KildareNet News is the INDEPENDENT internet news service for and about Kildare, located on the County Kildare Community Network. KNN has no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. The service is operated by TELLING TALES LTD under the editorial direction of BRIAN BYRNE and TRISH WHELAN. Site best viewed with NETSCAPE browser and with the VERDANA font. All content © Telling Tales Ltd. Phone 045 481090 or 086 8267104; Fax 045 481091; Email tellingtales@yahoo.com SCROLL for CURRENT stories. EARLIER stories and ARCHIVES KNN Special FEATURES Visit our flagship sponsor For audios get free REALPLAYER KNN-KildareNet News was awarded three shamrocks by Doras THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

National train, bus companies slated at Newbridge meeting NEWBRIDGE, 17 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. Public transport services for Newbridge came under heavy criticism at last night’s meeting of Newbridge Town Commission, and ‘absolute pandemonium’ was forecast for next Monday because of Iarnrod Eireann’s delay in producing printed copies of its new Winter Timetable. Cllr Fiona O’Loughlin (right) said that the current service is ‘an absolute disgrace’ with completely inadequate trains capacity for the growing numbers of commuters attracted to live in the town because of a supposed good rail service to Dublin. “There are only two trains in the morning that will get somebody to work in Dublin by nine o’clock,” she said, and added that of the three trains home to Newbridge each evening, one was too early for most commuters to consider. “In addition, there are far too few feeder buses from Heuston Station into the city.” On the new timetable, Cllr O’Loughlin said she had tried as recently as yesterday to ascertain the timings of trains from next Monday, both from local staff and from IE’s head office, without success. “There will be absolute pandemonium on Monday,” she said. Cmmr Colm Feeney said there was a problem with the ‘limited capacity’ of the permanent way. The commissioners agreed that a ‘high-ranking’ representative from Iarnrod Eireann be asked to come before the commission and explain the situation. Meanwhile, Cmmr Seamie Finn (left) raised the issue of Bus Eireann Expressway buses not calling to Newbridge. “A number of them now stop first at Kildare, and Newbridge people who want to get to certain parts of southern Ireland have to take a local bus to Kildare first,” he said. He asked the Town Clerk to bring up the matter with Bus Eireann. 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. Check out the weather here

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Jordan Formula One car to race in Kildare for 1st Irish outing MONDELLO PARK, 17 September 1999: by Jaqueline Taylor.There’s a high-powered turnout for the Digifone Leinster Trophy Races this weekend at Mondello Park. For the first time in Ireland, Esat Digifone, as the official mobile communications sponsor of Jordan Grand Prix, are bringing the latest Jordan Formula One car to Mondello where it will be driven on Sunday by former Grand Prix driver and RTE F1 commentator, David Kennedy. The two-day programme will be televised by RTE, and to mark the occasion Digifone has become the official sponsor of the Leinster Trophy Races, which features the Formula Europa series. The event has been won in the past by such notables as reigning F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen, in 1988, the late Ayrton Senna in 1982 and Eddie Jordan, owner of the Jordan Grand Prix team, 21 years ago in 1978. Other past competitors includes Jordan driver Heinz Harald Frentzen, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and James Hunt. Commenting on the visit of the Jordan car, Eddie Jordan said he is delighted that the Jordan Grand Prix racing car is finally going to run in Ireland. “It is a dream come true for the team, for all our Irish supporters, and for Jordan’s only Irish sponsor, Esat Digifone, who are the ones who have made it possible. Twenty-one years on from my victory in the Leinster Trophy, there can be no better way re-live the memories.” Ireland's top Formula Europa racers take on the world's top up-and-coming drivers in rounds 17 and 18 of the EFDA Euroseries at Mondello Park over the weekend, with Michael Keohane of Clonakilty eager to impress the home crowd in his Irish Cement and Irish Concrete Federation-backed car. Twenty-five cars will line up on the grid for the two EFDA races, including championship leader, Toby Scheckter, South African son of former World Champion, Jody. While the South African won both races at Silverstone recently, other race winners, Britain's Darren Malkin and Brazilian Carlos Domingos, will be intent on redressing the balance. Several of the domestic championships also draw to a conclusion at Mondello Park, including the Dunlop RT2000 series, the Ford of Ireland Formula Fords, the Yokohama Fiat Uno Cup, the Dunlop Historic Cars and the Super Crosslé 9S Sportscar series.

