Scariff Bay Community Radio Podcasts SBCR

Local media this week 15th September 2024

Sponsored by Ruth Griffin Photography Ep 214- David Fleming Pat O’Brien, John S Kelly and Host Jim Collins discuss what’s in the papers and online concerning matters in Co Clare. We encourage you to support your local media, the Clare Champion, Clare Echo, and online the Clare Herald. To send a message or comment to the studio - Message or what’s app on 089 2582647 or email sbcrstudio@gmail.com

Duration:: 56m
Broadcast on:: 16 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Hi, this is John Kenney here, and you're listening to the sound of Scaraf Bay Community Radio. Good afternoon, you're tuned to Scaraf Bay Community Radio and Local Media this week, the program where we have a look at the Claire newspapers, the Claire Echo and the Claire Champion, and we see what they're talking about, and sometimes we give our own take on this as well. So we're very strong supporters of the Claire print media, and we have two very good papers in, County Claire, the Claire Champion and the Claire Echo, and we urge people to support them. We have our usual panel this week, so greetings to John S. Kelly, good morning, and to Pat O'Brien, thanks Jim. And today we're Fleming, hello Jim, and Luke is on the technicals this week, trying to keep us in touch with everything. In life. The half-time whistle will go at some point, and the full-time whistle will go, and we are... No extra time, is it? Well, we're pleading for extra time every week, John, but no, we don't seem to be getting it. No, we'll stick with the front pages for the moment, and I suppose the elections we're looking at the Claire Champion there, and then Danner has a story. Only one Finigale name in the ring as Finifal Trio selected. So only one person at the moment anyway, going... A Finigale candidate, that's Lenora Carey, Joe Carey's sister. We have three candidates from Finifal, we have Timmy Dooley, we've Carl Crow, and from West Care, we have... Richard McNerney. So, Pat, what do you think? Yeah, which was, I suppose, international, except the Finigale is finding a difficult to get a second candidate. Mertham Conway pulled out at the convention. I don't really know why he... They say there was no pressure pretending to go to pull out, but he's not going forward anyway, and he also, I think, made some commentary. He might change his mind if the election was in match, so I don't really know. What was that last point? If it was in match, he might put his name forward again. I don't really know why he'd do that. He wants to have his Christmas, maybe. Maybe. It is, it's very odd. There's, on the inside continuation of that story, it says lack of youth, hurt, and Finigale's election. What do you think of that? That's an interesting observation. It certainly is intriguing. You would have thought that some of the sitting counsellors would be putting their hands forward. You would have thought that the ambition of most politicians is the doll. None of the sitting counsellors have put their hands up for it. Indeed, I'd like to compliment Dan Danher and the clear champion for the journalism we get on this story, because he has interviewed nearly all the Finigale counsellors, and we get an insight into their thinking on this, and counsellor Pat Burke is very frank. He was very disappointed that only one candidate was selected on Friday night, which was in sharp contrast to East Galway two nights later, where six candidates, six candidates, battled it out for three places. And he says, "There is something wrong when not one of the nine clear Finigale counsellors is willing to put their hand up to have a crack at the door." Now, he happens to be one of those nine counsellors. I could ask you though, historically, has this situation ever written in the clear elections, in the conventions, that the convention took place, and it wasn't a sufficient number coming from the floor? I have no idea. I presume it happens all the time. Pale, male, and stale is the common form. I'm wondering, you see, at the convention, if someone is being put forward at a convention, they would have had their name out there, and they'd be very active. They were looking for support. Active in the council, and they'd be building up support, maybe for a year or two before that. But you had local committee? You had local committee. I remember a year, quite clearly, I remember it. Local convention. The caravan was a, what would you call it? A common? A common, a common, yeah. The commons were the strong point of being a fallen. Strong local commons, and they backed the man that we all knew was going to be going for next year. We have been here doing this program for a number of years, and we have seen, let's say Michael McNamara, for example, and Michael would have his name in the paper, maybe a number of times, every week. Carl Crow, likewise. Timmy Dooley likewise. Surely, that would be something that any prospective Finigail candidate would have been doing, but they weren't. I found it funny. Well, they found it very unusual that Nathan Convey, he'd be well known. Nathan is a senator in a long number of years. I went for the Darla Reston, or he didn't clean, but I thought he was strategically placed open up clear in Ennis Simon. Well, it was going to cover up that area, not clear in West clear. And if Joe Carell's sister was going in, cut castle, and it would make sense. Ennis would make sense. It was very surprising to see him out and put him out, because he'd be well known, he'd be on television, he'd be on tonight's show there, on TV3, and he'd be on, don't know, he'd be well known. The point that David was touching on there in relation to the age profile of the absence of a particular segment of the age-wise of the population. Well, if you go through the councils, the field gail councils, there are all in mid-age and maybe a bit over it. And all the councils, except maybe if you're involved, two