By Cianna McNally

“This is indeed a very memorable and momentous day in the life of our school.”

So said Linda Mills, Principal of the Model School on Friday last at an event to celebrate the reopening of the school following extensive refurbishment. The renovation work, which began in March last year, has resulted in three new classrooms, a general purpose room and a library. The older part of the building has been restored to its original state.

Minister for the Arts, …

Michael Fisher

There have been calls for EirGrid to withdraw the controversial plan currently before An Bord Pleanála for a second North-South 400kV high voltage overhead electricity interconnector through part of County Monaghan and four other counties.

This follows the announcement by the company that the proposed GridLink project in Munster and parts of Leinster will no longer require new pylons to be built but will make use of the current power lines for distribution. This change by EirGrid was an example of people power expressed at its best in the interest of community and of the country as a whole, according to Ireland Midlands/North-West MEP Marian Harkin.

EirGrid says the emergence of the new ‘Regional Option’ means there is now no requirement to proceed with the previously proposed GridLink 400 kV overhead line from Cork through Waterford to Kildare. But it says the alternative technology cannot be deployed in the North-East in the case of the North/South interconnector.

EirGrid has been asked by An Bord Pleanála to …

- Town’s first official style event plays to packed house of fashionistas and raises €2,180.00

Monaghan’s first official style and beauty event – Style Fix 2015 – wrapped up last Wednesday to rapturous applause after a frenzied fashion-centred event featuring the very latest designs and a showcase of the best in hair and beauty.

Creativity, energy and fun were key features on the night as the town’s Four Seasons Hotel & Leisure Club was transformed with more than 330 of the county’s most fashionable ladies booked their place to ensure they were first to get a glimpse of the latest autumn and winter fashions from the town’s top boutiques – Lou Lou, Hollyblue, Utopia and Impulse.

Already labelled as the ‘Fashion Event of the Year’, and organised by the “Monaghan Has It” team, the sold out event also proved immensely rewarding for local charity, Monaghan Cancer Treatment Support, with almost €2,180 raised.

Hugely supported by many of the town’s businesses, and Monaghan County Council, those local models who wowed crowd. Special thanks to Sun Shapers for the girls wonderful tans, the hair salons and beauticians for all their support in getting everyone looking so well for the catwalk and all other who gave their support on the night….all too many to mention.

Attended by well-known …

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has been asked to review the adequacy of policing resources in counties Monaghan and Cavan following the transfer of 17 officers from the local division to take up duties in Co Louth.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan/Monaghan Brendan Smith appealed to the Justice Minister to ensure that Garda divisions across the Border were properly resourced.

His call came following the confirmation that 17 officers from the Cavan/Monaghan Division are being transferred to Louth.

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan announced on Monday that she had directed a total of 25 additional uniformed Gardaí to Dundalk Garda Station to support frontline policing and uniform patrols.

It subsequently emerged that 17 of the officers were being drawn from Cavan/Monaghan, which is regarded as the most depleted division in the country in light of a 22% reduction in Garda personnel there since a moratorium on recruitment was imposed.

The strengthening of Garda numbers in Dundalk comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Garda Tony Golden, who lost his life when investigating a domestic disturbance …

By Veronica Corr

Dwayne McAree, a ten-year-old boy from rural Smithboro who is recovering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), is about to have his Make-A-Wish granted.

He has opted to go to Disney World, Florida with his family — mum Ann Marie, dad Dessie and siblings Dylan (17) and Kirsty (14).

The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children who have life-threatening illnesses and Dwayne has been on the charity’s waiting list for over a year and a half now.

PASSPORT EXPRESS

The Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Cathy Elliot asked the McArees if they would be able to depart for Florida on November 3rd and return on November 10th — They didn’t think this would pose a problem until Ann Marie discovered that their passports were out of date!

So, the family got in contact with local TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who came to the rescue by writing …

By Patsy McArdle

A Border family made an eighth anniversary plea last weekend for help from the public in bringing members of a gang to justice which, they claim, was responsible for the brutal killing of 21-year-old Paul Quinn at a shed in Co. Monaghan, about three miles from his home at Cullyhanna in South Armagh.