BARGE TOURS A unique way to enjoy an afternoon or evening. Sundays & Bank Holidays every hour from 2 pm. Grand Canal Hotel & Barge Tours, Robertstown, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone/Fax: 045-870005 or E-mail THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

Setting out on Australian driveabout SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 17 September 1999: SPECIAL FEATURE SERIES by Susan Cunningham. Australia is covered in kangaroos. Just covered. Wallabies, kangaroos and koalas everywhere. Actually, not really. I've been here close on a year now and apart from a trip to the Zoo I have yet to spot my first real life Australian Skippy. What this country is truly covered in is Backpackers. Australia is, it seems, a port of call for those in their mid-twenties from England to Israel and from Chile to Canada. Australia is very hospitable to the traveller it must be one of the easier countries in the world to travel through.Their are hostels scattered everywhere camping ground fully equipped with Bar-be and showers. Their hospitality, it seems, sometimes stems from the fact that this country is so far away from everywhere that Australians are just glad to see someone from the outside world. The entire challenge of being a traveller here lies in the huge distance between each destination. Superimposed on a map of Europe Oz stretches from Madrid to Moscow. So to conquer such a distance we decided to buy a car. Straight forward enough you would think. However as backpackers our budget is limited so going to a garage or finding something in The Sydney Morning Herald was not an option. Instead we made a trip to The Backpackers Car Market in the red (or dead) light district of Kings Cross in Sydney. Yes, an entire market full of some the oldest cars in Australia . These cars are better travelled than Michael Palin. They've done the road from Sydney to Cairns so many times they could get you there themselves. After much deliberation and bargaining, speaking to mechanics looking under bonnets it was decided to make a purchase. Between a group of four we bought a 1983 Ford Falcon station wagon. A beast of a car that is to be our home for the next three months or so. It is not environmentally friendly, not economical on gas, and now and again you get the feeling that too many people before you have made this car their home. Somehow that's the point. Backpacking is not for everybody. To be honest, none of us know if it's for us. Still, spirits are good, car is all go, and we are off. ED'S NOTE: Susan Cunningham is from Newbridge and will be reporting regularly to KNN on her travels across the Land of Oz.

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Clane Musical Society set to give Sweet Charity to show lovers CLANE, 16 September 1999: by Trish Whelan. Clane Musical Society will hold an Open Night on Wednesday 29 September, to provide information about the society and to detail plans for its millennium production - ‘Sweet Charity’ by Bob Fosse - which will be staged in March 2000. The show is a comedy set in the 1960s with a main character who seems to be unlucky in love, to say the least. The songs are are memorable, including ‘Hey, Big Spender’, ‘If They Could See Me Now’ and ‘Rhythm of Life’. It will be directed by Mary Power-Coooney while musical direction will be by Brian Brady. Marie Cusack will oversee set design and construction and Trish Fusco will be wardrobe mistress. Pictured above are Marie Cusack (front) with the trophy for Best Sets won at the AIMS national awards this summer, Aidan Gately who won the Clane Musical Society ‘Spirit of the Show’ award, and Edel Marron who won the society’s ‘Stephen Coleman, You Make a Difference’ award. During the summer some members of the society took part in a production of ‘The King and I’ which was staged in the National Concert Hall - the cast were Helena Reynolds, Marie Reynolds, Fiona Shirran, Ann Clifford, Sarah Flynn, Marion O’Keefe and Aaron Donnelly, while Marie Cusack, Tom Kavanagh and Colin O’Reilly were in the stage crew. Further information from Ann Noonan at 045 868735

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KNN is a completely INDEPENDENT professional news service for County Kildare, with no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. It is our policy to report accurately and fairly on any subject, and we offer right of reply to anyone who has differing opinions to those expressed in any story. Any such opinions published on KNN are not necessarily the views of KNN's proprietors or any network on which we are hosted or to which we may be linked. Email us, or phone 045 481090; fax 481091.

