Month: January 2011

IT promises to be a big year on the railways – the West Clare Railway that is as entrepreneur and enthusiast Jackie Whelan moves further down the track towards his dream of having a commuter and tourist service linking Kilursh and Kilkee for the first time since the famous narrow gauge railway was closed in 1961.

“I want to have the track between Moyasta and Kilkee laid this year,” Whelan told The Clare People as he acknowledged that “2011 is a year when we really want to move our plans forward”.

Yes, the West Clare Railway project that has been Whelan’s dream for well over a decade is set to get on track in a big way over the next 12 months, with the first major step only a matter of weeks away with the publication of the new County Development Plan.

“The Development Plan will give the West Clare Railway the same designated status as the Cliffs of Moher or the Burren,” said Whelan of a move that will put the railway project on track for major development works in 2011.

“It’s been a long journey,” he admitted. “The NRA stopped us from crossing the road at Moyasta Junction and that put us back. I don’t think the NRA have even seen the place and were just working off maps. When you’re dealing with them you’re dealing with faceless people. An Taisce had no problem with it, while the NRA blamed the county council over the speed limit on the road. Now finally we’ll have the speed limit issue sorted out by May.

“And I’ll have the museum finished by the end of the year. I have a batch of railway engines and carriages that you wouldn’t see anywhere in Ireland, while the big thing is laying the track to Kilkee and Kilrush. With the train going in both directions we could bring old age pensioners to Kilkee and Kilrush for free. That’s what I want to do.”

Whelan has spent well over € 500,000 on the project so far, restoring the old Slieve Callan engine, laying tracks and sleepers on nearly three miles of track towards Doonbeg and towards Kilkee.

“We can do this from our own resources,” he revealed. “The only grant we got was from Leader for the engine restoration, while the biggest cost of all has been time. Shannon Development has said that if we could get numbers up to 25,000 a year we’d get grant aid.

“The potential is huge. There is capacity for West Clare to carry 30,000 to 40,000 passengers a year at its ease. There is huge interest in west Clare, because it’s the only railway that has retained its name in the minds of people because of the Percy French song. This year I want to get the track laid to Kilkee and a couple of more years have it going to Kilrush. With grant aid it would be a lot quicker.”

Not that Whelan is afraid to press ahead if the knock on the door bearing grant aid doesn’t come. “A task force has been set up in Clare to create jobs and they’ve never come near me,” he revealed. “This will create jobs,” he added as he looks to 2011 with confidence.

AS GREATER emphasis is placed on the importance of renewable energy, Clarecastle man Eddie Connors is operating at the coalface of a growing industry.

A qualified Woodwork, Technology, Maths, Science, and IT Secondary level teacher, Eddie established Clare’s first ever eco-farm – Imecofarm – at a 100 acre site at Islandmcgrath, Clarecastle.

The farm operates as a centre for renewable energy training courses, a wildlife reserve and destination for family days out and school tours.

With energy bills on the rise, the level of public interest in renewable energy has seen a growth in demand for courses like those on offer at Eddie’s farm.

“This is one of the big reasons we get people from all parts of Ireland. People studying and visiting imecofarm, realise that its not only possible to have reduced heating and electricity bills, but also little or no waste charges, collect your own water, grow food, and be very self sustainable very easily,” Eddie said.

Plans are already underway to increase the number of courses on offer at the farm. Eddie explained, “In 2010 we managed to get started at imecofarm, and over these winter months we are preparing and adding some major projects to imecofarm, for 2011 including an eco library, a huge eco craft area where people can build small projects like birdfeeders, etc, a wheelchair friendly farm trail, a huge wildlife pond, rope bridges indoor children’s pedal go karts, an eco train, and lots more renewable energies to run the whole centre and farm.”

While Eddie admits that “cash flow” is the most difficult part to any emerging business, support from outside agencies has been crucial.