young people elected, one, Griffin, for the American, and have to go down in poverty, she's only got it. And we interviewed both the- College there, she was on the fourth of the paper last week. We interviewed both them at the count. You could see that these are people for the future. They will be going for adult seats. Well, you see, the other city gail, we say, would be established people, and maybe in the film, in the film, in the film, it's not as well. And maybe in the fellas of the 60s, maybe in the 60s, and all that, had none to the dollar, Joe Coney, of course, and Joe Coney said that it was an extremely tough job. And we saw that- Well cut out for it, didn't we? I mean, particularly over the last two years, uh, how hard local politicians have to work. In Dan's story, there are Phenophal Trio selected. Yeah. And those of us certainly pass, and John and myself can remember, when Phenophal had three of the four seats in Clare. Yeah. Yeah. Going back maybe, what, 40 years ago? Yeah, so. And are they, are they talking about doing something like that again? Well, according to Boric McMahan's heading on page 14, it is Phenophal, believe they can cause shock by electing three TDs in Clare. But there's a little bit of a slip, because Senator Timmy Dooley is quoted by Dan Danher, and this is the, this appears to be what the actual strategy is. Senator Timmy Dooley looks forward to working with Deputy Carl Crow, and Councillor Rita McEnerney, to maximize the Phenophal vote and win two dull seats. Yeah. So I think, I think the memo, hold a second, John, that this, this is important now. Yeah. Because no candidate, none of them would say, yeah, this is what our strategy is. The, the put up three candidates, so they expect the three candidates. But in a way, Councillor McEnerney is the sweeper upper of votes. And when she's eliminated, the other two are one of them. And she, but yet, be rewarded, mightn't be her idea, her plan. It mightn't be her plan, and she might be trying to do her best, but according to Timmy Dooley, she is going to be the sweeper upper. What's the reward? If we return, if we return, well, the reward for her, of course, is, is being noticed. About ascendancy? No, I don't think, of course, but perhaps, but it means that she has a higher profile, come the next election. Yeah. And if any, one of them does retire, but I mean, for the next local, council election. She headed the polling in, in the commercial area, there, on the council. Yeah. She might be in, but she's in that position, if they, if they get back into the poll. That's exactly what Finnegan needs to be doing. She'd probably, she'd probably be nominated. Maybe she might be nominated for a synergy. Because lots of well-known TDs did not get to the doll in their first attempt. No. You know, I mean, I remember our president, Michael D. Higgins, in Galway West. Yeah. He made several attempts before eventually he succeeded in going to the doll. Yeah. Eddie Punch has also gone for a bit, gone. And Eddie, Eddie, Paul very well in the European candidate. Dan Dennner has a story there on, on, on this week. And I think it was, it was on the echo there last week as well. And, you know, you could see that, that Eddie could, could take a good vote. Wouldn't Finnegan, if they were any clever, go approach him to have been their candidate, of course, it is not beyond the realm of possibility. If you read that article on Finnegan, that they will have another candidate. Oh, of course. They just haven't got it from the locals. But they might parachute somebody in, they might approach somebody. We know that they're running a lot, both Finnefall and Finnegan are running a lot of celebrity candidates. Anyway, particularly Finnefall. Yeah. So, but it was Finnegan who kind of started that a couple of years back. So you'd be surprised. We'll tell them about it. I'm waiting for a phone call. That's all I'm saying. Moving around. Are you all happy that there will not be a general election before Christmas? Are we all happy? We don't really know. You know, what do you mean? The t-shirt said the smart one, they wouldn't, they were going to full, the full hug. He was on the radio, the smart one, and he said that he would go to. But does that not mean they will have to have a string of bilects ever in January? He said he won't, he won't go into February or March. But he's obliged to have bilects in January. He can also say that they have bilects and then they can call the election. Well, just before you leave that point, I was rather, let me see if I can find the piece about it. It was in the Finnefall election area. I'd have to find the piece now, but it is, it is that nobody can decide the election. It was said by the chair of the Finnefall nominating the Tipperary TD who chaired the meeting, Jackie Cattle, and said he was disgusted at the Green Party. That they're the third leg of the stool. I don't ever know what that phrase is because in order to get the stool, you need three legs, if not four legs. But anyway, and that it was up to him, that it was up to the Finnefall deputies. He's called an election. Well, I've news for Deputy Cattle. It's up to his party leader and the two other party leaders and Deputy Cattle will be sitting back in Tipperary wondering like the rest of us when it's going to happen. And it's not up to the Finnefall TDs. And this is the sort of type of Finnefall sort of language that really puts off voters, I think. Okay, this will go on. We have to go on at this stage. On the front page of the Clare Champion, because we discussed this some time ago, the Dan Danner again has the piece, Regulator finds no issues at Clare 250 Cancer Centre. And there was speculation that there would be issues that, you know, would be discovered, but it's a good thing. It is a good thing that no issues have been. Yeah, this is the Clare 250 Cancer Centre that this fundraising cycle bicycling since 1980, which has raised 4.8 million. And about, was