Month: October 2005

CONCERN has been expressed over a Clare County Council move to rezone an estimated 300 acres of land for commercial development on the outskirts of Ennis that contains EU pro- tected habitats.

In adopting the Ennis and Environs Devel- opment Plan, the Council along with Ennis Town Council rezoned land in the Doora area for commercial development that generated massive windfalls for the owners of the lands in question.

However, the lands which are subject of the rezonings are designated as areas of ecologi-

cal constraint in the published Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the €190 million Ennis by-pass.

The lands contain protected fen and the Marsh Fritillary and the Frog bit plants that are also protected species.

Asked if the Council had all the facts in re- lation to the lands when they were rezoned, the Council’s Director for Planning, Mr Liam Conneally said, “at the time of the adoption of zoning in the Ennis and Environs Development Plan, the information available to the Planning Authorities was relied upon to determine the appropriate zoning of land. At all stages of making the plan, Duchas were informed.

“All land constitutes some type of habitat and the importance of that habitat at a lo- cal, regional, or national level is only known where sufficient survey and analysis has taken place. The National Fen Survey carried out by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2001 did not make a detailed assessment of the Doora area and any information concern- ing any potential habitat value that existed was therefore not available.

“The Development Plan is constantly moni- tored and reviewed and where necessary vari- ations to the Development Plan will be carried out. The body now responsible for the protec- tion of nationally important habitats is the

National Parks and Wildlife Service and any recommendations made by them regarding the conservation of key habitats will be taken into PTO)

However, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “‘it doesn’t appear that due consideration was giv- en to the lands being areas of ecological con- straint and questions still have to be answered concerning the rezoning.

“The uncertainty over the issue would not have arisen if the new Strategic Environmen- tal Assessment Directive was in place at that time, which would have investigated in a much more comprehensive way the presence of these protected habitats in the lands in question.”

A SPOKESPERSON for a West Clare nursing home has claimed that at least one of the cases of the MRSA super bug reported there, was contracted when a resident underwent surgery at Ennis General Hospital.

Secretary of the Board of Directors for Kil- rush District Hospital, John Hehir said that at least one of the two residents with the poten- tially fatal antibiotic resistant bug, picked it up in the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis.

Mr Hehir said that it was the policy of the nursing home to refuse any patient suffering from MRSA, and home staff questioned po- tential residents before accepting them. The patients diagnosed with MRSA are being treated for the virus.

Strict hygiene procedures are also being en- forced at the 54-bed Kilrush hospital.

The hospital was one of two Clare nursing homes that were reported to have MRSA this week. The inspectors report into Cahercalla Community Hospital, Ennis showed that two patients were also suffering from the highly contagious virus.

When contacted by

AN EAST Clare pub, subjected to a complaint about the noise levels emanating from it, has been granted its licence, subject to conditions.

78-year-old Theresa Holahan of Main Street, Kilkishen, had objected to the transfer of the licence of Gleeson’s public house, next door to where she lives.

She told the District Court she could not cope with the noise and was afraid to go to bed at night. She claimed that if the licence was granted the “racket” would continue.

The publican in question told the court last month that he would be willing to encourage customers to use the front of the premises for smoking and to raise the eaves on the smoking shed at the back, to help drown out noise.

Judge Joseph Mangan granted the licence at Ennis District Court last Friday, subject to Ley sTen lB Ceyetse

These include that gardai would receive two hours notice of music on the premises; that noise would not exceed 90 decibels over eight hours; 93 decibels over four hours; 96 decibels over two hours and 110 decibels in any event.

He ordered that the noise levels outside the boundary of the premises be limited to 37 dec- ibels between 7pm and 7am and 55 decibels eo AW oro MeL-Dee mr TITO MA O)00F

Noise limiters should be attached to music equipment and should, in the event of breach- es, cut-off of music and amplification of five minutes.

Hearing protection should be made avail- able and worn by employees and ear protec- tion should be provided for customers if they require it.

Judge Mangan ordered that notices announc- ing damage potential of noise and availability of protection would be posted on the premis- A

CLARE owners got some of the big prize money on offer at the Galway track on last Friday night.

The card was a benefit in aid of Fi- anna Fail. Race four was an A] contest over 550 yards. Here ‘Inagh Hero’ took the honours for popular supporter of the game Michael McGuane of Inagh.

Earlier in the night ‘Barntick Classic’ owned by Mrs Mary Reidy of Clarecas- tle had got Clare owners off to a good start winning race two in a time of 29.02, running from trap six.