He said, “Clare County Council have been very helpful in advice in all aspects relating to planning per- mission, signage and also many environmental and biodiversity displays here. Paperwork and permissions can be tedious and difficult for every new business, so it’s great to be able to get advice, and help from different bodies. The Clare local Development Company, Leader, have given terrific support and have granted three applications of funding towards the project”.

Volounteers have also played a key role in helping the project get off the ground.

Eddie added, “We have people volunteering to help with our nature projects, gardens, and energy displays, so this has been a massive help to keeping down labour costs, get projects done, and also allows a very special low entry rate for the people of Clare and beyond. Volunteers are also learning about renewables here and receive vouchers, and if looking for work, find that working on projects here shows great initiative, giving better employment prospects”.

He said, “We are also looking at FETAC qualifications to some of the courses here, as well as FÁS registration. Some people are also eligible for funding on our training courses, so this helps those wanting to learn, but without high incomes. Cashflow is always the most difficult part of a new business, but from next Easter on, we are aiming to be busy, and continue to grow each year, with school tours, families, tourists, and training courses here at imecofarm”.

TOURISM OF an unprecedented level could be the reward for ongoing efforts to gain Geopark Status for the Burren and to make the Cliffs of Moher into one of the new 7 Wonders of the World.

Last month Clare County Council officially submitted an application to the European Geoparks Network (EGN) for the European and Global Geoparks status for the Burren region of north Clare.

The EGN was founded in 2000 to help protect geodiversity, to promote geological heritage among citizens and to support sustainable economic development of regions through the development of geotourism.

If successful, it is hoped that the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark project will provide the region with an identity as a region for sustainable ecotourism that is recognised across Europe.

European Geopark status is a fundamentally non-legislative designation, and as such it holds no influence on planning issues or land manage- ment practices. The proposed European Geopark in north Clare will comprise a network of managed publicly accessible sites, an established network of education and visitor centres, and the newly accredited Burren Ecotourism Network, as well as the existing Shannon Region Trails and National Walking routes.

Meanwhile, the ongoing campaign to make the Cliffs of Moher one of the New 7 Wonders of the World will come to an end in 2011. An estimated one billion people will have voted for their favourite location before the final round voting comes to an end on November 11, 2011.

The campaign to make the Cliffs of Moher one of the New 7 Wonders of the World has been ongoing for more than two years with the landmark tourist attraction already coming through three different stages of voting.

If the cliffs does make the final list it is estimated that the publicity associated with the event alone could being tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of extra tourists to north Clare in the coming years.

A TEAM of 120 volunteers maintained the Samaritans 24-hour telephone service in Clare throughout the Christmas period.

The Clare branch recorded almost 25,000 calls in 2010 with many calls relating to stresses and strains caused by the recession. Branch director, Gerry Dobbin, said that Christmas could often be very lonely and difficult time for many people.

“Our branch was open over Christmas and we would’ve been fairly flat out. People who have been bereaved over the years and in recent times, the empty chair at the table. It can be a very sad time and a very lonely time because of the pressures out there. You are expected to be happy and merry and all the rest of it and people feel very separated from that”, he said.

He added, “This year there would have been an increase in calls relating to the economic situation and people would have had a lot of financial worries about what might be coming next year. People who have experienced economic hardship in recent times, people worried about paying bills in January. We’d have noticed an increase in that kind of call. And then people, socially, who would be marginalisied, isolated very lonely people. People who may be in broken relationships who are on their own, possibly single parents or people who are parents but the partner has them (the children). People who are separated and there could be issues around that”.

New figures show that between November 2009 and October 2010, Samaritans Ireland responded to 243,000 calls. This represented a six per cent increase on the previous 12 months; an additional 13,000 calls. “A lot of those would have related to economic worries and financial worries. A sizeable number of those calls would have related to the economic situation. People who would be experiencing depression, people depressed at the thought of insecurity, lack of jobs and little chance of employment”, Mr Dobbin explained.