it, about six months ago or thereabouts, the newspapers were reporting all sorts of allegations that there was something potentially going on. And the Charity Regulator, which is the legal authority to come in, did come in, did investigate and has given them a clear bill of health, notwithstanding that, you do see then on the inside of the paper that on page two of the Champion that some of the people who were complaining are still saying that there are problems that, so there was Lorraine White from Rouen, who is a cancer survivor. And her issue was that it's actually not about, she said there was nothing about financial issues, but that it was, the services was the problem from her point of view, and she says that still is the problem. Now the Charity Regulator are very clear, they're only investigating matters to do with finance and accounts, so they wouldn't investigate the service that is being offered. Okay, also on the front page of the Clare Champion, before we leave it, Violet Ann Nguyen, or TD, Independent TD for Clare, and Roderick O'Garm and the Minister are at odds over Kilrush, and of course we'll remember that there was a fire at a B&B in Kilrush, there's some time back, at a B&B, which was earmarked for international protection applicants. So an interesting one herself, their deputy win, partook in a protest outside the premises, but these protests are always difficult, and they attract various people of all persuasions, but she had a plaque which said, "Our kid safety first, no two unvetted males in Kilrush." Jim, I'm looking at the photograph beside that article that you're, okay, the photograph of a man from Kerry with these two plough horses. Any other, do you think there was any reason why that photograph was stuck in there on the corner of the front page? What are you suggesting, John? That's the challenge. I don't see any link. You're not at all. What do you see? What do you see? What do you see? It needs two men, two horses, to pull this man. Is it in any way a deliberate ploy, a deliberate decision to place that photograph there? There's a lot in it, I think. I wonder, has he been vetted before he came to a minor scarlet last Sunday? Before Pat gets his roars in here on this, I'd like to put my roar in. This, firstly, I think she's completely lost the run of herself this time round. She was carrying this placard. She said it was handed to her. She said she didn't know what was on it. She then said, "I was holding that placard at that particular place, but it has sparked a conversation that the government have not been able to reassure the public, and I am glad we were having a wider conversation." She was asked if she regretted it. I think in some way it's not ideal, she said. Asked what concerns she has about male international protection applicants potentially coming to the town, she said. If I wrote that placard, I would be able to comment. I mean, she was holding the placard, and if you're holding a placard, if somebody, Jim, gave you a placard, would you read it? You would look at it for something. You would, before you would stand in front of a camera, hold it. No, I would like anybody who voted for Deputy Wind to be reflecting now on the type of public representative and to make sure that the next election that we vet our candidates, and before we're given a ballot paper, make sure you vet your candidates and ask them questions. Now, can I deal with one other thing? Our kids safety first know to unvetted males in Kilrosh. That is a right-wing trope. What is wrong with young men? What have they got against? What has been put out in social media is that young men are dangerous. And our kids are at risk, and our society is at risk. That is a right-wing slur with no evidence. There's no evidence at all for that. And Deputy Wind is propagating these faults, misinformation. It's misinformation. It's disinformation. The only problem I have with that is that she is not here to defend herself and defend her. She's a placard at a public protest. I think we are very right to be able to comment on her actions as a public representative. And she will be given a chance at the next election because she'll be running at the next election to account for herself. That's different, then. But the way she responded to it, John, saying that she didn't write the placard herself, but it's very, what would I say? It sounds like she's trying to make some kind of an excuse. And she says this sparks a bigger – I might have not looked at it, but I'm glad it has sparked a bigger conversation. She is actually contributing to the controversy by this sort of thing. You hear this language all the time, and it's fanning the flames. It's like the people who come in from Mexico are going after cats and dogs. Eating the dogs? Yes. It's exactly what Trump is propagating in the United States. No metaphor. There's no metaphor, though. I don't think so, no. Eating the dog and the cat. Anyway, sorry, Pat. The fact of the metaphor there is, okay, I'll leave it all and come down. And he said that there may be any requests on a measure – I've never heard of anyone. There was a lot of things. The parents and sisters after they ignored everyone locally in all those cases. And they had them the same property up here. They haven't – when they'll challenge on television or on radio, or maybe we could talk things better, but they haven't. And they haven't done it until years. Their system is to inform the councils, not to inform the public, per se. It is to inform the councilors and the politicians. So I would ask, when were the councillors informed, when were the TDs and senators informed? Because that's what usually – Yeah, but there was a woman of her business beside that house. That's fine. With those people coming in, because there has been no – no, we know of. Well, there was only trouble with any of those people. They committed their places and there were quite an example of having a scanner for them but I can't have