Letters to and from Minister Coveney re: Dog Shelter Carlow Kilkenny Council Corruption meets Public Tender system failure!

 Dear Minister,

I am asking to request an intervention by your good self to stop an animal disposal company getting the contract to run the Local Authority Dog Pound, for Carlow Kilkenny. I am not sure if you have been following the story but Kilkenny Council lied to the unsuccessful tenderers by letter saying that the contract was to be given to the Animal Care Society, Cork. I congratulated them and offered my help and they responded that they had not even heard of the contract, let alone put in a tender. I understand that this is new territory as the ISPCA have been running the pounds for the last 20 years. I also understand that the council do not want to admit that the tender process was flawed or not well managed as there would be legal implications. That being said, it is clear to absolutely everyone from elected councillors to rescue centres, to the general public that hundreds of thousands of euro of public money should not be given to a private company who will profit from the contract, then the disposal of animal carcasses and possibly from selling unwanted dogs for research - as the company has connections with research companies. 

Because of more than eleven and a half thousand objections, Kilkenny Council let the shelter be discussed by the elected representatives. Now there is a committee.This was formed to decide how the shelter should be run but instead it is a token gesture to appease opposition. I don't mind how you do it, but you must stop the collection service getting this contract. It is totally against any animal welfare objective and will not promote responsible pet ownership. 

I have attached a copy of my plan for the shelter to prove that it can be run properly, for the amount the councils' have and real changes can be made. This story is being covered by the Mail On Sunday and I would love that article to be sharing the fact that you made sure the shelter was put in safe hands. I know you have worked with Four Seasons Promotions, in other areas and I don't want you to have to defend them. Please just make sure that this tender, which relies so heavily on there being a dedicated director, goes to an animal welfare concern.

Kindest regards, Frances Micklem

 I refer to your recent correspondence to Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine regarding Animal Welfare.
Firstly Minister Coveney thanks you for taking the time to write on the matter and he wishes to let you know that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine devotes considerable resources in protecting animal welfare and is continuing to work closely with An Garda Siochana, Local Authorities and animal welfare bodies throughout the country in an effort to minimise the risks to animals.
Minister Coveney also introduced new legislation, namely the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 which places a greater responsibility on those individuals and/or bodies to look after animals in their care and protect and safeguard their well being.
In December 2014, this Department announced funding of €1.8m to 142 organisations including PAWS, involved in animal care and welfare services throughout the country. The level of funding being provided to these organisations reflects the importance the Minister places on their work. The details of the organisations who received awards in 2014 can be accessed on the Departments website at www.agriculture.gov.ie/animalhealthwelfare/animalwelfaregundingtoanimalwelfareorgani sations
In addition to funding animal welfare bodies, this Department has a very active engagement with local authorities and An Garda Siochana on control of horses issues. DAFM refund local authorities for expenses incurred in operation of the Control of Horses Act, 1996. In 2014, this Department paid some € 2.25 m to the local authorities to assist them in their work in dealing with stray, abandoned and unwanted horses.
The matter of awarding local authority contracts referred to in your correspondence falls outside the remit of this Department and should be addressed directly to the relevant councils.
I would like to reassure you that this Department will continue to work to ensure that animal welfare is protected. The public are urged to continue to report cases of animal neglect and or abuse to the animal welfare helpline in operation by this Department animalwelfare@agriculture.gov.ie or on the helpline Lo call number 0761 064408.
Yours sincerely
Graham Lennox Private Secretary

Polytunnel étiquette!

I am taking my studies extremely seriously! Its nearly full time at the moment - Horticulture and the  Training & Development qualification. Today I could tell you nearly everything about propagation via hardwood cuttings, the legislation around health and safety and the manifold techniques one can and probably should use to evaluate training programmes. Fascinating material once you get into it!

Chapter Two: Don Juan - Forthcoming Second Book

I am a dog with issues. I watched my Mum and Dad get kicked around by their settled traveler masters. I'd only just been born so at first my eyes were closed but even then I heard the harsh voices and smelt the danger. At two and a half weeks my brother Cupid and I did a runner, or more of a scramble. In fact I can't remember now, so our parents might well have picked us up by the scruffs of our necks and dropped us, in the burnt out house up the road. I was terrified and hid in the hedge but Cupid would scuffle out to meet every passerby and make friends. That's how I've got by in life, on account of a really popular big brother. He can only be about ten minutes older than me but his paws and all have always been twice the size.

I was named Don Juan and as some could argue the greatest lover of all time, I was almost a self fulfilling prophecy. The postman loved me and she had a beloved golden chihuahua, exactly like me. It was to be an arranged marriage. Then it became apparent that my issues weren't going away. The postman brought newspapers galore as my master didn't get one but no matter how much people cried 'on the paper', I widdled and worse on the floor and in my bed. Even when the dog flap arrived - a direct access to 'the paper', on a grand scale - I wouldn't go out. The chihuahua in me really didn't want to get cold. I don't know if the two things were related but then the vet chopped my goolies off. My brother had never put a foot wrong and it happened to him too, so it mustn't have been punishment. It must have been what the master called 'responsible pet ownership'.