Despite the difficulties posed by dangerous road and weather conditions, volounteers in Clare ensured there was always someone on hand to provide confidential emotional support to people experiencing feel- ings of distress and despair.

Mr Dobbin said everyone associated with the branch had shown great commitment during Christmas and throughout the past 12 months.

He explained, “They are giving up their time. They do their shifts and because of the weather situation we’ve had volounteers who have done over and above to keep the branch open. People who didn’t have to drive long distances would’ve come in when people who are living out in the country maybe would have had difficulties getting in because of the roads. Other people have taken up the duties.

He added, “They’ve given a big commitment. People from diverse backgrounds, but with the common cause to be there and give a listening ear to other people who are not so fortunate. It’s important to talk about the people who give their time. They come in and so generously give their time for other people”

The Samaritans can be contacted at 1850 60 90 90 or by email jo@samaritans.org.

FROM ensuring medical assistance was provided to vulnerable patients to supplying homes around the county with water, it’s been a busy month for the volunteer members of Clare Civil Defence.

During December when extreme cold weather caused massive disruption to Clare’s road and water network, as many as 25 Civil Defence volounteers were on duty a day in Clare, in what has been described as a “massive volontary effort”.

“We’ve been out since December 17 and we’ve been out every day since”, explained Liam Griffin, Director of Clare Civil Defence.

He continued, “We’re kind of on standby, waiting for isolated calls. Basically what we have been doing, we’ve been transporting public health nurses around to their patients when the roads were in poor conditions with the ice. We have four wheel drive vehicles so we were doing that. As well as that we were also providing water to houses in our tankers and we were also manning standpipes on the Kilrush and Gort Road during the Christmas period, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day. Our people were working throughout the Christmas period and throughout the New Year”.

As freezing weather conditions gripped the county in December, Civil Defence tankers transported thousands of gallons of water to affected areas.

Mr Griffin said demand for the service was as great as it had been during the floods crisis in November 2009.

He said, “When the weather turned bad and the pipes started to freeze were supplying water by tanker or by manning standpipes. It was mostly in the mid-Clare area, from Ennis to Cratloe, up to Crusheen out to Clooney, that sort of area. We were every bit as busy as last year”.

Mr Griffin also hailed the dedication and commitment of volounteers who had given up their time during the Christmas period.

“Most of our volunteers would be young people that are in their 20s and it’s a great sign for the future insofar as these people were so willing to give up their time, particularly over the Christmas holiday period. They were out Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, New Year’s Day”. he said.

Mr Griffin added, “That’s a massive volountary effort from these people and it should be very much appreciated. Many of the householders that were affected during the period expressed their gratitude to the people involved”.

UNPRECEDENTED weather brings once-in-a-lifetime challenges for the small army of workers whose job it is to keeps the counties roads open in all conditionals.

While some roads around the county were blocked by snow and ice in the run up to Christmas, most other were kept open to allow the majority of Clare people to prepare for the holiday.

According to county engineer, Tom Tiernan, the run up to Christmas 2010, was the busiest that Clare County Council has ever had to deal with.

“The road workers were as busy as they have ever been in the run up to Christmas but in a very short time after Christmas Day the roads began to sort themselves out when the thaw happened and the integrity of roads returned again. Of course it went from the roads to another difficulty with the water which other people are dealing with at the moment,” said Tom.

“There was a variety of issues to be dealt with on the roads. As was the case all over the country we had to prioritise keeping the main roads around the county open and opera- tional so we had about 600 kilometres of national routes in Clare which we worked on. We also succeeded in keeping most of the regional routes open and operational other than for a few small sections for short periods of time.

“We had one severe snow storm in a region around Kilrush and that had a severe impact on an area down there around the N68. For the first time ever in the county we had to deploy a snow-plough but that worked well and within a number of hours after that snow fall the Kilrush Road was operational once again, once it got a substantial application of salt following the ploughing.”