them in various places. And they have caused no trouble. So really – Yeah, of course, in Scarif, the department informed the local public representatives. They did. They informed people. Yeah. There was a public meeting in McNamara's. Yeah. And the result is that the people came in and there was no problem, and there has been no problem since. Now, I have that woman, she's a prob – beside this business in B&B, in Kilkosh. And she said that she wasn't – nobody came to her and said, "Hi, up or low down." If there were 27 people coming into the B&B and she said, "The back of this house, it's overlooking her Bia Gavin and all that kind of stuff." And she said, "If somebody came along and said her and told her what was happening, she'd be happy enough but nobody just decided to do what it was. So there was a certain amount of information that should be given to people and the reasons all of them, right? As far as I know. Yeah. The minister's point is no matter how much information you give people, it's not going to stop the burnings. It appears. And if even there's a sniff of a rumour and it might be completely false, that international protection is going on, the place is going to be burnt down. I think it's a scandal. Yeah. It's an absolute scandal. And I don't know why we're not seeing prosecutions. I know it's very hard to find, to prove arson. Very difficult. Very difficult. But – I think the male of lots and lots of interesting issues raised in both papers, okay? Okay. Okay, page two of the Echolads has duly taking aim at consultants. No, what type of consultants are we talking about? That's what we have to get to, generally, I think, in a sense. Because medical consultants at the university hospital have come under fire from a clear senator. That's what Patrick McMahon is saying. And addressing Phenophore delegates at a selection convention in Hotel Woodstock on Tuesday night last Senator Dooley blamed consultants as a factor for the continued overcrowding of patients and trolleys at the U.L. That's a very strong statement here, a call that was really challenging in 2009 when the government, on the advice of experts, removed the accident and emergency to end this. No. What do you think of that? Yeah, well, Timmy, yeah, well, it's easy to have a go with the consultants, but he says they are the only place in Ireland where the consultants are not doing their job properly and maybe they don't have to do what they should do or whatever he's insinuating. But the fact of the matter is, if I was in a job and I couldn't very well go in and stop dictating to what I would do or I shouldn't do it. You'll imagine that it wasn't being laid down, what has agreed with the HSE, which is the government body, that there was people that were inside and the conditions of work is laid out. But have you the tail wagging the dog? Yeah. Because these consultants presumably would be the ones asked what the best medical practice is and they said the best medical practice was to close and close Nina and have everything in Limerick. And it was the consultants of the day, presumably, who were asked that they would give the medical advice on it and the politicians have hidden behind that since. That's fair point, Jim. Well, he says, actually, it's a bit more nuanced because he says that the consultants in Limerick are operating on a different standard to any other hospital in the country and that nobody's standing up to them. That's the target he has said. He did say that when the government, on the advice of experts, remove the annexant emergency in Ennis, we got berated and still do on occasion, but we didn't play popular politics and we couldn't and we suffered politically as a result. Now, that brings us back to the front page of the echo, which says, A&E in Ennis is inevitable. Yeah. Now, who is saying that it's inevitable? Politicians are saying it's inevitable. Yeah. Is there anything wrong with that? I think it's completely popular politics is what Deputy Crow is talking about, what a few Councillors, Councillor McGatigan, and a few others are mentioned there. Clarity de Carl Grohl commented, "A political decision brought us to this point and a political decision will get us out of it," while Councillor O'Callaghan said, "It is a no-brainer to have an accent, to have the ED in Ennis." I might be wrong with that. I think it's reckless talk. It's reckless talk, because local politicians, this is not a local issue, our medical area is not just county clear. And this is why I'm glad the Councillors have no say in it, because there'd be accents and emergencies all over the place. And who did that? And it is the failure of politicians, particularly the dull deputies, because all they're thinking about is their own county constituency. If they were thinking properly the temporary ones, the North Kerry ones, the Limerick ones, and the clear ones would have got together years ago and found a solution to this problem. The solution is not a hospital in Ennis, and not a hospital in Ennis. That'll never happen. Oh, come off. The facts for me, if you have to check back in the loop head, you're an officer from the United States, and you're an officer, and you're an officer, and you're an officer. Yeah, and I suppose the problems that are evident in Limerick have been there, particularly for the last 15 years, since, I mean, 10, 12 years ago, we were talking about overcrowding in Limerick. Now, at that time, they closed the emergency in Limerick and Ennis, Nina, and it's not like, it's reasonable to ask the question, is there a connection between closing the accident's emergency in Ennis and Nina, and this crazy setup that seems to be no cure for it in Limerick. The cure is to establish another hospital in Limerick, at the centre of the medical district. They didn't prepare for the three hospitals in Limerick, they closed them, and then they showed them more in Limerick. I agree with you. Now, I can't see, why would you, you're going