Quinn was lured to the shed at Tullycoora near Oram, Castleblayney, where he was set upon by a group of men with cudgels and iron bars and had several bones broken in the half-hour attack which proved fatal.

He was taken in a semi-conscious state to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda where he died two hours later.

Quinn’s parents, Breege and Stephen, have consistently claimed that some members of the IRA in South Armagh were responsible for their son’s murder.

The family also claimed the attack was the …

By Cianna McNally

Biscuits, cakes and other sweet treats will be the prime focus for two Monaghan girls from this weekend as they can be seen taking part in the new series of ‘The Great Irish Bake Off.’

Cathy Mac Kenna, who grew up in Beechgrove but moved to Milltown nine years ago, and Fionnadh McGonigle from Clones are two of 12 determined bakers who will battle it out to be crowned Ireland’s Best Amateur Baker 2015.

The series will begin on Sunday, 25th October at 9pm on TV3 and will see the contestants bake their way through challenges that will confuse, enlighten and certainly push their baking skills to the limit. Each week viewers will find out who can stick the heat and who will be sent packing. The show is presented by Anna Nolan alongside judge Paul Kelly and new judge, food writer, blogger and Irish Times columnist Lilly Higgins.

Speaking to The Northern Standard, Cathy, who is the daughter of Martin and the late Pauline McKenna, described her experience on ‘The Great Irish Bake Off’ as “intensive, eye-opening and wonderful.” Baking is something Cathy used to do with her mother, who passed away nine years ago.

“We used to bake …..

Jamie Heaslip and his fellow warriors might have fallen at the formidable hurdle of Argentina, but a young man from Doohamlet will be ensuring an Irish presence in this weekend’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals.

Oisín O’Neill (pictured) has been selected as the match ball bearer for the clash of Ireland’s conquerors and Australia at Twickenham on Sunday, October 25 next at 4 pm.

This once in a lifetime opportunity was afforded Oisín by his cousin Jason Roddy from Buninadden, Co. Sligo.

A keen rugby player himself with Carrick-On-Shannon, Jason won a competition earlier this year with DHL that had as part of its prize an opportunity to take an 8-15-year-old with him to act as ball bearer for one of the World Cup’s last-four matches.

Oisín was the family member who fitted the bill, and he and Jason will enjoy VIP match tickets, flights, two nights’ accommodation and all transfers along with DHL rugby kits.

Michael Fisher

The lights could go out in Northern Ireland by 2021 unless political choices are made soon about the planned second North-South electricity interconnector, a conference in Belfast has been told. The Utility Regulator in the North said the notion of an alternative underground interconnector was just a myth and warned there was no comparable plan B. The overhead connector that is being planned is the only option, according to Jenny Pyper.

Her comments in a speech at the tenth annual customer conference of the EirGrid Group at the Titanic centre in Belfast came as An Bord Pleanála started to consider EirGrid’s response to the 900 submissions it has received regarding the planning application for the interconnector in the Republic. This overhead route from County Meath to Armagh and Tyrone would pass through 42 townlands in County Monaghan and part of County Cavan.

The EirGrid Chief Executive Fintan Slye told the…

PETER HUGHES

Fine Gael were afforded a smooth transition in the position of Cathaoirleach of the Ballybay-Clones Municipal District on Monday when its longest serving local public representative in Co Monaghan, Hugh McElvaney, took over the position from the man who had been the party’s youngest local councillor, Eugene Bannigan.

Colr McElvaney’s succession, necessitated by the former Colr Bannigan’s resignation from local authority duties to pursue a career opportunity in America, was unanimously approved at the municipal body’s monthly meeting in Ballybay.

As an initial declaration of intent, Hughie cited the “I’m the gaffer!” assertion made by Steve Staunton when assuming the position of Republic of Ireland international soccer manager. But he provided assurances of a more auspicious reign than the Staunton era when vowing to the members that they would receive equity of treatment from him, and the officials that they could expect praise where it was due and “constructive criticism” when it was necessary!

JOB CREATION A PRIORITY

Speaking to The Northern Standard subsequent to Monday’s meeting, Colr McElvaney, who is also whip of the FG party on Monaghan Co Council, identified the encouragement of job creation across the district as one of his key priorities for his Cathaoirleach term.