At one point, it was decided we would have 'ad lib' food. Because of being a veggie household, up until then we'd all had breakfast cooked together. To start with, Her, the horse and us were all sharing the porridge oats and I loved that. I felt I was part of a real family. Later, chick peas and rice were shared but then 10kg of biscuits arrived. I suddenly had a new issue. This time with food. I would guard the mountain of biscuits, sometimes several mountains, and couldn't relax into the possibility that there would always be plenty.

Growling and guarding , widdling and worse, were all affecting my relationships. It might have been that my waterworks weren't fully developed at first but, after a while, everyone knew I had a bad attitude. Cupid was the personification of sweetness, light and unconditional love. He was white, soft-furred, loyal and forgiving of absence and of being sat on, or growled at. Me? The whole house smelled of me. I was just too small to be demoted to an outdoor kennel. Eventually, I did the unthinkable, I ate a fifty euro note, that came in the post. Shredded and Strewn. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I could see that everyone kept looking for the love in their hearts but I could feel the hostility too. Then I did it again! I can just sniff out those big notes. They've passed hands so many times. So it was make or break time. Everyone knows that negative attention seeking is just attention seeking gone wrong. Well, luckily my master did anyway, as she made a split second decision to take me to dog training classes. Just me and her, every week. It was the happiest times of my life so far. It was Sit! and Stay! and Lie Down! and Wait! and Good Boy! and treats, every second minute. But it was the Good Boy! I liked the best. Positive reinforcement, I think they call it. No one noticed that I wasn't a puppy like the others as I'm still so small, even now I'm four.

This particular story has a very happy ending as my master has a lot of good ideas and solutions up her sleeve and a lot of patience, that meant I am still welcome here. I am pleased to report that I have managed three months with only one or two accidents. I've cracked it, everyone loves me, everyone's happy. My main job in life is to help my master show people that even if they or their animals have issues, you can turn things around.

She asked me yesterday, how can we engage peoples' hearts and show them how valuable animals are? That's the sort of thing we talk about. I was sorry to have to tell her that there is a culture of habitual abuse we have to stop first. While animals are farmed, raced, skinned for by-products and other people buy the stuff, there can't be true compassion or value. Too much denial is required to care about nothing. This unconscious defense mechanism has to stop profiting people first. So we'll be onto sorting that out, for this next while. It will mean extra treats for me too. What sort of treats can a veggie dog look forward to, you ask? An unexpected brown bread nugget, a kind word, a cuddle up and plenty of quality time are all relished by yours truly, Don Juan.

Ireland is in disarray.

                                            http://newdirections.creatingcalmnetwork.com
Here is my radio show New Directions. Its a way to navigate through what is going on but not get bogged down! Now is the chance to vote for change. Take a chance and vote for a councillor you know of who is not colluded or corrupt - do not even tick a second or third choice if you don't like the cut of their jib - as we come to the election.

Shell Ireland (not that Ireland get much of a share) get a quick 100 million to trash the place further

Even lying in the bath with the tumble drier on, in the vicinity, is intolerable. Imagine what drilling does to sea life, their sonar and other subtle senses.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/shell-ireland-gets-fresh-123m-cash-injection-31151796.html

http://harmonyhall.creatingcalmnetwork.com
Healing by Franc releases podcasts every thursday and saturday. Healing From Harmony Hall and past shows is at the link above. New Directions is at http://newdirections.creatingcalmnetwork.com

The Day Kilkenny Council at last faced the High Court

It is with the joy of great vindication that I bring you news of the High Court… Save Kilkenny vs Kilkenny Council. Last summer, 200 alternating citizens stood firm on an old stone bridge to try and protect the River Nore from the tons of unwashed stone of foundations and the pile driver destruction to the river bed. We were trying to stop the erection of the dual carriageway CAS bridge, straight into the Medieval Mile of Kilkenny City. There were so many reasons it should never have gone on. People stood around in twos and threes and sometimes great gatherings and manned the entrances 24hours a day, for 5 months. 11,000 signatures on a petition, the dedication, the clarity, the arguments, the moral high ground, the financial awareness of how public money should not be spent, the environmental impact to water life and bats. The fact that the bridge was to land nearly on the steps of St Canice's Cathedral, our oldest round tower…oh yes and that planning permission was not granted for a road to meet EITHER END of the bridge. The absurdity was too much to bear and one concerned citizen, Christopher O'Keefe, brought the council to the High Court.