Despite the best efforts of Clare County Council, Mr Tiernan is still conscious that some people were not able to reach towns and shops in the way they normally would in the run up to Christmas.

“There is no doubt about it, some areas of the network which were off the main road network were not in good condition through some of the cold snap and that made it difficult not just for our staff who had to spend long hours outside of their normal work time dealing with these roads but we were also conscious of the fact that this upset a significant proportion of the population of the county,” continued Tom.

“We are conscious that this effected some people who were not able to go out to do their shopping and it effected business as well as they had the disappointment of not having the benefit of the level of business that they might normally enjoy at that time of year. So there was a heavy responsibility involved in having the road network in as good a condition as possible.

“We had to prioritise keeping the main road network in a good condition as possible we also had to give a lot of attention to keeping the rest of the network in as good a condition as possible.

“We have almost 4,500 kilometres of roads in the county and it was never going to be easy to insure that the work we did was the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people but I think that we succeeded reasonably well in that.

“It is not possible to get everything right for everyone but we had a number of strategies in place and did as well as we could do.”

AMONG the holiday heroes who keep the county on track are the boys and girls in blue.

In Clare, gardaí worked round the clock for the entire period, with more than 30 gardaí manning the station in Ennis at any one time and three times that many covering the entire 24 hours of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

In Killaloe, there were between 15 and 20 dedicated members on duty for the entire festive period and other stations had similar rotas. And the need for Gardaí to give up their holiday days in pursuit of keeping the peace was proved when the activity for the period between Christmas Eve and Sunday was reviewed.

The members manned 26 checkpoints across the county, made a total of 63 arrests, dealt with four missing persons – who were all thankfully found – and were called to deal with a number of sudden deaths, none of which are now being treated as suspicious.

They also attended road traffic accidents and mounted checks for speeding and dangerous driving as well as drink driving. They made a total of ten arrests on suspicion of drink driving and of the 34 arrests made in Ennis, 17 were under the Public Order Act.

According the Gardaí nationally, drink driving arrests are down so far and drivers are becoming more compliant with staying within the limits when they intend to get behind the wheel.

CLARE will have to create its own luck and its own jobs in 2011 according to the incoming President of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

‘The most patriotic thing anyone can do for the county or the country is to create a job,” John Dillane told The Clare People .

John is calling for a special meeting to set up a group which will “involve all the stakeholders in the county. The council, the development agencies, the business people – everyone. And this group should have as its aim job creation to get this county back on its feet. We need to get off our backsides and do it for ourselves and every single person in the country needs to get involved in that.”

Mr Dillane said that according to PLATO, the organisation which supports small businesses, there are 800,000 people working in 270,000 SME’s across the counntry.

‘I’m calling on any companies that have some money in their pockets to come together and be part of this organisation for Clare. We can make a difference, we can employ more people and we have to wake up and cop on to ourselves. There’s no reason why we can’t start a movement in Clare that will turn things around for this county.”

Mr Dillane, who is proprietor of Banner Motors, says that in the coming year the “red carpet should be rolled out for anyone who is employing people”.

In his own capacity as the new President of the Chamber, Mr Dillane says he hopes to motivate people in the county to get more people back in the workforce and to persuade consumers to support their own and spend their money in the Banner.

He said there also needs to be greater recognition of what is being done by Banner county employees.

“There are business people in this county employing people and not paying themselves any wages because they don’t want to have to let staff go. That is a fact.”

“If you create one job, that creates .6 of another job. So a small company employing two people makes it possible for one other person to be in employment.

Mr Dillane is appealing to business owners and other groups in Clare to “put all our differences aside, Yes, people in business have competitors but this is about the survival and growth of business and employment in the county. If you have people at work, you have people spending money and that’s good for everybody. It’s just common sense and if anyone wants to put their money where their mouth is and make recovery a reality in Clare, I’m asking them to contact me through the Chamber of Commerce.”

MAINTAINING essential services and protecting the county boundary are among the key issues facing Clare in 2011.