He said he was also determined to support the people’s demand for the undergrounding of the North-South electricity interconnector, support the elderly, the disabled and …

By Cianna McNally

Funding of €155,000 for the Castleblayney area was warmly welcomed at the October meeting of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District, which took place this week.

Monaghan Co Council made a successful application to the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government’s Rural Economic Development Zone (REDZ) pilot initiative and was granted €75,000. Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District councillors agreed on Monday to provide matching funding of €80,000 from the general Municipal fund which has been ringfenced for economic development. The money will benefit Castleblayney town and Lough Egish.

Speaking on Monday, Fine Gael councillor Aidan Campbell described the funding as a “welcome financial uplift.” He thanked Municipal District Co-ordinator Frances Matthews for her input into the project.

Councillor Campbell …

PETER HUGHES

A rallying cry of “Monaghan beds for Monaghan patients” issued from Monday’s meeting of the Clones-Ballybay Municipal District when a motion tabled by Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus Coyle highlighted the chronic shortage of respite facilities in the county.

Colr Coyle sought the intervention of Health Minister Leo Varadkar to address a situation in which he claimed that only nine respite beds were available to cater for the need arising in the entirety of Co Monaghan and a large part of neighbouring Co Cavan.

His motion, which won the unanimous support of his Municipal District colleagues, stated:

“As the HSE currently provides no respite beds/facilities in Co Monaghan, with only very limited accommodation in Cavan at the Lisdarn Centre for older persons, the Ballybay-Clones Municipal District calls on the Minister for Health Leo Varadkar TD and the HSE to immediately make available respite beds/facilities at a Monaghan location for Monaghan patients, to allow them remain in their own county to facilitate visits of family, etc.”

Colr Coyle requested that the motion be forwarded not alone to the Minister and the HSE, but to the constituency’s Oireachtas representatives, the county’s other Municipal Districts and Monaghan Co Council.

The FF representative told the meeting that this matter had been drawn to his attention by a number of people, and was the cause of severe pressure on carers and family members who needed the break afforded by respite availability.

Referring to a recent briefing at St Mary’s Hospital in Castleblayney, Colr Coyle said there were only nine beds in the St Mary’s unit to cater for …

The news that the majority of Gardaí being redeployed to the Co Louth area in a determined strategy to bolster security and deal with serious criminality there are to be taken from the Cavan/Monaghan Division has provoked understandable alarm among politicians and the public.

The need for a highly visible and forceful response to the murder of Garda Tony Golden and the persistent menace posed by dissident paramilitary activity and the activities of organised criminal gangs in the Louth part of the Border region is self-evident. Added to the continuing efforts of the Gardaí to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Garda Adrian Dohohoe, these motivations for an enhanced policing focus on addressing serious crime in one of its major national territories are strong ones, and, if they produced the desired results, the well-being of the country as a whole in addition to that of the area concerned will be significantly served.

But the removal of important human resources from a policing division that has already undergone a 22% reduction in its Garda personnel in recent years in order to achieve these security objectives is troubling.

It illustrates very starkly that the Gardaí have been left with dangerously depleted ranks as a result of the recruitment moratorium that has recently applied to them. The repeated demands from communities in our own circulation area that have experienced a worrying rise in rural crime for a more visible Garda presence in their midst, and the criticism voiced by politicians when cutbacks rather than reinforcement have been the lot of those charged with security responsibility in our own Border precincts, have tended to be met with a somewhat patronising response from Justice Ministers and Garda Commissioners.

The security hierarchy have long insisted that modern policing approaches could not only accommodate the closures of rural Garda Stations and a reduction in numbers of serving Gardaí but were in some way dependent on them. The “doing less with more” mantra used to justify the cuts imposed across the public service during the recession-dictated era of recent rectitude always sounded hollow when applied to the country’s security – it has now surely been conclusively recanted by the response forced on the Gardaí by the urgent policing problems that have arisen in one part of the Border region.

If a perceived urgency in security needs along one part of the frontier can only be addressed by transferring personnel from an under-resourced division responsible for another part, the conclusion is inescapable: there are not nearly enough Gardaí.