through the same problem, if someone gets sick back in, as I said back, it will have to take back, and you'll have to go into Ennis, and you'll have to go into Limerick. What if you're over up in North Tipperary, where do you go? Do you go into Ennis? Well, they're not in the, they're not in the, Tipperary is in the Limerick medical district. There's loads of places you can go, because you're near, you're near, you can go to Tipperary. You can go to Tipperary, it's on your throat, it's on your throat. And David, no politician would survive if they follow it. But that is the problem with local parish pump politics. It is the definition of parish politics are loaded for God's sake. And that is why, happily, we talk about the civil servants. I hope the civil servants will make decisions on a non-county basis. Yeah, well, no, civil servants make decisions on Dublin, and they don't give up. Well, I know several civil servants who are not from Dublin, and who are, who make plenty decisions for the country. The record of politicians and civil servants in this particular case is absolutely appalling. I agree with you. And this sort of thing, that this is the problem with deputies after deputy and a succession, and they're all of the parties, and they're always thinking local, and they're not thinking of the regional. What, I'm just going to- The immediate, I mean, it's a democracy, and the immediate appeal is to the local people who have been- Well, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be tempted to vote for any of these people, because they're not thinking, they're not thinking- But you're not, you're not in June at all with the movement. I am a, I am one holder, and I may not be in June, and maybe this will appeal. This is why it's populism, John. That's why Mr. Trump will appeal, will appeal to a certain type of populist vote. If I am for our listeners, what do you mean by, by offering something that is popular, but that makes no other sense in any other- No, no. The better part of your argument is the one that I have difficulty with. Which latter part of the action I could- Of what you've just said there, you raised two other ones. But- Listen, I'm- A reckless talk. Like, at the bottom of this, there is a huge problem, which is simmering away for the last decade and a half, and politicians, civil servants, governments, none of them- I agree with you. I agree with you. And to my mind- And this is more of it, and that's what I'm sick of, because I think there are solutions out there. Yes, but- And one of the solutions- And a Model 3 hospital in this medical district. And you can't put it out into the peripheries to solve all the problems. Limerick is the center of a medical district, which incorporates Tipperary, Limerick- I presume North, Kerry, I don't know, maybe not. And all of Clare, or most of Clare- But do you not think it has been allowed to fester? It has. And, you know, because various people have listened to the medical profession and done nothing, and the situation has got worse. It has. And but one part of the medical profession, what they're saying is right. You can't have a specialist in every area, in every little place. It just- We can't afford that. And do you remember the appeal that the old crowd had how many years ago? And was it how many years ago? That we listened to a politician tell us, "No, our specialist telling us, we're going to have a center of excellence." Yes. That was the- Of 15 years ago or so. Yeah. But John, if you go into Limerick and you've admitted it yourself, if you go into Limerick, you will get very good care. The problem is you have to wait forever, and it is the waiting issue that is the problem. Okay. There's a half-time whistle, pass. What bit of music are we going to have a break with today? Well, we live in the story of Luciano Pavarotti with Ella Maria. No flier. Very nice. That's unusual, Pat Fio. Yes. It's lovely. We look forward to it. You're very welcome back. You're listening to Local Media this week on Scariff Bay Community Radio, and I didn't mention the start of the program Local Media this week is sponsored by Ruth Griffin Photography, Ruth based in Fechel, a brilliant photographer. You'll see her work in all the local papers, and we thank her most sincerely for her sponsorship. Now, and that was Evie Maria with Luciano Pavarotti and Dolores O'Rirton. Beautiful, beautiful track. We're on to part two, and we'll talk about it, there's a whole load of things we didn't get to in part one, but we'll try and get to them in part two, but part two is usually to do with East Clare Matters. And I suppose one of the things that has been an issue, we were in Kilkishin there a couple of weeks ago, and for a Saturday Chronicle, the pass was the host. And traffic really was one of the problems, wasn't it? And it's still there, the speed of traffic through Kilkishin village. A public meeting was held last week, but it was cancelled because a local man there, a bus device passed away, and the meeting was cancelled and heard this week. So it's on next Thursday night, and there are everybody, there's any interest in the village, and then just speeding, and maybe the times of getting traffic canning measures there to go to the meeting in September 19th at 8.20, and all the local politicians and councils have been invited to attend. I suppose it's a problem everywhere, really. What's the main difficulty there? I know the end result is the speeding. But why? Well, some people are going to walk and come on from walk, and that's the way it is. It's on a main tour affair, and it's a dead straight road. That's pretty straight for about a kilometer and a half, perhaps. And the solution? Well, some of the council have put in different solutions, they put in their roads, they have ways to go down by the church there, and they put in lights for people to come. And did it have any impact on the speeding? I suppose it didn't really have any impact. Councillor