1he MagJfool" ems ettel' WITH Issue No. 214 MAY 1995 Price 70p Maynooth's Traffic THE CARDINAL PRESS Halved by Motorway A survey carried out by students from Maynooth 's post-primary school has shown that traffic through the town has been halved since the motorway opened last December. Over 30,000 vehicles were passing through the town each day before the motorway opened, a figure that has now been cut to about 14,500. Maynooth post-primary's transition year's Social and Environ­ The survey results proved very interesting after the motorway mental Studies class, under the guidance of Mr. J. Nevin, con­ opened, Again, more traffic came from the west and roughly ducted a traffic survey recently to examine the impact of the by­ similar daily variations existed, The class noted that, as bus routes CAN pass on vehicle movement through the town. haven't changed, this traffic proved equitable with the November census. The main fall-off in any single category was that of trucks , Over a week in November 1994 and ) January/February 1995, i.e. before and after the by-pass, the class divided into \ ten groups of three, Each section was assigned to a specific hour between 0800 COLLECT and 1800 on Monday, Wednesday and Contact Friday of the surveyed week, They then recorded the number of cars/light vans, large vans/trucks, minibuseslbuses and ,f!!i .-: The Cardinal Press motorcycles - also noting the direction ~rq,:;i~ Kild of the traffic, They found that before the : .. : ;'. Dunboyne Road, Maynooth, Co. are. motorway 30,862 vehicles passed The JOBS Telephone: 01 - 628 6695 • Fax. 01 - 6286440 Square. Wednesday proved slightly busier with about 500 extra cars, On • FULL COLOUR BROCHURES , GENERAL PRINTING average the numbers travelling from the west was 400 more each day than those • NEWSLETIERS INVOICES heading away from Dublin, NCR SETS STATEMENTS •. QUALITY WEDDING STATIONERY LETTERHEADS Hour-by-hour changes were also noted . THIS BUSINESS CARDS For example, on Monday, 14th Novem­ • CONllNUOUS STATIONERY TICKETS ber, traffic from the east was highest POSTERS between 5-6 p.m., with people travelling home from work and the The final result was that in the second, post-motorway, survey .~ COLOUR COPYING • LASER PRINTING Mart. From the west it peaked earlier, at 8-9 a.m., due to people showed only 14,649 vehicles on the Main Street, a52, 1 % decrease jourheying to work, college, etc. Each of the three days roughly in the amount of traffic recorded in the first survey, The report's • OFFICE STATIONERY & FURNITURE • BOOK RESTORATION followed this trend, with high volumes of vehicles moving to/ conclusion states that "while the number of cars decreased from from work through the town. The survey also noted sundry 25,209 to 12,691, the amount of minibuslbus use has only been • TYPESETIING (LASER & IBM) & THESIS BINDING reasons for traffic movements, such as buses taking students to/ reduced from 605 to 441. Trucks have decreased from 4,901 to from the College and the effect of parents taking children to/from 1,579 but this is quite a large number as trucks are required to school. travel to the Mill and Mart in Maynooth", continued page 26 , " " " , :E}ditorial Statement :E}€litorial " " ~ ~ ~ -"', ~ MAYNOOTH NEWSLETTER Community Employment Projects are under attack from two PUBLISHED BY very different sources. The Government has decided to re­ MAYNOOTH COMMUNITY COUNCIL duce the numbers on these projects and Mr. John Drennan in his opus "The Secret Dole Diaries of Sean Armstrong" views Editorial Board them as useless. If two such illustrious sources are attacking Peter Connell the projects perhaps there is some remnant of worth in them. Patricia Condron Community Employment Projects are not the answer to un­ Leo Armstrong employment but they give some semblance of what it is to Willie Healy work to their participants and they contribute to the local com­ John Drennan munity. Community Council Staff Carton Hall Service Station Maeve McCullagh The government proposal to cut back the number of partici­ pants on projects will drastically reduce the number of work­ The opinions and statements expressed in the articles are those ers in the Maynooth Community Council projects. Straffan Rd. Maynooth. of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Editorial Board All material to be included in the next edition of the The reduction will mean a loss of almost £ I ,000 per month to Newsletter should be addressed to:- our projects through material grants. Proposed training for Phone : 6290470 The Editor, Maynooth Newsletter, workers will also be cut back. It will be very difficult for Town Centre Mall, Maynooth Te1.Ol-6285922 Maximum number of words 500 per article Maynooth Community Council to continue our many services COPYDATE: FRIDAY 19TH MAY BEFORE 5P.M. to the local community. EDITORIAL STATEMENT A week of protest against the cut-backs is being organised