By Cliona Connolly
Monaghan Post

A MILLION euro investment provisionally awarded to Clones Community Childcare may be at risk due to the controversial Childcare Subvention Scheme proposed by Minister for Children, Brendan Smith.

€1 million was provisionally awarded by the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform for a state-of-the-art facility in Clones Town centre. This will provide professional childcare for up to sixty children.

“Our future plans are now in doubt. We will probably qualify for subvention but we doubt it will be enough to sustain our current service at present or a new facility,” said Sharon Murphy, Project Co-ordinator for Clones Community Childcare. “The fees will have to increase and many parents will be forced to give up work to care for their children. We will have to become more business minded and profit focused and I fear that some quality services will be lost along the way as a result.”

Subvention proposes funding on a per child basis rather than a provider grant and will implement a two-tiered system divding parents into high or low income earners.
It is estimated that costs for families with an annual earning of €22,000 will rise from €60 to €100 or €110. Up to thirty non-profit groups across Monaghan say they will face closure and be forced to put staff on protective notice by January 2008 as a result.

Sinn Fein Councillor for Clones, Niall Quigley believes the loss of this investment would be detrimental. “Quality childcare is one of the key amenities that industries and families look for before choosing whether to move into a town or not, so it is vital that we support this facility for the future development of Clones.”

“The purpose of community childcare is to provide affordable care for all. The proposed scheme will contradict this by introducing a drastic cost increase leaving the service untenable.” Cllr Quigley called on Minister Smith to suspend the proposed scheme until a nationwide consultation process takes place.

Nearby in Drum Village, the Drum Community Childcare group has been forced to postpone opening their new facility. “We were offered such a low staffing grant and were devastated. We have appealed the grant decision and we are hopeful, but subvention would be a disaster for us,” said Angela Graham.

Minister Smith denied the scheme poses a threat to childcare groups and assured groups that any necessary adjustments will be considered.

New Home for Cairde Centre

Cliona Connolly
Monaghan Post

THE CAIRDE Activation Centre will be moving from their Canal Stores base to the rear of the Spar/Texaco station on the Monaghan road, Clones.

The Cairde Centre is a centre for adults with learning disabilities, held five days a week in the Canal Stores. While the day service was happily based in the Canal Stores, Cairde has outgrown the location. This move will incur a huge cost to the centre as a great deal of funding will be required to construct the new building.

Michelle Maguire from the Centre said “The Canal Stores has kindly accommodated us for a long time but we have outgrown the premises,” Micelle explained. “We are delighted to get planning permission for the building we just need to secure funding now. We will be relying on local support during future fundraisers for this event.”

Clones Town Council gave the final approval for a variation to the County Development Plan to allow a commercial unit’s status be changed to allow the unit be used as a health care facility.

The building will be changed including alternations to an external façade, internal alterations, the provision of first floor accommodation, an external courtyard and auxiliary storage.

Local Road Safety Campaign

THE CEEP Shadow Youth Partnership will launch their unique road safety and anti-drink driving campaign tonight, Thursday 6 December at 7.30pm in the Lennard Arms Hotel, Clones.

The main message of the Campaign is “Ring around – get home safe and sound!” The youth group’s project aims to encourage young people not to take a lift home after a night out with a driver who has consumed alcohol or drugs. As part of the campaign, members designed beer mats and posters with road safety slogans and local taxi numbers. These have been distributed to local pubs and clubs in the target CEEP area.

The Shadow Youth Partnership chose Road Safety as one of their core pieces of work because this was an issue, which affects all of the country and most recently has claimed the lives of many young people within the Erne East area of Fermanagh and the Clones area of Co Monaghan.

CEEP was formed as collaboration between the three councils of Fermanagh District Council, Clones Town Council and Monaghan County Council. The primary objective of forming the Partnership was to provide a mechanism to work together on issues of commonality to achieve more effective solutions on a cross border basis and to try collectively to impact on the social and economic improvement of the area.

For further information, please contact Annmarie Fryers on 047 20683 or email Annmarie@cloneserneeast.com.

Clones Relic to Move Indoors

By Cliona Connolly
Monaghan Post

 

A NINTH century Celtic Cross which currently stands on the Diamond, Clones is to move indoors for preservation reasons. The cross has been continually eroded with every passing year and Clones Town Council is concerned that it will be further damaged in its current position.

Ann Dolan, Senior Conservation Architect with the Office of Public Works outlined two reports carried out on the cross and offered two recommendations for the council to consider. The reports concluded that it was highly unlikely that the Diamond was the original resting place of the Cross, though it had been there for some 228 years. In order to prevent further erosion of the cross, the report recommends either covering the cross in situ or bringing it indoors to a suitable location.

Following a recent meeting, the OPW and council officials agreed the cross should move indoors, possibly to the current Clones library building, and a replica be put up in its place on the Diamond. The next step is for the council to finalise a new home for the cross. Consent from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley is also required before plans are set in motion.

The cross is formed from two parts which did not belong together originally. One side depicts the sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the lions' Den and Adam and Eve. The opposite side features the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the wedding feast at Canal and the adoration of the Magi. The other sides are decorated with geometric symbols.