropical Whitsunady islands. It is all you can imagine and more. For a mere $265 we spent three days pretending that we were not lowely backpackers living from bags and sleeping in a car but were eccentric millionaires cruising around sundrenched islands and snorkelling on the reef. Back to reality. We are approaching the very north of Queensland and have only seven weeks or so to to get back to Sydney before flying home. Time is of the essence as the distane to be covered is near nine thousand kilometers. First though, it's to Mission Beach to cure my fear of flying. Yes, the dreaded Sky Dive. Australia will bring out the adventerous side of even the most cowardly amongst us.

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Officials, gardai, to confront invading travellers in Naas NAAS, 18 October 1999: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. Naas UDC officials backed up by gardai are to tell the owners of over 60 traveller caravans parked by the canal at St Gabriel’s Place to move on. The officials will be on site at 3pm this afternoon, and will be taking names to add to an injunction which will be finalised at a sitting of the Circuit Court in Wicklow on Thursday. The travellers moved in en masse over the weekend, following the granting of an interim injunction against the owners of a small number of caravans which had been illegally parked in the area for the last three weeks. Naas Town Clerk Declan Kirrane told KNN this afternoon that there was a misconception that local authorities had immediate right to move such people on. “This is not so - we have to go through a lengthy process under the existing legislation, which simply cannot cope with the kind of problems local authorities face today,” he said. “There’s an urgent need for a change in legislation at national level, but in the meantime we have to continually go through this injunctive process, which is very expensive. It’s just not fair on councillors to be getting phone calls from angry residents, when the procedures put the matter largely outside our control.” A special meeting of local authority, garda and health bodies is also to take place this afternoon in Naas to see what can be done to deal with the massive influx of travellers. And Naas councillors will be informed this evening of the situation. Meanwhile, KNN understands that many local residents intend to go to tomorrow night’s monthly meeting of the UDC to show the strength of their feelings.

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'Invasion of marauders' to Naas NAAS, 18 October 1999: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. Residents of Naas are said to be ‘in fear of leaving their homes’ over the last few days following what has been described by the town's UDC chairman as an ‘influx of marauders’ in the form of more than 60 caravans belonging to travelling families. And Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been slammed for his government’s inaction on the traveller issue. The travellers, from Britain, the North, Cork, Dublin, Wexford and many other counties, descended on Pairc na nOg beside the Grand Canal since Friday, following a court application by Naas UDC to evict six families who were illegally parked on the site for the last 10 days. A temporary injunction was granted on Friday and the council is due in court again Wednesday for an interlocutory injunction against those six families. But the latest mass arrival renders that application worse than useless. “This has to be dealt with at a national level,” UDC chairman Seamie Moore stormed yesterday afternoon. “We can’t cope with the traveller problem at local level because we’re not getting support from the Government. And I’m incensed at Bertie Ahern telling us that every town and village in Ireland should get themselves prepared ‘to take in an influx of refugees’ from Central Europe when he hasn’t at national level sorted out both our social housing problems and accommodation for travellers.” Cllr Willie Callaghan told of residents in the St Gabriel’s Place area of Naas ‘in tears’ on the phone to him over the weekend. “They’re afraid to leave their homes this morning even to go to Mass,” he said yesterday. “The whole town is being intimidated by these people.” Cllr Moore made a clear distinction between indigenous travellers who are being helped by the council in Naas and what he calls ‘commercial’ travellers who are ‘holding the town to ransom’. “We’re doing what we can with our limited resources to help people who have shown they want to be a part of the community. These invaders are all doing business and have no rights to be parked in our public places.” (Pictured above are a group putting a ramp in place to facilitate driving on and off the green area beside Pairc na nOg.) Cllr Callaghan said the ‘law will have to be changed’ to stop this kind of thing. “What’s happened here is that the ones who were going to be thrown out have rung their friends and relations to come in and complicate the situation. And the gardai have a part to play here too - a lot of these people have trucks registered outside the State ... if you or I did this we’d have our vehicles confiscated.” On Friday, when town clerk Declan Kirrane went to serve the court orders on the original six families, only two gardai were available in the headquarters of the Kildare-Carlow Garda Division to support council officials. “I was told most of the gardai were away on computer courses,” he said. Ironically, as of last Friday evening, gardai across the country are refusing to to use computers in the latest industrial action by the force - a new Y2K-compliant computer system was due to come on line this week, but gardai are now back to using pen and paper until they get more money to use the new system. Meanwhile, a property owner at Kilashee has taken his own action (below) to deal with travellers parked on his property - he has erected a fence around the caravans, a number of which were still there even after the fence was finished at the weekend.

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Fears of waste station prompts council to action on landowner SILLIOTT HILL, 18 October 1999: by Bill Trapman. Kildare County Council has been trying to serve a Cessation Order on the owner of land at Silliott Hill where local residents fear a waste baling station and a refuse truck depot is being prepared. The land is owned by a principal of Wheel Bin Services Ltd, who took over the refuse collection service in Naas when it was privatised by the town’s UDC. But, according to one councillor close to the situation, the order has been difficult to serve. “It seems that the address of the company involved is a scrapyard in Dundalk,” says Cllr Billy Hillis. “An inspector from the Planning Department in County Hall has made several visits to the site already, where work has been going on for some time now ... I reckon 200 loads of gravel have been brought onto the site already.” Earthmoving machinery is being used to create a large flat area on what is zoned agricultural land bordering a very dangerous bend at Silliott Hill, and a formerly derelict hayshed has been rebuilt into a substantial building which could be used for a workshop. No planning application has been lodged for a change of use, and while Kildare County Council will only say that the situation ‘is under investigation’, KNN understands that the landowner is claiming he is simply ‘restructuring a farmyard’. For a number of years, Wheel Bin Services Ltd has used a location on a farm at Mullacash (above) to keep its vehicles and store spare wheel bins. But last April they were asked by the farm owner to look for a new site, and they have to be off the farm by the end of this month. Calls by KNN to the company’s principal who owns the Silliott Hill property have remained unanswered. Asked about the possibility of a baling station being located on the site, a spokesman for Kildare County Council’s Planning Department said that any such enterprise would certainly require planning permission, and probably an Environmental Impact Study. Already under pressure to find facilities for refuse disposal, the council itself has begun sending waste to South Dublin County Council for baling and disposal in the Arthurstown Dump at Kill.

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GARDA PATROL ADVICE OF THE WEEK Tradesmen and contractors should take power tools out of their vans at night, gardai in Naas have warned. The theft of tools from vehicles has reached epidemic proportions and they have appealed for people to take this simple precaution.

Wants help with trad music project NEWBRIDGE, 17 October 1999: Dear Editor, We are currently carrying out a research project on the development of traditional music in Co Kildare with a view to publishing the information in book form. If anyone out there has information on various aspects of traditional/folk music; musicians; dancers and so on, relating to County Kildare could they please contact us Yours Sincerely, M&A Kelly. Kildare Performing Arts Group. Check out the weather here

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	by Liam Cahill The seminal account of the Limerick Soviet Available here
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		NAAS BAPTIST BIBLE CENTRE Everyone is invited to study God's Word, the Bible, with us, Sunday evenings 6.30, 45 Jigginstown Park. We are presently studying the life of Christ. Contact Rev Roger Parrow 045 894771. (Advt.)

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