the The Maynooth Newsletter is published as a service to the week after Labour Day by the Irish National Organisation of people and organisations of the neighbourhood. It is an 'open the Unemployed. Maynooth Community Council will be sup­ access' publication and will generally carry any material sub­ porting this week of protest and we would ask for your co­ mitted to it, subject to the law of the land and to editorial judge­ operation and support if the Community Council offices are ment. This judgement is exercised by the editorial committee closed without prior notice. in order to preserve the independence and balance of the News­ letter. The committee reserves the right to alter, abridge or We cannot protest against the other attack but we would ask omit material which in its opinion might rend the Newsletter you to judge for yourself the worth of the local projects. the promoter or mouth-piece of sectional interests. Any con­ tributor seeking further guide-lines in this matter is invited to Mini-market with wide range of groceries, magazines, tobacco, contact the committee. drinks and food. NOTE TO CONTRIBUTORS We request all our contributors to make sure their material is CONTENTS legible. If possible, material should be typed, but as not every­ one has access to typewriters, the best way to present material • Fresh French Bread baked on premises. is to use either neat legible writing or block letters, on one side of the paper. In future all Letters to the Editor must have Editorial 3 the writer's name and address available for publication. • Pasteries, Muffins, donuts We emphasise that material submitted after the copydate will not be Letters to the Editor 4 accepted and will be withheld until the following copydate. Community Council Notes 4 and a well stocked deli counter. All Material Copyright Maynooth Newsletter 1995 Clubs, Organisations & Societies 6 RIGHT TO REPLY In fairness to our readers and given that this magazine is not Residents' Associations 22 • All grades of Petrol and Diesel. insured against libel damages or cost, we undertake the fol­ Features 26 lowing: In case of errors of fact we will publish corrections when we become aware of such. Hobbies & Interests 46 In the case of unfairly impugning the reputation of any person Gardening Hints 48 we hereby offer that person or their representative the right to reply in this magazine subject only to reasonable length, the Crossword 50 laws of libel and our right to respond to such reply. Political Party Notes 52 oils, blugas & briquettes Letter to our Readers: This is just a note to remind you all that the Newsletter exists for your enjoyment and that we Sports 54 welcome all contributions from our readers. We would like to 62 hear from any new organisations or indeed from individuals Birthdays with some-thing to say or suggest. We hope you continue to enjoy Sympathies 62 Avail of our Friendly Service your monthly read and keep us infol1l1ed of your activities. Community Council & Newsletter Staff 3 o ~ ~ "'~""' ~ " 7 - Betters to t.h.e ~(Jitor ~ ~ @om~tlnit.M ~otlncil ~otes ' )'I'~-~_C ~·O Dear Editor, The A.G.M. of Maynooth Community Council took place on E '': "... '~:::-'- -== -.".: -- In the April edition of Maynooth Newsletter you allowed Monday, 3rd April and the following officers were elected:­ BUILDING SOCIEfY COONAN through your letters' column an unprovoked, scurrilous and Chairperson - Patricia Condron Vice Chairperson - Tom McMullon slanderous attack on the committee and members of the Old Secretary - Muireann Nf Bhrolchain Greenfield Residents' Association. The purpose of this attack Auctioneers • Estate Agents • Property Consultants • Valuers Treasurer - Dominic Nyland was, by using untruths and half truths, to undermine in a most P.R.O. - Tony Bean Property House, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Tel. 01 6286128. Fax 01 - 6286726 vindictive manner the credibility, public standing and hitherto excellent community service performed by the committee of MEADOWBROOK MOYGLARE VILLAGE the Old Greenfield Resident's Association. You, Chairman, MAYNOOTH TIDY TOWN - NOTES and your board have aided and abetted this cowardly and un­ MAYNOOTH MAYNOOTH derhand deed. We had a disappointing turnout for our A.G.M. held on the 10th April 1995. Chainnan Bob O'Reilly thanked the com­ At a public meeting on the 3rd of April 1995 in the Boys Na­ mittee and the previous Fas Scheme under the supervision of tional School in Maynooth, the author of that slanderous epis­ Ann Cotter for all the work done last year on behalf of tle was made aware of, in a forthright manner, how well the Maynooth Tidy Towns. He welcomed to the meeting Martin committee and resident's association is supported in Old Sherry, supervisor to the current Fas Scheme, and congratu­ Greenfield and how much Old Greenfield appreciates what lated Martin and team on the work done to date.