Cooney said that the traffic lights actually produced further speed because people were trying to make the lights before they turned red. So what is the answer there? Well, it does say here that there is talk of a much bigger effort. We're talking about curves and raised tables. They mentioned narrowing the roads, trees to break up the tree lined landscape it says here, the possibility of raised tables at junctions and road narrowing. But in which is famous for the council, they said, and this is the acting senior executive engineer, Declan Fennig, and saying this is a long-term plan which would be focused on measures to reduce speeding, a funding stream. This is classic council executive speak. A funding stream will need to be sourced following approval from the local community elected members. So we're talking a little while ago, yes? But David, there is the 15% property tax comes into this very question. It's a good point, John. Where does our property tax go? And the council always wait on the big government grant before they make these sorts of decisions. And you would be thinking that this would be part of the budget discussions. I'd love to be -- I'm not sure if it is. I mean, the funding of road questions, I get the impression it's belonging to the government agency. No, that's national roads. Now, the Calcation Road is in the national -- It's not a national road. As far as I know, is it? So the council would do whatever they're going to do from their own funds, which they have received. Well, well, well, I don't know. You know, sometimes the council will say, let's say the hub here, it'll be a government scheme, a rural revitalization scheme that all the county councils can apply for. I don't know. It says here, a funding stream will need to be sourced. The council are the funding stream, if we were talking about the local property tax. Can they dip into their own resources, question mark, local property tax? Or must they wait for a government scheme? It's the same with Ishka Eren and the proposed Broadfert. Broadfert. I'm getting very agitated again, and the Ava Maria cammed me down, I had close, but I better stop there. Yeah. And when you're thinking about parking, Jim, poor Pat Barker, he's the leather worn-off he shoots, and the question of potholes and other difficulties arising from illicit parking. And he's particularly, this week, he has identified a problem with regard to Mount Shannon. Well, just gone back to the-- No, just like for the Mount Shannon. I know that, but the speed and will go to the speed and the sound of science concern is, you put two girls in the village, and you're in every village, for an hour, every evening, and you catch all these people, and you'll buy them to court, and you'll give them a good fine. And then you put nine-offs on it. Yeah, that's-- There aren't an ill-- And you do a toilet, and you do a scarf, and you do a Bradford, and you do all the village. Pat is anxious today to agitate the hell out of me. There aren't enough guards in the country for every clear value. I'll tell you, Pat, the same solution, and we'll get the same end result. You put speed cameras. Put a permanent speed camera at the start and the end of a village. And that'll come, everybody, down, including myself and yourselves. That's part of it, as well. And that'll be probably the cheaper solution. Yeah. Yeah, which is funny, at the meeting now, which is in question where Dan would have got his information from, there was a guard up present as well, a superintendent, and that was one of the things that people were complaining about, saying that it's years since they saw a guard, the car, checking speed in just what you're talking about. And there were calls for that to happen, even though people said, "I could be caught myself." Both. I walked three on last Thursday night morning. I woke up to the sound of talking outside the walls of the house. I hopped out of bed, I switched on all the lights, but some lights were on. And I saw two guys looking in the window of my living room. When the lights went on, of course, they scampered. Now it was a uncomfortable feeling, I can do. I have an arm. I have an arm, but I don't have it on at night. But I will have it on now. There's no point in having it if we're not featured on it. We're going back to your other point, John, about the illegal campers. That's happening in Mount Shannon. This is illegal campers. I think these are not travelers now. No, they're not. These are people with what you call them, camper vans, who are coming, and they're leaving their rubbish and everything there, which is not nice, not right at all. He says, "Pat Burke, while visitors to East Clare were welcome," he told a recent Kildoo Municipal District meeting. This type of visitor wasn't welcome. The Finnegal Council had pointed out that this was also a problem at German Harbour. They are not causing me personally any grief, but there is blatant flouting of the law where it says no overnight camping, yet the place is full of tents and camper vans, he said. And of course, there is a place in Mount Shannon where camper vans can park. Can park. You have to pay a fee, of course. But far that, then, their security and they have various services, toilets, water. Councillor Patez said that more designated areas, far camper vans and tents need to be provided in towns and villages where they could be properly managed. Is that the solution, do you think? I'd imagine so, because could I finish on my own point? Yes, John. The purpose of saying it is, why are there not cameras at entry points? You can't have a camera at every single house, John. No, no, no. I'm talking about my house, Robert, a camera at a critical point on a road system, across roads, a bridge, okay? I mean, they have to come. Who's going to man all these cameras? Who's going to man all these cameras? With you, security demands. We can't have a state which is supervising what we're eating for our breakfasts. I