Race eleven was the final of the A2 Stake which was ran over the past number of weeks.

‘Hilltop Droopy’ owned by Jerimiah Lernihan collected his prize money of €940 and sent the Clare Supporters home counting their winnings. The trip of 700 yards is proving to be no bother

to Pat O’Connors “Loclar Johnny’, the Milltown owner also collected on Fri- CPN aebrcanle

‘Roll over Sally’ recorded the fastest time of the night at 28.99 seconds on Saturday night. The dog continues to improve for owner Alphonsus Tubridy of Mullagh. Ennis owner Frank Shee- han is now considering expanding his kennels with ‘Joint Cottage’ again on the mark also on Saturday night.

Other Clare winners this past week at Galway were ‘Cricket Player’ for Janet Downes of Killaloe. “Tullagower Dream’ for Sean Crowley of Kilrush, ‘Chapter Box’ for Tom Flannagan of Ennistymon, “Clounlaheen Boss’ for Anne McGuire of Mullagh.

‘Student Pass’ booked his ticket in the semi-final of the Cashman Irish Laurels with a very good run of 28.43 to win a quarter final heat at Curraheen Park on SE TAUDKOrNABONTca NMR

Trainer Owen McKenna is sure to have the dog in top form for West Clare owners Vincent Meaney and Cathal O’Doherty in next Saturday night’s out- ing.

The Gerry Burke bred ‘Deerfield Mover’ maintains his interest in the classic for owner Bryan Dalton of U.S.A after finishing second in his heat. The greyhound owners and breeders had their annual fundraising night at Lim- erick on Saturday night last.

Clare’s only winner on the night was ‘Janesville Ruby’ in race 5 clocking 39.50 in this 700 yards stake final for owner William O’Drsicoll of Fanore.

Leona Ryan of Ennis had a nice change of luck with her dog ‘Justify Lad’ winning race 2 at the same venue on Thursday night.

‘Slick Jimmy’ came in as a reserve also on Thursday night to win race 5 for Tom Gallagher of Cooraclare.

this week, Ward expressed his satisfaction at the balance that currently ex- ists in the squad.

‘We probably played better earlier on than we have done lately but we will be hoping for an improvement on Sunday. There is a good few young players coming through at the moment and we are delighted with that, along with hav- ing the older experienced lads like the Sheedys and those lads.”

Clarecastle will hold some advantage over the Shannon side going into Sunday’s clash given that they have had an extra week to prepare. Clarecastle overcame a battling per-

formance from Newmarket a week ago while Wolfe Tones turned in an assured perform- ance to brush aside the challenge of Barefield. Ward agrees that Wolfe Tones enter the game

as slight favourites, a tag which he believes is justified, but one which his side won’t be over- awed by.

“When you are hurling you can never have

enough time off. There is never an ideal time for a match. We are delighted to have the extra week. It has been a long year and we have been out since the beginning of March, so we are glad to be coming up to the county final so we are delighted it is now rather than later on.

“They (Wolfe Tones) are the favourites. I saw the game at the weekend and they are very good and the favourites – that’s the way it should be. We are going there to compete so after the match we will know who is the best team”

According to Ward preparations have gone smoothly with the only real injury concern be- ing Danny Scanlon who is expected to recover fully from a concussion sustained in the semi- nue

‘Preparations have been going fairly well. We came back in the middle of the week so the training has been going fine we have been fairly happy with it. We have trained on sched- ule and will train tonight and again on Wednes- day night and that will be the end of it. Danny Scanlon was out after the Newmarket match – he is expected to come back tonight and other than that we have what I would call normal wear and tear.”

A FATHER-OF-FOUR with 90 previous con- victions, who faced the reactivation of a sus- pended five-year sentence, was jailed for four years yesterday at Ennis Circuit Court.

Michael James McDonagh (32) of 23, Bal- lycaseymore, Shannon, appeared before Judge Carroll Moran to appeal a District Court rul- ing, which resulted in him being sentenced to 12 months in jail for making unlawful threats against three individuals, including his wife, in Shannon last January.

McDonagh also appealed the severity of two other sentences, totalling four months, for

public order offences, to which he had pleaded guilty.

Earlier this year, McDonagh was convicted of threatening to kill his wife Kathleen McDon- agh and their neighbour Breda Smith.

The court heard that, on January 3 last, the accused was heard saying to his wife Kathleen outside their home, “I will do you, and Breda as well.”

