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Dan Danaher Exclusive PEOPLE living near nine asbestos dumps in West Clare should not attempt to examine or remove it, an Ennis pensioner, who has contracted the life-limiting asbestosis disease, warned this week. Seventy-nine-year-old, Cyril Quinn made the call, as Clare County Council continues its investigations into the alleged dumping of asbestos on public and private lands in Kilrush and Kilkee. Mr Quinn stressed that only personnel who were qualified to remove dangerous substances should be allowed to handle asbestos, once they were dressed from head to toe in protective clothing. Cyril requires an oygen supply practically on a 24-hour basis and needs to go on a nebuliser four times a day. His sitting room had to be converted into a bedroom as he is no longer able to climb his stairs. He said a neighbour of his died from asbestosis, while it has also claimed the lives of other Irish people who were working with asbestos in England down …

TOURISM Ireland, together with various Irish tourism enterprises, including Clare Tourism Forum and Shannon Heritage, mounted a major presence at this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show, to target the increasing number of Americans interested in visiting gardens in Ireland. The Philadelphia Flower Show is the world’s largest indoor flower and horticultural exhibition, attracting about 265,000 visitors each year; an ideal platform to showcase Ireland and the wonderful mix of unique gardens to be found here. This year, the centrepiece of the Tourism Ireland stand was a special garden exhibit called The Wild Atlantic Way. Modelled on Ireland’s newest visitor experience, the space featured a replica of the Poulnabrone dolmen and was designed to bring the wild landscape of our western seaboard to life for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the show.    

By Owen Ryan SHANNON Airport will remain open on Friday morning, after the High Court granted an injunction preventing SIPTU from going ahead with a planned four-hour work stoppage. The work stoppage had been due to take place between 5am and 9am and SIPTU had organised it due to an ongoing dispute over a €780 million hole in the Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme. It had been set to cause chaos, not just at the Clare airport, but also at Dublin and Cork. Both the Dublin Airport Authority and Ryanair challenged SIPTU in the High Court and on Wednesday evening, the Court found in their favour. While Shannon was not a party to the case, there was an agreement that the Court’s decision would also stand for the Clare airport.   Aer Lingus was not involved in the High Court case either, but it is understood that its workers who were also due to carry out a similar work stoppage will …

A RANGE of measures that householders can take to secure their homes against the threat of burglary was highlighted by An Garda Síochána at Wednesday’s launch of its National Crime Prevention Day of Action. The main entry points by burglars to houses are through a rear window (28%), front door (27%), and rear door (25%). While the latest CSO figures show a 8.9% fall in the level of burglary and related offences between June 2012 and June 2013 compared to the previous 12 months, An Garda Síochána is advising people to remain vigilant and security conscious in order to thwart burglars. “Burglars will tend to go for what they view as easy targets –  houses with no lights on, no alarm, or unsecured doors and windows. So it is critical for householders to secure all doors and windows, light up their homes even when out, and have an alarm and turn it on even when at home,” said Sergeant Kelvin …

SEVERAL TDs who attended the Mid-West meeting of general practitioners in Limerick last night said that they would not sign the proposed new contract, which has been offered to GPs,  if they were in practice themselves. This was outlined in statement isssued by the National Association of General Practitioners on Tuesday evening. Limerick TD Willie O’Dea said that nobody could contemplate signing a contract, which contained a ‘gagging’ clause. The deputy said the contract was more onerous than the one in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, which demanded a ‘pound of flesh’. The meeting was held as part of an on-going series of meetings that are being held across the country to highlight the opposition of GPs, not just to the new contract, but the on-going FEMPI cuts which are causing a crisis in general practice. The chair of the meeting, Dr Conor McGee, said that the on-going FEMPI cuts were discriminatory and affected elderly and more isolated people disproportionately. This …

A CALL has gone out for Clare businesses to row in behind the annual National Supported Employment Week from Monday, April 7 to Sunday 13. Job Shadow Day (Wednesday) is the high point of the week and will see hundreds of people with disabilities take the opportunity to shadow a workplace mentor, as he or she goes about a normal working day. The Irish Association for Supported Employment (IASE) initiative seeks to encourage businesses throughout the country to support equal employment opportunities and sign up at www.iase.ie to participate. Last year, over 460 individuals with a disability shadowed at 439 employment sites in Ireland, with 27 securing a permanent job placement as a direct result. Following on from its success in Ireland, National Supported Employment Week is set to roll-out in Europe, with 12 countries already committed to take part in 2015. Many high profile individuals participated in Job Shadow Day last year, including Minister Joan Burton and Today FM …

IF you’re planning to drink this St Patrick’s Weekend, do so responsibly and don’t succumb to the increasingly jaded “drunken Irish” stereotype. That’s the sober advice from drinkaware.ie, which is encouraging people to get involved in the celebratory events taking place throughout the country. drinkaware.ie is extending its ‘Reclaim’ awareness campaign to cover this year’s nationwide St Patrick’s Weekend festivities. Reclaim Your Weekend is all about encouraging people to pace their drinking. By ‘pacing’, that is drinking less, and more slowly when drinking, we enable ourselves to get more out of our night and our weekend. Fionnuala Sheehan, drinkaware.ie chief executive said, “There are so many fantastic events planned right across Ireland to celebrate St Patrick’s Weekend that we are encouraging people to pace themselves when they are out celebrating, if they choose to drink alcohol. By pacing their drinking and taking it easy on a night out, they’ll be in a much better state to get the most out …

SHANNON Airport passengers are about to enjoy the country’s cheapest online airport car parking as the airport has launched a new Park4Less service to go with the commencement of nine new destinations this summer. Park4Less is open for booking online at www.shannonairport.ie  from this week. The Park4Less car park will be located at the former Long-Term 4 Car Park, adjacent to the Air Traffic Control tower at the airport. Announcing the new offer, Brian Aherne, Head of Commercial at Shannon Airport, said that the decision to introduce the lower fares online option was in response to customer feedback. “We continually seek feedback from passengers to help us improve our overall service and as a result we are delighted to introduce our new cheaper online car-parking option. We are looking forward to a busy summer season with nine new destinations and are keen to ensure that our passengers have a great start to their holiday,” he said. Payment for the Park4Less …