The Government has to concede the point – and might argue that they already have the matter well in hand with the Budget commitment to recruit more than 600 new personnel to the force’s ranks over the coming years.

But it will take some time for this reinforcement to filter through in a way that will make a meaningful difference, not only to addressing the major security issues the Gardaí are currently doing their best to grapple with in the more populated Border locations, but also in banishing the prevalent sense of insecurity that many people in the rural locations of our own Co Monaghan communities are daily living with.

Recent meetings of the Co Monaghan Joint Policing Committee have highlighted the ongoing problems associated with cattle theft and the illegal diesel trade and the negative impacts they are visiting not only on the economic well-being of our county but on the spirits of its people.

Less highly visible but still evident from the JPC forums and frequently in our local authority chambers is the cumulative effect of crimes against the person and property taking place in areas where a visible Garda presence has greatly diminished and in some cases vanished completely.

The sense of insecurity in our county’s smaller centres of population, particularly those in proximity to the Border, is very real and palpable. And the reason for it is plain: there are not nearly enough Gardaí.

That insecurity in our midst is likely to be heightened by the transfer of a significant number of policing personnel. And the fear it breeds will be accentuated by the danger that shuffling inadequate numbers to one part of the Border will only see the criminality there shift towards the flank of the frontier left vulnerable.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald is undoubtedly cognisant of the need to ensure that all parts of the Border region are adequately policed. The Garda report she received and published on Tuesday into the activities of dissident paramilitaries can only have served to reinforce her awareness, which will have been informed also by the contents of the independent report commissioned by British Government Minister Teresa Villiers on this subject.

The Minister in her response to the Garda assessment laid emphasis on the high-level contact ongoing between the island’s two Governments and their policing authorities on matters of joint security concern.

There is potential for such engagement to produce measures that can help mitigate the lack of Garda numbers along the Border by further developing areas of co-operation with the PSNI.

The call made this week by Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan/Monaghan Brendan Smith for a multi-agency task force to be instituted to address Border security issues is worthy of serious consideration at the joint ministerial and policing forums that are already operating.

The two important assessments produced this week show that the remnants of paramilitarism remaining after the peace initiatives constitute a significant threat to the law and order foundations upon which long-term political stability in Northern Ireland depend.

This imperative alone should hasten the Government’s plans to bring Garda numbers to a level adequate to deal with the overflow of recidivistic paramilitary criminality into our jurisdiction.

Strengthening the Gardaí is the only effective remedy to banishing Border insecurity.

PETER HUGHES

Providing a comprehensive public lighting system on the Monaghan Greenway would have a negative impact on the local bat population and might also encourage anti-social behaviour, the October meeting of the Monaghan Municipal District was told.

The issue of providing some form of public lighting on the popular walking and cycling trail has been discussed at MD level for some time – but a survey of the greenway’s bat population has advocated the maintenance of “dark zones” of limited or no lighting to preserve its integrity as a habitat.

At the October meeting, the lighting topic formed the subject of a written question submitted by Independent Monaghan Co Councillor Seamus Treanor, who requested that funding be sought from Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly for lighting on the Ulster Canal walkway from the roundabout close to the Graham’s business premises to Rooskey Vale.

Colr Treanor noted a recent announcement that a fund of €30 million was available for such projects.

The response to Colr Treanor’s question stated that a bat survey report had been carried out as part of the planning process for the greenway’s development. It also referred to fears that “if lighting or low level …

By Michael McDonnell

A 55-YEAR-OLD woman killed in a two-vehicle crash on the Monaghan–Clones road at 7.50am yesterday morning has been named as Maria Fatima Soares, a Portuguese lady who was living in Roslea, Co Fermanagh.

The fatal accident was one of four incidents that took place in much the same area along the N54 in just over 26 hours, including one that occurred only 15 minutes later, in which a woman in her 20s was injured when the car she was driving collided with a lorry.