Mr McDonagh’s legal team argued however that the phrase “I will do you” could not be taken as a genuine threat to kill or cause seri- O)erSmar-usee

Judge Moran ruled that there was not enough evidence to sustain the convictions for making

unlawful threats and allowed the appeal.

The court was told since the five-year sentence was suspended in May 2003, Mr McDonagh has been convicted of eight separate offences in Ennis, Shannon, Arklow, Roscrea and Athlone including road traffic and public order offences and breach of an exclusion order.

“The five years sentence was suspended on the basis that the accused behave himself. There are six separate incidents under appeal here today.

“Looking around, I would not be surprised if the entire constabulary from Shannon Garda Station is in this courtroom,’ Judge Moran said before making his ruling.

The judge allowed the appeals in relation to four charges.

But he affirmed the District Court rulings in several others for which Mr McDonagh was sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison.

He ordered the reactivation of a five-year sen- tence, which he reduced to four, previously 1m- posed on McDonagh following his conviction for the larceny of €20,000.

He backdated that sentence to February last and ordered the 12-month sentence to run con- currently with it.

McDonagh had to be restrained by gardai af- ter he resisted attempts to be handcuffed and was led away to begin his sentence.

CLARE County Council was last night ac- cused of failing the Clare public in not tack- ling illegal dumping in County Clare. The charge was made by Clarecastle council- lor Joe Carey (FG), as it emerged that the number of detected dumps cleaned up by Clare County Council was already 60 per cent more this year than for the entire of Aue

Figures supplied by the council’s Head of the Environment, Ger Dollard, showed that 51 tonnes of waste from illegal dumps had been cleared to date this year, compared to 32 tonnes for the whole of 2004. Mr Dol- lard said that, so far this year, approximately 40 illegal dumps had been removed by the elton ep

Cllr Joe Carey said, “Illegal dumping is a

huge problem in Clare and is not being prop- erly tackled by the council. There is a need to dramatically increase the budget for waste enforcement.”

Over the past three years, the council has spent €1.13 million on waste enforce- ment, with the grant from the Department of the Environment being €403,000 this year alone. Cllr Carey told the meeting that there was a clear obligation on the council to remove illegal dumps, demanding that a report be brought before the council on the improvements made.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that the large increase was a sign of in- creased vigilance by the council, but also a disastrous sign that illegal dumping was on the increase. Cllr Martin Conway (FG) urged the council to employ additional Envi- ronmental Patrol Wardens.

In response, the Director of Services Ger Dollard said, “The amount of resources de- voted to investigation and follow-up of illegal dumping is significant. One aspect of illegal dumping 1s fly tipping, which is visible from public areas and generates the majority of public complaints. However, a large resource is also devoted to sites not visible from public spaces by means of aerial surveys, checking of movements of waste collectors and so on. I am satisfied that the current complement of three wardens is adequate to meet current needs and requirements. The council would see benefit in the deployment of the EPWs directly to area offices and will consider such an approach, along with other issues which are currently being addressed.”

However, Cllr Conway said that Mr Dol- lard’s claim that three EPWs was enough to cover the county was “fanciful”.

CHRISTMAS may still be a little bit too far away for most to think about, but there are some in Ballyvaughan who have already started planning just how to make this festive season a little bit different for the people of North Clare and beyond.

This year Ireland’s first European style out- door Christmas market will take place in Bal- lyvaughan with a whole host of activities, shop- ping and cheer which is sure to warm the hearts of locals and_ visitors alike.

The idea of an outdoor Christmas market has been popular in Germany and Austria for several fonabnw lee

These markets, the most famous of which takes place in Nurem- berg and Vienna, allow shoppers to buy presents outdoors in a leisurely atmosphere where the stopping is mixed with an occasional glass of mulled wine and some local delicacies.

The markets were orig- inally began by traders who would lay out their goods for a few days in a town’s market area.

As it developed the market became more sophisticated with fairs being held over a longer period before Christmas, and always around the town’s main church.

Indeed, these markets became so popular that a priest in Nuremberg complained in 1616 that he couldn’t hold the after- noon service on Christ- mas Eve because nobody attended mass because of the market.

Last year the Bally- vaughan Christmas mar- ket started out as a spon- taneous idea born only two months before the start of the market.

This year however, the organisers have gone one step further with the purchase of traditional wooden huts which will

be erected in St John’s Hall.

The stall will sell a wide range of products and serve food and drink from these huts.