Maynooth Tidy Towns performance 'reflects strong voluntary effort' MAYNOOTH, 16 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. The 5% improvement in the performance of Maynooth in the National Tidy Towns Scheme has been welcomed by Maynooth Action Strategy as a ‘just reward for a sterling effort’ by a small number of committed individuals. “Although one of the most rapidly growing towns in the country, with an annual average population increase of 8%, and despite acute pressures on limited infrastructure, Maynooth has managed to turn in a creditable performance in this competition and can be proud of its achievments this year,” says MAS spokesman John Sweeney. “While some of the extra points are attributable to improvements in the built environment, such as the completion of the Main Street works, significant increases in points were achieved in several other areas as a result of the activities of the Tidy Towns committee.” MAS says particular acknowledgement should be made of a small group of volunteers who have toiled throughout the summer in various public areas to create and maintain flower beds, cut grass, kill weeds and pick up litter. In particular the group mentions Robert O’Reilly - ‘a stalwart in using the Tidy Towns’ committee new ride-on lawnmower to its maximum to maintain grass areas’ - while an average of five bin bags of litter has been collected by the Sunday morning volunteers each week from Maynooth Main Street. “Without the dedication and commitment of volunteers in these and other areas, Maynooth would be a much poorer place in which to live, and as a community we owe them our thanks,” says John Sweeney. The judges also endorsed the MAS document "The First Steps" as an appropriate vision for the future development of the town. The group will be developing a number of projects over the coming months to progress this objective.

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Women 'need more flexible employment policies' LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, 16 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. Women still suffer inequality in the workplace despite being better educated, Tanaiste Mary Harney TD told the ‘Women Mean Business’ conference held recently in Lexington, Kentucky, at which 14 Kildare women entrepreneurs were participants. “Women make up 50% of the workforce and half of all consumers and any organisation that does not fuly value half of its workforce is losing out,” she warned, urging employers to implement more flexible employment policies. Another speaker at the conference, who has regularly taken part in Women in Business seminars in County Kildare, was Janet Steele Holloway, executive director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Kentucky. She detailed research findings that women continue to ‘double job’ at home and in the workplace and that the leading motivation for women to start their own businesses was a requirement for flexibility in their working lives.

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Newslines ... NAAS: Rehearsals for Naas Musical Society’s fifth annual production, The Merry Widow, started last Monday in The Town House Hotel. To help with costs the Society intend holding two fundraising events - a car boot sale on Sept 19 and a Golf Classic in Killeen Golf Club on Sept 24. Those interested in sponsoring can contact the Socity president Dave Smyth at 879754. BALLYMORE: Ballymore Eustace is preparing to celebrate the Millenium by publishing a Chronicle of life in the village as it approaches the year 2000. It will be similar in style to the Parish Chronicles of the '50s and ’70s. Contributions from all villagers living abroad who have photos or other memories of Ballymore from the past are welcome. Send them to Tim Ryan at Barrack Street, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare or contact bmoreustace@eircom.net NEWBRIDGE: A special dedicated Garda Drugs Squad unit based in Newbridge has found 84 people in possession of drugs since it was set up last May. Twenty of these were detained for possession with intent to supply and some £12,000 in drugs value and cash has been seized. Next week is Addiction Awareness Week and a booklet on drugs awareness will be launched by the Naas Youth Parliament. MAYNOOTH: Kildare has a horse population of more than 63,000 according to a study carried out by a researcher in the Department of Geography at National University of Ireland Maynooth. The document is the Census Atlas of Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland and was produced by Seamus Lafferty. NAAS: Naas Local History Group is in the middle of a photographic odyssey at the moment in a project which aims to collect 500 photographs of all aspects of life around the county town. The result will be called the Nas na Riogh Dá Míle Collection. ATHY AND NAAS: Swimming pools in Athy and Naas are among a number of pools around the country earmarked for major refurbishment as part of a £45m rescue package announced by Tourism Minister Jim McDaid to upgrade local authority pools in need of refurbishment. The Naas pool was constructed in 1971 and the Athy pool in 1977.