don't want cameras. I want speed cameras, which will only detect speed. But I don't want cameras everywhere. You could be living in the third Reich then. That's exactly what... I'm not sure I agree with you. Good, I'm delighted. I mean, I think we, you know, we're not talking about putting cameras everywhere. John is. He says he wants them on every intersection, every main intersection. Yes. Critical ones. Critical intersections. How would that have helped you, John, and your disturbance? It might identify the cars that came through. It would make it easier. It would make it easier. There isn't a main intersection at your point. There is a bridge. Yes, there is. He's right. Sound there. But should they might be going on that way? Yes. Anyway. We must go on. Pat, are you happy enough with our coverage of K'Kish? Oh, yeah, yeah. Look at those maintenance extols and item there, but still might be in the accounts of out there. At a 30-pass, isn't it? In the culture, isn't it? David, I'll dampen down your agitation. Good. Don't agitate me again. Waters of Life Project could benefit farmers. I see that there on the top of the air page in the care campaign. And only for dairy farmers left in the grainy catch. Well, that was the heading that struck me. And the boat stories are related because this is the result of a big project which has investigated the water catchment of the river grainy and the water catchment area that it is composed of. And some of the startling findings is that you all think water quality, and we all are so quick to jump at the farmers and blame the farmers. Just 41, nearly 42% of the land in that catchment area of the river grainy is owned by quilcher. And another 11% is underforestry, owned by private individuals who want that. So there could be farmers, but you could say then that over 50% of that land mass is to do is underforestry. But as Pat Hayes has pointed out, it is one of the big issues when water is coming down off the mountain because of forestry. It's coming up faster because there's no soakage. And the silt there forgets into the river and everything else gets into the river. So it behooves actually our state forestry. I think I could be agitated on this now as well. The readings after the river grain went to the water and they are poisonous. Are they? Yeah, the spindles or whatever they are. So I think quilcher have a few questions to answer on this front and how they propose to tackle, and maybe it's never actually occurred to them, how blanket a forestation is having an impact on our water systems. And let's be fair to farmers because they're only one part of the story. And in this particular catchment area, not a very big part of the story, forestry over 50% as I said. I think it's brilliant that this study, it's a very long, it's Dan Danner has two very long pieces there and we don't have the time to go into the detail of it. But there's various suggestions around it. Well, I suppose it's our job to suggest to our listeners that they may like to read it. Exactly. And particularly if you're from the area because there's still opportunities to get involved in what they're hoping ultimately to improve the situation in that catchment area. Yes. Anyway... What about cleaning? Cleaning those levels properly, you know? That's part of the project. You just let water and you do everything and you sow all plants and you sow all plants, and you sow all plants and you sow all plants and you sow all plants and you sow all plants, and you sow all the plants and you sow all the plants and you sow all the plants and you'll, like all the rivers in the country, and all the cover in with bushes and... Let's remove the bushes or the flies. You'll have to keep water flowing. Back in the years, the Clear County Council had made out on rivers in the summer, cleaning all part of rivers, and there was a conflict there afterwards. I suppose trees will grow across rivers and block the water if they're allowed to. Okay. And you'll have a shelter and you're all backed up in banks and some of the big rivers. Yes, that's what it's called. And then after that it would be floating around the country. No one would have... No one would have taken that problem. Except building big waters along by the other little banks and... I'll tell you a part. We'll just shift some of the water back to Dublin, will we? Yes. We've said it. Yeah. He's... David has been landing for this, you know... He has a perspective on the actual water question from Clare to Dublin. Yes. That's the outline in each of the trees. In a few years time, Koch could want to drop of it as well. That's the point where we stand on that. And have the money now to spend on pumping waste and then probably... With the 13 billion there from there. Well, maybe we might find some ways of spending that... That's Koch money. That's Koch money. That's Koch money. Apple are based in Koch. Yes. Listen, staying on page 13, one story we haven't looked at yet. The only one we haven't looked at is a cross-county plan for twin towns. And it's to do with Killelou Balanae and Clare County Council are uniting in a funding bid to secure major investment. More of what we were talking about. They seem to, not from their own funds, in clarity, but looking for government funds to do the Killelou Balanae. To the Killelou Balanae Town Enhancement and Mobility Plan. Yeah, I know. I'm wondering what the development that David Liz required. I think John, this was a plan which was developed in 2022 and literally is joined up because there are two separate electoral areas. Or counties, I should say. Two separate dioces. One dioces, isn't it? No, there's two dioces. The dioces of Cassian and Emily come up to... It's a Balanae, doesn't it? Yes. But I think John, the big change is the bridge. And with the building of the new bridge, that is going to potentially transform both places. And this plan, I think, is to take advantage of that. Now, as Jim has just said, they're