The stalls will decorat- ed with fir garlands and chains of lights while inside the hall there will be a large array of crafts, gifts and food.

This year there will be 28 traders, the major- ity of which will be lo- cal craftsmen, as-well-as horse trap rides around he village and _ carol singing. Aside from the market visitors to Bal-

lyvaughan will be able to take in performances from Galway’s award- winning Cois Cladaigh Chamber Choir and John SUE Teen

As-well-as these con- certs there will also be a series of workshops on topics such as Christmas entertainment, Christmas decorations using natural materials and floral dec- orations. The Christmas market will run from 10 am to 6 pm on December 3,4, 8, 10, 17 and 18.

For more information: www.bally vaughanire- land.com

PLANS for a commercial development that 1s expected to further rejuvenate the Drumbiggle area of Ennis have been thrown into doubt.

This follows residents from the Buttermarket area of Ennis appealing to An Bord Pleanala.

The group are contesting a decision by En- nis Town Council to grant planning permission to Pat Hansbury, Alan Collins and Donie and John Dillane for a four storey building.

The planned building will 18 apartments and four retail units, along with an underground car- park to accommodate 46 car-parking spaces.

Currently, the site 1s wasteland opposite En- nis town Council’s Drumbiggle headquarters.

The site was the former site of the rundown Drumbiggle flats before they were demolished by the Council. The Council subsequently sold the property and plans were lodged for the de- velopment earlier this year. The Council ruled that the development would not seriously injure the amenities of adjacent dwellings, that it is acceptable in terms of traffic safety and in the interests of proper planning and development.

The Council granted planning permission in spite of opposition from the Buttermarket resi- dents. The development has now been put on hold with the appeal lodged.

The residents state that “the development is excessive in scale and density for the site and cannot be contained adequately within its own boundaries in an acceptable manner without undue negative impact on the amenity and val- ue of surrounding properties.”

The group also contends that “the visual de- sign, massing and scale of the development is totally inappropriate to the area.

“If granted it will represent a missed opportu- nity to provide a building, or real architectural merit in this Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) near to a protected structure.

“The effective covering of almost all of the site has resulted in a development that adversely impacts on adjacent development.

“It sets a poor precedent for further develop- ment in the area. It has a visual and structural presence well in excess of what is appropriate to the area. And it would be more suitable to city centre high density forms of development than the centre of a medium order traditional atte as wrsem Key, ‘s0 ee

The residents state that they “are very con- cerned about the likely impact of the develop- ment on their properties.

“Some of the residents live in the small sin- gle-storey houses immediately to the north of the development site. Our clients have been sur- prised by the way their legitimate concerns for privacy and amenity in these rear garden areas have been dismissed by the Council in its as- sessment of this issue

“It is not acceptable that for reasons for prop- er planning and sustainable development that the amenity and privacy of houses in the vicin- ity should be compromised in this way by pro- viding a ‘wall of development 6.8 metres high along the rear of their garden areas.

“The board should note that this street is used extensively by school children walking to the nearby national school. Traffic generated by the development in these circumstances would be a serious traffic hazard.

A decision is due on the appeal in January of next year.

DOONBEG golf course will host an open day at the Old Ground Hotel on November 5, as part of their recruitment drive.

80 new jobs are set to be created next year at the Greg Norman de- signed course. Work on the next stage of the $150 million development is about to commence.

The new _ facilities which includes a spa, res- taurants, bars and mem- ber facilities are due to open in Spring 2006.

There are a wide range of facilities on offer at the internationally renowned course, including restau- rant manager, spa man- ager, fitness room per- sonnel and bartenders.

Other areas where em- ployees are being sought include the kitchen, ac- counts administration and front office. The west Clare golf course cur- rently employs 50 people and this number is ex- pected to rise to 130 once the new facilities open.

While most positions are full-time there will also be some seasonal work during the high season April through October. “We believe that the opportunities available at Doonbeg offer success- ful candidates meaning- ful and really worthwhile employment in a profes- sional environment.

“Training will be an important component of all jobs. In anticipation of interest from all over the country we have been sourcing possible accom- modation in the area so we are confident that will not be a problem,” said Barry O’Connor assist- ant general manager at WeKomeyLbloy

Doonbeg will also hold an open day on October 22 in the community hall Doonbeg. Any interested applicants are invited to bring an updated copy of their C.V. to the Old Ground Hotel between 9.00 am and 5.00pm, and to the community hall, Doonbeg between 9.00am and 2.00pm.