Martin Shannon

The rejection of yet another request from Clones Town Council to the North South Ministerial Council to facilitate a meeting with the PSNI, Garda Siochana, and the relevant Departments regarding doughnut 'diffing' on the Cavan/Clones Concession road was greeted with disdain by members of the local authority recently.

Councillor Deirdre Kelly said she was dissatisfied with the response. She said she appreciated that the PSNI had security problems with the area. However she said it is a legislative issue and she questioned how the Joint Secretariat had agreed to facilitate such a meeting when the Council met them last year, yet they have refused such requests ever since. She also pointed out this is the main route for ambulances taking patients to Cavan General Hospital.

Cathaoirleach Peter McAleer said he had reports that the 'differs'were back again recently and he was concerned that it is only a matter of time before some innocent person is killed as a result of what he described as "this foolishness and dangerous driving".

Councillor Pat Treanor said he had reports that there were 40/50 cars involved and even a van with blue flashing lights on top of it and people with yellow and blue jackets diverting traffic. He also said he had information that these cars were coming to the area from as far away as Longford, Tipperary and Limerick. He claimed they even brought spare tyres so that when their tyres were burnt out they could replace them. He said these people seemed to run this on a league basis as they even stopped for an hour and started up again. He pointed out that the people involved have very high powered cars. The Sinn Fein Cllr added that "the elephant in the room is the border but until that is dismantled the two Departments of Justice should take the matter in hand."

Cllr Ross Mealiff said he travels that road at least twice daily and has never seen a Garda checkpoint on the road. He said people living on that road can't even live in peace in their own homes. He said by the tyre markings on the road recently it seems the differs are moving their sites nearer Drumully which would and even Leggykelly which would leave them subject to investigation by Cavan Gardai.

The Council agreed to arrange a meeting with local TDs, the MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone and local MLAs on the issue as soon as possible.

For those unsure of what 'diffing' entails, this YouTube video, uploaded in 2009 purports to show cars performing it on the 'Clones Straight'.

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