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NEWS OR VIEWS? Something happening in your community that's bothering you? Or do you simply want to share the news from your village or town in County Kildare? You can, by emailing us at KNN

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Petition to reopen estate house for care children visitation NEWBRIDGE, 15 September 1999: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. A number of Newbridge women who have related children in care with the Eastern Health Board have organised a petition to have the Board resume use of a house in Allenview Heights (above) for visiting with the children. They say that the one-room accommodation currently available in the EHB’s town offices is completely inadequate for their needs. The house, No 53 in the 159-home estate, was bought by the EHB in 1997 and plans were made to turn it into a ‘family support services’ centre for County Kildare. Up to three months ago it was actually used for care visitation, but the local residents’ association got two-thirds of the families in Allenview Heights to protest to Kildare County Council over the ‘change of use’ for the house. That was in October 1997, but the EHB didn't seek planning permission until September 1998. At the end of last year, the council turned down a planning application by the Board to make offices, social workers’ rooms and family rooms in the house, on the grounds that it contravened the 1996 Newbridge Development Plan and 'would be seriously injurious to the amenities of adjoining properties'. The EHB has since appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanala. The petition to have the house reopened for visits is being led by Madeleine O’Shea and Sinead Fogarty (left) of Dara Park. Madeline regularly meets a nephew in the care system, while Sinead has a number of her own children with the Board. “It was like a normal house, with TV and videos,” Madeline says. “Kids would do cooking, with coffee mornings for mothers. It’s very important for the kids to have a home environment. This house was used by 4-5 families a day and I don’t know how it interfered with any residents because we were in the house all the time.” Sinead Fogarty says she used to see her children in care once a week but now it’s once every three weeks because there’s nowhere to meet. “I have to bring them off somewhere else for the few hours, like McDonald’s. Children went to the house to have showers - but all that is gone now.” Residents who spoke to KNN yesterday said they agree with the need for someplace where mothers can visit their children, but that the middle of a housing estate is not the place for it. They said that when No 53 was in use by the EHB they were often ‘under siege’ by cars being parked all along the streets around the house. “I counted 70 cars on one day,” said a member of the association who had the time to monitor the activity. Another said the presence of the ‘family support centre’ devalued the other homes in Allenview Heights. “The whole idea is to save money, because it’s cheaper to buy a house in an estate than to buy an equivalent property in the town itself,” he suggested. “I think that this is just a ‘flier’ on the part of the EHB to see if it could be done without problems.” That was obviously the thoughts of Kildare County Council planners too, because one of the reasons given for turning down the application was that ‘it could be a precedent’ to similar initiatives elsewhere in the county. Meantime, as both sides await the judgement of An Bord Pleanala, the residents of Allenview Heights have temporarily given up counting cars ... and mothers with children in care take them to McDonalds on visiting days. Nobody's really happy - except maybe the purveyers of the Big Mac.

THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114   Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more.

KNN is a completely INDEPENDENT professional news service for County Kildare, with no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. It is our policy to report accurately and fairly on any subject, and we offer right of reply to anyone who has differing opinions to those expressed in any story. Any such opinions published on KNN are not necessarily the views of KNN's proprietors or any network on which we are hosted or to which we may be linked. Email us, or phone 045 481090; fax 481091.

Ballymore developers set for tough strategy meeting today BALLYMORE, 15 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. The principals of Abbeydrive Developments are to have intensive discussions this evening with their planning expert group, led by Frank Benson, to decide the next stage in a strategy to develop in Ballymore Eustace. Company MD Gerry Deane said yesterday that ‘there will be development’ in the village, despite the recent overturning by An Bord Pleanala of permission granted to his company to build 416 houses in Ballymore. “In the meantime, the granting of permission for the sewerage treatment plant which we proposed in parallel with the other development is encouraging,” he told KNN. The permission, in face of objections by the Ballymore Eustace Trout and Salmon Anglers Association and others, was granted subject to six conditions - the most significant of which include maintenance of access to the river Liffey and the preparation of a landscape architect’s proposal to minimise visual impact, both in the interests of amenity. The sewerage system is to cost £1.6m, 40% of which will be funded by the Department of the Environment and the balance by the developer.