The lady involved in the fatal accident at Aghalisk (between the Roslea Road junction and Brandrum cross) had been driving towards Monaghan when her car collided with a van coming in the opposite direction. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The van driver, who was in his late 50s, was taken to Cavan General Hospital with injuries understood to have been minor in nature. Another accident was reported about 15 minutes later, at Ballyleck on the N54, in which a lady in her 20s who was driving towards Monaghan crossed the road and was involved in a glancing collision with a lorry. The woman’s car had overturned, but she is believed to have escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Two further accidents in the same general area were reported on Tuesday. The first took place at Aghalisk (at the same site as the fatality) at 5.55am when a car driving towards Monaghan was written off after leaving the road and striking a tree. The driver, a man (29) who was travelling alone, was not seriously injured.

At 9pm on Tuesday night, the male drivers of two cars that struck each other while travelling in opposite directions on the N54 at Annagola, closer to the Roslea junction, also emerged unscathed.

The proximity of the accidents to each other has given rise to local concerns about oil along the stretch of road in question. A garda spokesperson confirmed that the roadway in question was very greasy, and that this was consistent with reports of oil being spilled on it.

The roadway remained closed until after 6pm yesterday evening (with diversions via Threemilehouse or Ballinode) to allow a forensic examination of site of the fatal accident, and it is understood that Co Council workers also treated the road surface.

Shock and sadness and an outpouring of heartfelt tributes have been the reaction locally and nationally to the news of the death of 23-year-old Dean McCarron of Dernagrew, Monaghan.

Dean died suddenly on Wednesday last in San Francisco, where he had been attending his brother’s wedding. Police in the United States are carrying out an investigation into the death of the student. The cause of his death is unknown but police do not suspect foul play at this time.

The Dept of Foreign Affairs confirmed this week that it is providing consular assistance to the late Mr McCarron’s family.

Mr McCarron’s remains are due to arrive in Dublin Airport this, Thursday morning. They will be brought to the family home where he will repose until Saturday morning, before removal for Requiem Mass in St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan Town at 11 am.

Deep sympathy has been evident in the North Monaghan area with Dean’s parents Anna Mae (née McKenna, Knockballyroney) and Martin, and his brothers Adrian and Niall.

Widely known by the Irish language version of his surname MacCearaín, Dean was …

“Christians need to work together to proclaim the Gospel,” stated the Right Reverend John McDowell, when he addressed as guest speaker last week’s Annual General Conference of Catholic clergy in the diocese of Clogher.

The conference of clergy and co-workers was held in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan on October 21.

Bishop Liam MacDaid warmly welcomed Bishop McDowell and thanked him for accepting the invitation to address the conference.

In his opening remarks Bishop McDowell thanked Bishop MacDaid for his valued advice and support since his calling to pastoral ministry in the diocese of Clogher. He also acknowledged the welcome and engagement with Catholic clergy which he had experienced at numerous community events in parishes throughout the diocese.

The theme of Bishop Mc Dowell’s keynote address was ‘Personal Reflections on Ministry’.

Recalling his formative years and life experiences, he spoke warmly of his encounters with friends from the Catholic community which had helped shape his views on culture and identity.

Having had the experience of chairing the Church of Ireland Committee on Commemorations, Bishop McDowell commented on the significance of historical events in shaping modern Ireland, as well as issues of culture and identity.

Turning to the modern era, Bishop Mc Dowell suggested that people of faith need to …

The potential for progressive expansion opportunities in the poultry sector taking account of sustainability imperatives and changing trends in consumer consumption patterns was outlined to a largely attended seminar convened by Co Monaghan IFA in the Four Seasons Hotel on Tuesday evening last.

The seminar was addressed by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys TD, who encouraged Co Monaghan producers to explore the opportunities for funding assistance presented by the TAMS scheme.

Minister Humphreys said the outlook for the sector was highly positive for the remainder of 2015 and into next year, and there had been a 5% increase in the number of poultry slaughtered this year compared to 2014.

The Minister praised the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme which, she said, helped to provide the necessary competitive edge needed by Irish poultry products in the modern marketplace by ensuring quality standards were met and maintained.

The Minister also spoke of the importance of establishing training courses geared to the specific needs of Monaghan poultry producers, stating that she had spoken to the farm advisory service Teagasc and the Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board about the development of such programmes, which she felt would find an ideal locale in Ballyhaise College.