relying again on outside money. Yeah. So we'll have to wait and see. But I think it's good that both places are working together on this. At least at council level. What is decided on the bridge? The old bridge. It's going to be very critical. And they have invited a communal involvement in ideas. Okay. With regard to that. Yeah. I was of the impression that they were going to pedestrianize that bridge. Yes. That was one of the talks about whether that is what would happen, Jim, ultimately. But to take all the traffic that there is out of, you know, the passing traffic, the through traffic, out of Kilnubal now, which is, to a certain extent, chokes it up and makes travel difficult. It does provide an opportunity for Kilnubal now to develop as a tourist town. It does. And to provide other services which would attract people. It would be great to see shops emerging in Kilolou, in particular in the Kilolou side on the main street. And for, like, unfortunately, I think Kilolou is, it's a very sad place without that commercial heart. The commercial heart is gone. And maybe, Jim, is right that once you take the traffic out, there is potential for more visitors to come. And maybe that will drive commercial development. I don't know. I'd hope so. You've seen a plan on Kilolou, MD, a quadratic, a quadratic, a quadratic, a quadratic, a kilolou, a bell-neir, a toning incident. And more basically, Plan 2022 was prepared and adopted by CLIR, interwayway county council to drive the economic tourism and social enhancement of Kilolou, bell-neir, and the wider area. And he sat down here on the end of the day, after the weekend, there was a good return. Mr. Mcapsley is clear, a county council, at a very good working relationship, which prepared a county council to interproperation of the plan, which he expected would continue in a giant funding bid, so it would be some of the best to look on that. Okay. Looking at one or two other things, I suppose, last Sunday, the CLIR plowing championships were held at McNamara's farm in Mino. And there are quite a number of photographs in the CLIR champion. Brilliant. I certainly saw this. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's one on the plate, 16, has some of them, and I love them. Oh, yeah. I think they're brilliant. And you look at some of the, there's one fella kneeling down, looking to see how straight his drill is. Is that what you say? Yes. How straight the drill is. Some of the machines are, some of the tractors are very interesting. There's, there's some sort of a, it's a farm hall. I don't know what it is. Farmal club is the name, make of the tractor. And the steering wheel has a big long. Yeah. Yeah. So there was a very interesting, and then there's another fella plowing the very old fashioned way with a horse. You can't see the horse. It was the horses on the front page that you referred to in the first time. But you can see your man with that old, probably a Wexford plow and, and, and another fella, another fella trying to keep it straight or something. But they're lovely photos in it. A man called a walk from a Roney from a Caroline's Mills pack. Do you know him? I know what. He's a garage there in, in, in, okay. Who won cultural contract? Who won? We know anybody who took a prize. I don't see any of the results in the paper, really. I don't know. But I think it's, it's, I know somebody has to win and go on to represent Claire in the national plowing championships. Yeah. But I think it's, it's mostly about a day out for. Well, I was, I was studying Jim, my uncle. He's a very elderly man living in Argentina, you know. And, in 1916, that's where the old is, youngest chap, he won the, he won the Ross common plowing championship. And I have the silver medal from it. Yes. He was inscribed in all. Yes. And when was that, John? 1916. Oh, 1916. Yeah. But it's, I would imagine never having plowed either with a tractor or with a horse. Did you not? No, but I remember my father plowing with the horse back. With the horse back in the day. When I was a young fella. I would imagine it demands great skill, great control of, of horse and great control of the plow. Yeah. Before we go. I don't see a plow on all of these in my team. Before we go and forget about the plowing, there is a two-page spread, a very interesting spread on a West Claire fella. He's over in the Ukraine in the front lines. And if you want to get a perspective on his experiences, mostly Andrew Hamilton tells us. I would go out to buy the paper just for that. Just for that. So it's something for our readers to read. And there's a full-time whistle. So we'd better stop. Listen, it's great to have you with, as usual, we don't have half of time in the hour to discuss all of this. But we urge people to support their local papers, not just because they're our local papers, but because they're a mine of information. They're full of everything. Bon ratty harvester, for example, which is our next Sunday. And we never got to that. There are so many things in our local papers, the Claire Champion and the Claire Echo. You're missing a lot of the week if you don't get it. So please go out and get it. Anyway. Pass. Sorry. My thanks to Janice. To pass. Welcome, Jim. To David. Thank you. Adjudated. No, that he is. He climbed up. Luke unsound. Pass. What if we get some time left? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure. But if we get some time left, what will we listen to? I don't know. And then the one on the hill from the whole Kelly Bend with both sides now. Oh, lovely. I'd only get one side, I'd say. Yeah. Okay. That's it. From us, we'll see you again. Please guard next Sunday. From us for now. Good bye and God bless. ♪ Oohs and flows of angel hair ♪ ♪ And ice cream castles in the air ♪ ♪ And feathered canyons everywhere ♪ ♪ I've looked at clouds that way ♪ ♪ But now they only block the sun ♪ ♪ They rain and snow on everyone ♪ ♪ So many things I would have done ♪ ♪ But clouds guarding my way ♪