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Kill tops in county tidy towns ... again KILL & KILDARE GENERAL, 15 September 1999: by Trish Whelan. Despite having Ireland’s biggest waste disposal facility literally dumped in its back yard over the last few years, the deterimation of Kill and its residents has once again brought the mid-Kildare village to the top of the Tidy Towns tree in the county. With 239 points, the Killers beat neighbouring Johnstown into ‘Highly Commended’ and Rathangan came ‘Commended’ in the ‘Best Town or Village’ overall county competition. “We won it for cleanliness,” Kill Tidy Towns chairwoman Joan Kerr told KNN last evening, noting proudly that it was the village’s 17th win in the last two decades. “And it was all down to hard work and cooperation by the villagers involved - day and night.” Joan (pictured second from the left above with Fergal Gavin, Nellie Creighton, Danny Molloy and Gordon Gavin) paid tribute to all concerned for playing their part in keeping Kill at the top of the league. “And we’re already working flat out to make sure that we become a Millennium Milestone for tidiness next year.” Nellie was a founder member of the Kill Tidy Towns Committee, and remembers the particularly hard work in the early years, with relatively little help and a river that’s now a showpiece which was all brambles and rubble. With Joan Kerr on this year’s committee are John Trant, Kay Molloy, Kathleen Brady, Noel McMetakaterian, Andrew Birchall, Janet Carr, John Byrne and Peter Foley. A part of Johnstown is pictured above. The full county results are: Category A: ARDCLOUGH 154 (51.3%), CALVERSTOWN 203 (67.7%), JOHNSTOWN 232 (77.3%), JOHNSTOWNBRIDGE 201 (67.0%), KILDANGAN 157 (52.3%), KILKEA 194 (64.7%), KILMEAD 205 (68.3%), MILLTOWN-KILDARE 202 (67.3%), MOONE 185 (61.7%), TIMOLIN 177 (59.0%), Category B: BALLITORE 184 (61.3%), BROADFORD-KILDARE 206 (68.7%), COILL DUBH 164 (54.7%), KILTEEL 183 (61.0%), NARRAGHMORE 221 (73.7%), STRAFFAN 193 (64.3%), SUNCROFT 186 (62.0%), Category C: BALLYMORE EUSTACE 216 (72.0%), KILCOCK 176 (58.7%), KILCULLEN 208 (69.3%), KILL 239 (79.7%), RATHANGAN 222 (74.0%), Category D: CLANE 206 (68.7%), MONASTEREVIN 163 (54.3%), Category E: ATHY 191 (63.7%), MAYNOOTH 178 (59.3%), Category F: CELBRIDGE 200 (66.7%), LEIXLIP 184 (61.3%), NAAS 200 (66.7%), NEWBRIDGE-KILDARE 210 (70.0%).

KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615

KNN is a completely INDEPENDENT professional news service for County Kildare, with no affiliations to any network, authority, group, party or other organisation. It is our policy to report accurately and fairly on any subject, and we offer right of reply to anyone who has differing opinions to those expressed in any story. Any such opinions published on KNN are not necessarily the views of KNN's proprietors or any network on which we are hosted or to which we may be linked. Email us, or phone 045 481090; fax 481091.

