Month: June 2011

THE theft of diesel and home heating oil is happening in Clare “on a daily basis” it has been claimed.

A West Clare haulier, who contacted The Clare People after reading reports last week about the thefts says he has personally lost more than € 2,000 worth of diesel, “and I can tell you, I know more than 40 other people who have had fuel stolen in large amounts. One driver I know, they bored a hole in the tank of his tr uck to steal fuel.”

The haulier – who asked not to be named in case it marks him out for further thefts – said he has “gone to ever y length to keep fuel safe. I have to have fuel for the tr uck. I had locks on the shed where I keep it, locks on the gate leading to the shed. They just cut them open.”

The West Clare man said that he has reported the thefts to the gardaí but many of his fellow drivers have stopped reporting such thefts.

“They don’t see the point. No-one is caught for these crimes and if they are, they walk away. There was a man in court a few weeks ago, caught red-handed by the gardaí stealing diesel in Shannon and all that happened was that he was given the Probabtion Act.”

The driver said that he believes that stealing home heating oil and other types of fuel “is not an opportunistic crime. These are ver y organised criminals. They drive round in vans with containers and syphoning equipment in the back. If they’re stopped by the guards all they have to say is they were syphoning fuel from their own tanks.”

Angr y at the loss of his own fuel, the haulier told The Clare People that he has “been doing some investigating into this myself. What some of them are doing is taking the stolen heating oil up to Galway and selling it to students.”

Gardaí had confirmed that they are investigating a number of reported thefts of fuel around the county.

HOUSEHOLDERS who had to claimed for repai rs on thei r home insurance after the big freeze last December are in some cases facing a 300 per cent hi ke in t hei r insurance costs.

One householder who made a claim after pipes burst and flooded her West Clare home is now facing a bil l of € 1, 200 to insure her home for the comi ng year.

“Our insurance last year was less than € 400 for the year. I was ab- solutely st unned when they told me how much the renewal would be. And we can’t even shop around because the company still hasn’t paid for all t he work t hat was done,” t he woman, who asked not to be named, told The Clare People .

Having never made a claim on her home insurance before, the householder said she feels it is “ a ver y severe hi ke. They have you over a bar rel because you can’t not insure t he house in case somet hing happens. But I really feel this is excessive when there has never been a clai m before.”

Another home-owner who had to clai m after pipes burst on Christmas Day and flooded his home in East Clare has had a jump in the cost of his renewal to € 1,100.

“There was a lot of damage to put right as there was water flowing for a long ti me because of the day that it was. It was hard to get anyone out. But this just r ubs salt i n the wound. Our yearly premiums were around € 350 before this. They were quick about paying for t he work done but they were quick to put the price of renewal up as well,” he told The Clare People .

Household insurance rates increased by an average of 10 per cent last year and a similar amount the year before.

The last two years had been “heavily loss-making” for the indust r y, a spokesman for the Insurance Federation of Ireland said.

Insurance companies paid out a massive € 10. 573 million in compensation to householders and businesses in Clare whose proper ty was damaged in December’s big freeze.

The Banner count y received the four t h highest amount of insurance money in t he count r y, behind Limerick Galway and Ker r y.

The cost per 1, 000 head of population in the count y was € 95, 295.

And whi le the Munster area accounts for 28 per cent of t he national population, 40 per cent of the claims which insurers paid out were from Munster.

The December severe weather cost insurance companies € 224 million national ly.

THE loss of Eoin Ryan has left an “indelible mark” on everyone, the Mayor of Clare said yesterday.

Eoin’s uncle-in-law, Cllr Christy Curtin (Independent) made the comment at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Clare County Council, which was adjourned due to a number of bereavements, including the death of Mr Ryan.

“It’s a particularly poignant moment for me,” Cllr Curtin told councillors.

“For me and my family, the loss of Eoin Ryan can never be measured. The tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Eoin Ryan has left an indelible mark on all of us,” he said.

He added that he would convey the support of his fellow councillors to Eoin’s parents Don and Phil, brother Daniel and sister Lisa.

Tributes were also paid to the family of retired Shannon Town Clerk Tomás MacCormaic, who passed away last Tuesday, while the late Frank O’Dea – father of Ennis Town Engineer Eamon O’Dea – was also remembered by councillors.

The family of the Clare VEC CEO George O’Callaghan was also re- membered by the councillors, in the wake of the death of his seven-yearold son Patrick last Friday.

Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins said, “The circumstances that are facing us and the issues that have occurred over the last number of days are unprecedented.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Cathal Crowe said the death of Mr Ryan was “sad and untimely” and said he was saddened to see the loss of such a young life in Master O’Callaghan.

Labour Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald said he was shocked to hear of the death of Patrick O’Callaghan.

The County Manager, Tom Cough- lan also expressed his sympathies with all the families.

The meeting was adjourned for one week.

The co-option of new Fine Gael councillors Seán McLoughlin (Shannon Electoral Area) and Bill Slattery (North Clare Electoral Area), which was due to take place yesterday, was adjourned for one week, due to the adjournment of the meeting.