That is according to the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) who also believes that local authorities must become more accessible and accountable to the people they serve.

Commenting in light of recent problems caused to the county’s water supply and road network, Cllr Curtin said,

“I think we need to have a look at the whole thing, at how we provide these services and how we respond in crisis situations. We must learn. These are priority services, where people are concerned, particularly water.”

He added, “I also want to see the county left intact, the integrity of the county protected fully as a far as the boundary is concerned. I’d like to see no extension of the Limerick boundary and the boundaries as they are should be left intact.

The Miltown Malbay native, who is serving his first ever term as Mayor, says that Clare County Council should also work more closely with the volountary sector.

He explained, “I’d like to see the infrastructure of the county improved but the constraints on public finances are going to make that difficult. We have to perform up to the par for the people in the county particularly in relation to the delivery of services. That’s an important thing and that we are seen to be relevant to people. I’d like to see every opportunity tapped to try and increase employment in the county and it is encouraged in every way. I’d like to see a greater involvement and partnership in place between volountary bodies and statutory bodies. It was never more relevant, especially with limited finances, that we tap into whatever strengths we have and we work together to have a better county as a result.”

Cllr Curtin said that it was also important that negative perceptions of the council are challenged.

“I still think people have respect for the council but to readily identify with it, is a difficult thing sometimes. Bureaucracy can be cumbersome and it makes it very difficult for people to access it. Accessibility must be increased at all times at all stages and at all levels”

Cllr Curtin added, “Some of it is out of our hands but some of it we can do ourselves. We must always endeavor to achieve maximum efficiency, through work practices etc… We have to get full value for money and we have to be seen to enhance our position with the volountary sector. The council has to be fully accessible and there has to be full accountability. I want people to be able to associate with the council.”

2010 was very much a year of transition for new Clare senior hurling manager Ger O’Loughlin and his management team as a combination of high profile retirements, injuries and emigrations forced his hand to introduce a new wave of young talent into the squad.

Having worked with those players over the year and assessed the standard required at inter-county level, ‘the Sparrow’ now has a clearer vision of how much rebuilding work is required and despite the large workload involved, he is very much looking forward to the challenge.

“We are hoping that this year we do get out of Division 2. We are putting an emphasis on the league in trying to get off to a good start and our goal is to gain promotion this year. We got to the final of Division 2 last year with everybody fairly new to the set-up but we have a better handle on who’s who this year. I would be hoping that we’ll give this year a very good run in the league and get ready for the championship.

“The winners of Cork and Tipperary in the championship isn’t an easy hurdle but at the same time they are the sort of games we should be looking forward to.

“Cork proved last season that they are going to have to rebuild as well and we are probably ahead of them on that side of things. “Tipp are the team to beat in the country and they probably wouldn’t focus as much on Munster now as they would be on the All-Ireland so I would see this as an opportunity for us to give either of those two counties a very good game and if possible get to a Munster final.” However, with the county side very much a work in progress at the moment, Clarecastle clubman O’Loughlin is hoping that supporters will be patient and get behind these young players in the pursuit of those goals.

“That goes without saying. No matter what way you go about it, we have to be realistic and say that the present management have inherited a very young squad and even in the last couple of months, we’ve seen the comings and goings of some guys.

“That’s the way it’s going to be until we get what you’d call a settled 25 people who have what it takes. That doesn’t happen overnight and sometimes even successful counties like Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny go through the rebuilding structure that we are going through at the moment.

“I’m really looking forward to the year though because I just think that we can come on from 2010. I’d hope that fellas have matured a bit better and that when you are playing the likes of Wexford in a league final with Division 1 status on the line, that we would be more clinical because basically if we don’t grasp those opportunities with both hands, we will remain where we are.

“So there’s an awful lot of work to be done on the mental strength side of it as well. As I say we have it all to do but I’m looking forward to working with them in the coming season and hopefully make good progress.”