Permission granted for sewerage treatment plant at Ballymore BALLYMORE, 14 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. Planning permission for a new sewerage treatment plant for Ballymore Eustace has been granted by An Bord Pleanala in a judgement from an oral hearing held last July. The plant was planned to be a joint venture between Abbeydrive Developments and Kildare County Council, but was strenuously objected to by local residents and fisheries and amenity interests. The judgement was issued on Friday, ahead of expectation, and has surprised Ballymore people because it appears to conflict with the opinion of the ABP inspector who heard the case. Just over a week ago, a parallel judgement on a proposed 416-house development at Ballymore overturned planning permission given by Kildare County Council. “We are mystified because the inspector’s comments in the housing judgement indicated his opinion that the sewerage treatment plant was premature and that the alternative sites proposed had not been adequately investigated,” says John White, the leader of the local lobby group ABCD. The site proposed for the £1.6m facility is on the River Liffey close to an amenity location for which Ballymore Local Development has drafted development plans. During the oral hearing, local landowner Matt Purcell objected strongly to a submission from consulting engineers P H McCarthy, on behalf of the developers, which, he said, indicated a disturbing degree of "liaison between the developer and Kildare County Council" at a time when it was considering the application in its role as the planning authority. Ballymore Eustace Anglers Association's Liam Deegan (above) also protested strongly at the hearing, arguing that neither Abbeydrive nor the county council could guarantee a minimum dilution of sewage effluent from the proposed treatment plant, it was argued. Department of Environment grants are earmarked to cover 40 per cent of total treatment plant costs, Abbeydrive's principal Gerry Deane (left) said at the time of the hearing, while Abbeydrive would pay the remaining 60 per cent, equivalent to close to £1 million. It is not known what the status of the plant is now, in the light of the recent refusal for Abbeydrive’s own development.

A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin BARGE TOURS A unique way to enjoy an afternoon or evening. Sundays & Bank Holidays every hour from 2 pm. Grand Canal Hotel & Barge Tours, Robertstown, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone/Fax: 045-870005 or E-mail

NEWS OR VIEWS? Something happening in your community that's bothering you? Or do you simply want to share the news from your village or town in County Kildare? You can, by emailing us at KNN

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Fond memories of living in Naas Jail NAAS & NEWBRIDGE, 14 September 1999: by Trish Whelan. A man who spent his youth in the old county jail in Naas has fond memories of the place his father called Dun Aobhainn - ‘The Beautiful Fort’. But the family’s home for 30 years was in fact the former Governor’s House, a big two-story stone house on the left hand side when you entered through the main gate. The jail, which was completed in 1833 at a cost of some £14,000, was demolished to make way for St Martin’s Avenue housing estate. Paud O’Flynn (above today and on left sitting on the wall of the jail in his youth) who now lives in Moore Park, Newbridge, told KNN that the house which was extremely cold in winter, relied on coal for heat. “There was a basement in our house which was the kitchen. The three or four manholes in front of the house were for unloading coal into the cellars to supply the kitchens of the jail. The cellars were linked with the jail kitchens. And all buildings had a basement.” He said the main building of the jail had about 96 cells. Annals show that prisoners had been kept at Naas prior to transportation to Australia in 1837/8. “There were six underground punishment cellars down a stairs in one section but there were no cells in the other section of the grounds,” he recalled, and wondered if the cellars had been filled in with some kind of soft material following a story of how a resident of St Martin’s Avenue who was tending his garden, found the spade he was using had disappeared down a hole. Paud remembers how his father had enjoyed gardening and how their garden had been across from the family home in an area formerly used as a parade ground for the prisoners. This section had no cellars, he said. As far as he could recall, nobody lived in the former warder’s cells. As a child he had not seen the ghosts said to haunt the building (interior of the time it was a jail shown below) but he recalled how the lane up to the jail was ‘jet black dark’ and spooky. On the brighter side, Mrs McIntosh used to hold dancing classes there. Another memory is of opening the front door in 1933, during the big snow, only to find the snow reached above the door. When the jail was closed in 1955 all the residents had to leave. “My mother and my sister Kathleen had run a boarding house in the Governor’s House where we lived, so it was sad to have to move on.” Some of the residents of the old jail included Mary Ellen Broe, Guggy Rourke, Guard Brennan, Guard Leech, Mary Farrell-Cahills (top floor), the Hickeys, Singletons, Miss O’Reilly, Guard Mackey, the Drewitts, the Maddens and the O’Flynns.

THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114  KILCULLEN ESSO AND XL STOP 'N' SHOP Open 7am-10pm for Fuel, Groceries, Toiletries, Flowers, Newspapers, Deli Food, Fresh Coffee and more. A Great Tradition of Hospitality Killarney Parknasilla Rosslare Galway Shannon Dublin THINKING OF RETURNING TO IRELAND? ARTHUR E MACMAHON, solicitors in Naas, can represent you in all your legal, conveyancing, and commercial needs with professionalism and confidentiality. Email us or phone +353 (0)45 897936; fax +353 (0)45 897615 BARGE TOURS A unique way to enjoy an afternoon or evening. Sundays & Bank Holidays every hour from 2 pm. Grand Canal Hotel & Barge Tours, Robertstown, Naas, Co Kildare. Phone/Fax: 045-870005 or E-mail

KNNeDigest: We have a regular email newsletter to keep people up to date with main news and features from Kildare. If you know somebody who would like to be on the mailing list, email us at tellingtales@yahoo.com

Johnstown development quashed by planning appeal decision JOHNSTOWN, 13 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. Bord Pleanala, the Planning Appeals Board, has decided to overturn a planning permission for 140 houses, 40 apartments and a shopping area at Johnstown. The application for the project was made by Dwyer Nolan Developments Ltd. The appeal against the permission had been made by local residents, An Taisce, and the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board. The decision was welcomed by Kildare North Labour TD Emmet Stagg, who said that if the application had been approved, the village character and amenities of Johnstown would have been ‘permanently destroyed’. “The county council, in originally granting permission for this development, was in fact contravening its own County Development Plan,” he said. “Thankfully, the plan has been strongly upheld by this very strong decision.” But Deputy Stagg warned all those concerned with the preservatation of Johnstown to ‘be vigilant’, as it is likely there will be further attempts by developers to build on the lands in question.

THE LEINSTER PRINTMAKING STUDIO THE OLD CONVENT, CLANE Artists' resource, Training, Gallery sales. Phone Margaret Becker 045 868168 or 087 2310114

NEWS OR VIEWS? Something happening in your community that's bothering you? Or do you simply want to share the news from your village or town in County Kildare? You can, by emailing us at KNN

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CE course members off to Canada ALLENWOOD, 13 September 1999: by Brian Byrne. Up to 20 people from Northwest Kildare/North Offaly will be travelling to Canada later this year to gain work experience in telemarketing. The eight-week session is part of an initiative by the OAK Partnership and FAS to provide skills in telemarketing for Community Employment trainees. The participants will be placed with telemarketing companies in Montreal and will stay with host families in the city. They will return to Ireland before Christmas. The segment is part of an 18-week course located in the new Enterprise Centre in Allenwood and the programme is targeted at people between the ages of 18 and 28. The initiative will ensure that CE trainees will learn skills tailored to jobs in a sector with has ‘enormous potential’, according to Pat Leogue, manager of the OAK Partnership. Further information is available from 0405 32688.

Specialist travel operators to Cheltenham, Aintree, and other major international racing venues. Phone 01 2958901; Fax 01 2958902; Email leoptour@indigo.ie

PREVIOUS STORIES: Earlier news of the week, and access to weekly archives, are available here

	by Liam Cahill The seminal account of the Limerick Soviet Available here
				PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING Noreen McCabe, MNAPCP Anxiety, depression, loss, phobias, childhood trauma, eating disorders, relationships, personal growth, coaching for work-related stress. Strictly confidential. Moorefield Clinic, Newbridge. Phone (045) 432111 or call Noreen at (045) 431936; mobile 086 2496823; email dmccabe@tinet.ie
		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.)

VIOLET'S FLOWERS Do you need to send flowers home for that special remembrance? Station Road, Kildare - Registered Teleflorist - Phone 045 522210

ONE OF THE KILDARE WILD GEESE? Are you involved with any Irish organisations or groups abroad? Let us know where you are and what you're at by emailing KNN. And find out about your fellow wild geese.

LISTEN TO the weekly roundup of Irish views and stories presented by Brian Byrne and Trish Whelan and broadcast from Vancouver on the Celtic Voices programme carried by Canada's largest independent radio network. You can stream it at 56k, or download to listen to later. Changed every Sunday.

PREVIOUS STORIES: Earlier news of the week, and access to weekly archives, are available here

Motoring News	Garda Patrol	Farming Info
Results are here. Coverage is here. Candidates details are here.	Kildare's Wild Geese	Upcoming Service

 

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