To the council, nothing was worth conserving, they would answer no questions and most county councillors who had been voted in as being 'against' the CAS soon changed their minds. But we are coming to know that elected councillors cannot influence the county management team anyway. Don't worry if you've not even heard of them as you will soon enough … when you ask why something horrible, destructive and only benefiting a very few is being built in your own area!

So back to our court case. I gather the ruling was that Christopher O'Keefe's expenses should be paid and that Kilkenny Council were disallowed their request to carry on regardless. They had tried to back date permission for their practice of dumping stone in the river and it was denied by the court. It is completely insane that the council still get to build the bridge and it is a disgrace the hardship that a citizen had to go through and risk to even get the council to answer to this situation. I myself spent some full nights there, trying to hear the moment when they would try and smuggle the pile driver in - 4am one morning it arrived. The guards were used as heavies for the contractors and went back on an early promise that no one would be charged even if they were 'moved along'. One great councillor, Independent Breda Gardner asked a question about the CAS in the council chambers and was told to retract her statement. Another courageous councillor Malcolm Noonan had been trying to raise awareness for years, of the madness of the CAS scheme and how it had got 'passed' as part of a County Plan.

After this, the rest of the council and government must be coming to see that the people are seeing through their abuse of power. Their crippling plans for individuals and attractive plans for international companies. My personal dream is to stop the 2020 Harvest. It is my least favourite plan as it is a Department of Agriculture plan to increase meat and dairy production in Ireland by 50%, by the year 2020. Down the corridor in the Department of Environment, they are promising that every industry will be carbon neutral by 2020. The two cannot both happen so they might as well have that conversation now before more farm animals are killed and the intensification of farming ruins more lives and land. A bit further down the corridor again, someone is handing over €2million to an English company to kill all our badgers and smuggling in plane upon plane of white mice and other animals for pharmaceutical companies to experiment on. Here in Kilkenny, the council also want to give the animal shelters to a company that profit from the disposal of animals and research. It is as if no one has the freedom to respond. Even when Ireland, a supposedly neutral country, joined NATO last year in Wales, the media were told not to cover it, mention it. I only found out from an American friend who sent me an article from there. Goodness knows what's happened to that elderly lady at the US's Shannon Airforce base…Oh, I mean Shannon Airport! She stood around for years with a sign saying that perhaps American war planes shouldn't land and refuel there. She was carted off to prison and may be there still. We really do have to take the power back and manifest a country where transparency, good sense and kindness are rewarded.

A Misunderstanding of Mine - sorry about that!

In a funny twist of fate, it turns out things are not as they had seemed. I thought I was a great networker, spreading the word about ways to get well, ways to be successful and empowered, ways to live compassionately and still do well in life. I was exploring consciousness and helping others too. I was just making people feel bad and guilty after all, I gather! Sorry about that! The song - "You don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?" has come to mind. People know that I don't eat meat, drink dairy, use leather, smoke cigarettes or anything stronger. I intended to represent a healthy happy person, independent of the main stream. What seems to have happened is that I just bring up the awareness in people of their own inner conflicts. They are faced with a choice to close the discrepancy gap by changing things in life or just blame me for bringing it up! The latter is the option of choice! I am delighted to announce that I have withdrawn my energy as of this week, in order to write a book. No one can level the accusation at me that I am domineering in my opinions, upset about animals, unrealistic about the environment and/or going on about things that I don't know enough about. I have even heard this week that everything would be well and lots of people would have given up abusing animals and eating them years ago, if I hadn't gone on about it so much. I have also been told that I should do more research and that I should trust the scientists of CERN as they have brought us great technological breakthroughs. I have even been told that I just get the answers I want to hear, from divining. People, with half the self discipline I have, have been finding water and oil for thousands of years using this method. I have taken the ability to do a dispassionate assessment a lot further and have dealt with many uncomfortable truths along the way for myself and others. The way I work is intuitive. I am objective, progressive, imaginative and compassionate. So now, if anyone wants to hear what I have to say, they will have to contact me, read my blogs or read my books. Seek me out or don't, it doesn't matter to me.

For those interested in what happens at Harmony Hall, I can only recount that each day is different. In the last few days I have done a law assignment, a horticulture assignment, a training assignment, some taxes, some legal advocacy, three soul retrievals, several letters - for clients and from Healing by Franc - to the minister for Agriculture, Environment, a Senator, a National Newspaper and my brother (the only one of all this lot who doesn't have an admin department and yet the only one who will write back!) two energy clearings by phone, a space clearing for a professional horse yard and occupants and got the geodome ( a sacred geometry polytunnel) up. I exist here with my herbivore animals and I am very grateful for this wonderful life.
Magic brings alchemy
Sophie brings wisdom
Gizmo brings love and affection
Cupid brings unconditional love
Don Juan brings passion and the will to passionately defend that which we love (Aristotle)
Wish brings hope
and I just bring the sense of humour, the every increasing synergy and the ability to take note of things!