IFA National Poultry Committee …

By PATSY McARDLE

WHAT has been termed as a “blatant failure” of the authorities in relation to lack of action in respect of a non-Irish national driver, who was linked to a series of offences, including driving and drug-related charges, spurred a Carrickmacross family to bring their international campaign to the attention of the British government this week.

Mrs Lucia O’Farrell, whose son Shane, a popular law student, from Carrickmacross, was the victim of the hit-and-run driver in 2011, arranged for a visit to Westminister on Tuesday last to highlight the failure of the authorities in undertaking adequate cross-border anti-criminal co-operation in relation to the activities of the driver involved in the young South Monaghan man’s tragic death.

It emerged during the week that Baroness Harris of Richmond indicated she would sponsor a debate on the issues raised by the case in the House of Lords, while MPs also undertook to raise the matter in the House of Commons.

Garda ‘whistleblower’ John Wilson agreed to accompany the concerned family members to the UK parliament on Tuesday.

The Carrickmacross case was the subject of a Garda Siochana Ombudsman Service (GSOC) investigation, and the family has already brought their concerns to the European Parliament, through a visit arranged some months ago by local Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy.

Indeed, the family, which is hugely respected in the area, is leaving no stone unturned to have all issues relating to Mr. O’Farrell’s death fully investigated, exposed, and clarified.

Mrs O’Farrell has asserted their son sadly lost his life because of the failure of the authorities to take   the necessary effective measures in preventing a convicted driver from being at large.

The family has already had frank discussions in relation to the case with senior politicians on both sides of the border, including the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the North’s Minister for Justice, David Ford.

Mrs O’Farrell believes that if adequate cross-border security measures had been properly observed in the Republic, and in the North, in relation to the convicted driver involved in her son’s death,   her son would still be alive today.

It emerged that although previously convicted, and given a custodial sentence in the North—as well as also having a conviction in the Republic—the foreign national involved in the death of Mr. O’Farrell was allowed to remain at large, and allowed to proceed, when observed at security checkpoints.

It is now hoped that full exposure of all the circumstances of the tragic death of Mr. O’Farrell, will ultimately bring some closure for the irreparable loss felt by this grieving family over the past four years.

PETER HUGHES

Monaghan Co Council has received a reduction of €278,664 in its Local Property Tax allocation for 2016 from the Dept of the Environment as a consequence of the local authority’s recent decision to reduce the amount of property tax levied in the county by 7.5%.

This information was provided by the Co Council’s Head of Finance John Murray to last week’s meeting of the Ballybay-Clones Municipal District, when the members were considering their own budget for next year.

Mr Murray said that in 2015 the allocation to each of the county’s three Municipal Districts came from the amount of Local Property Tax retained in the county. At the recent special meeting of the Co Council at which the decision to reduce the LPT rate was made, there were indications that the subsequent reduction might have to come out from the funding provided for Municipal Districts.

However, Mr Murray emphasised, he could not pre-empt what the decision of the members of the Co Council would be on this matter at their own forthcoming Statutory Budget Meeting (to take place on November 20). That was when the allocation being made to the Municipal Districts for 2016 would be decided.

Regarding the Municipal District’s 2016 allocation for the operation of parks and open spaces, Mr Murray said the funding for this purpose in 2015 had been €30,000, two-thirds of which had now been spent, and the same level of allocation was proposed for next year. An additional €5,700 allocation for town events would also be left unchanged in 2016.

The Head of Finance pointed out that the Co Council was looking at present at how contributions to community groups by the local authority were handled. Something would be done to avoid duplicate contributions being paid by both the Co Council and the Municipal Districts, but the overall funding package for this purpose would not change in 2016.

Fine Gael councillor Ciara McPhillips asked how the allocations to Ballybay-Clones compared to other Municipal Districts in the county.

Mr Murray said the money set aside for town events would be lower in Ballybay-Clones than in other Municipal Districts, but they were looking at addressing this matter at Co Council level at present. The amount of money for this purpose overall in the county would not change, but they were looking at measures to ensure greater equality and fairness in its distribution. The parks and open spaces ….