Cllr McLoughlin will replace Tony Mulcahy, while Cllr Slattery will replace Martin Conway, following the election of both men to the Seanad last month.

THE emotion in the voices of two female friends of Eoin Ryan’s spoke for everyone in Ballyea on Friday morning – holding hands they stood together and delivered an achingly poignant rendition of Sarah McLachan’s ‘In the Arms of the Angels’.

Tears welling in their eyes, the song came as 21-year-old Eoin prepared for his final journey, from Ballyea Church to the adjoining cemetery in the church grounds.

Every seat in Ballyea Church was taken nearly an hour before the funeral mass got underway at 11am, while outside large numbers listened to the ceremony through a public address system that had been erected in the church grounds.

“He, like any young man, would be looking forward to and dreaming of a bright future for himself,” said parish priest Fr Harry Brady in his homily. “His family and his friends have many precious memories of him, but yet the pain is there and the emptiness is there.”

Speaking on behalf of the Ryan family, Eoin’s older brother Daniel drew laughter from the congregation when prefacing his comments by say- ing “I will keep it very quick because nothing would annoy Eoin more than me being the centre of attention.

“On behalf of my Dad, Mam, Lisa and I, I wish express our deep gratitude to Eoin’s friends, our friends and our relations who have supported us and brought us through the last few days.

“I would like to thank Eddie and the choir for their beautuful singing. I’d like to thank the Garda Siochána for their professionalism and their empathy over the last few days and I’d like to thank Fr Brady and all the other priests for their compassion and support.

“Most especially, we want to thank our great neighbours for all their unbelievable assistance. Without you, we could not have got through these last few traumatic days. We will be forever grateful for you. Thank you all so much.

“Please remember Eoin as the peaceful, loving, beautiful young man that he was. Even though he’s gone from us now, he will remain a shining light in our hearts forever. We love you Eoin,” he added.

A “VACANT” 41-space car park in the centre of Ennis counters the perception that the town suffers from a shortage of short-term parking spaces, senior officials with Ennis Town Council have said.

In a motion submitted to the June meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) questioned if the increase in parking charges “has had a negative impact on the revenue (from same)”, Cllr Howard said she was referring in particular to the Friary walk car park.

She told the meeting that the car park “was nearly always full but is now nearly always empty”.

Parking charges rose to € 1.30 an hour in Ennis in January. In his response to Cllr Howard’s motion, Town Clerk Eddie Power said an examination of income from parking meters to May 31 (2011) showed an increase over the same period last year.

He added, “It is clear that there are now vacant spaces in this car park throughout each day. The availability of significant number of spaces so close to the town addresses perceived deficiencies in short-term parking in the core town centre areas.”

Mr Power told the meeting that the availability of spaces “begs the question, was there a shortage at all”. He said that more customers might use the car park during the summer. He added that Council officials had been “on record” and repeatedly stated that multi-story car parks in Ennis are underutilised.

Town Manager Ger Dollard told last week’s meeting that it was still too early to if the increase in charges has led to a reduction in parking in Ennis.

He said the decision to reduce maximum parking stay at the Friary walk car park from three to two hours had been taken in response to concerns over the shortage of short-term car park spaces. He said the new byelaws delivered 41 spaces within one minute’s walk from the town centre at a time where there had been “very strong public opinion that you couldn’t get parking in Ennis”.

“If it stays vacant for the next six months, then you have to ask will we change it,” he added. Referring to the use of multi-story car parks, Mr Dollard said occupancy of private multi-story car parks is “30 per cent at best”.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) claimed drivers are boycotting use of the car park. Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the car park could be used to cater for the “120 buses shooting past Ennis” on a daily basis.

Mayor of Ennis Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) questioned if the car park is not being fully used because they think it is fenced off.

“People are driving around the hotel looking for spaces and the one beside it is empty,” he added.

The Council’s annual financial statement for 2010 shows that parking fees and charges collected by the Council dropped from € 1,484,957 in 2009 to € 1,407,147 last year.

A KILRUSH pensioner, who has just published his first novel at the ripe old age of 77, says he already has plans for a book of poetry and a second novel…and maybe even a film.

Jim Counihan, who is this week getting ready to officially launch his psychological thriller, To Ba la nce The Scales , says his love of books and writing came from his father, who bought him a copy of Moby Dick in Kilkee in the late 1940s.

Jim left Kilrush as a 17-year-old in 1951 and spent the next four decades working in England and Wales. He began to write in the 1980s but it wasn’t until after his retirement, in the early 1990s, that he turned his attention to fulfilling a life-long ambition and finishing his first novel.

However, it wasn’t until he returned home almost a decade ago that he decided that the time had come to get his work published.

“I was going through a divorce in the mid-1980s and because of that I felt like I needed to do something new, so I took up writing classes. I finished writing the story while I was living down in Wales in 1997 but it wasn’t until I returned home that I edited it and decided to try and get it published,” he said. “It was on my mind for years and years to finish the book and that is why I put the effort in over the last few years. It was a huge effort over the last two or three years to edit and re-edit the book but it was worth it to finally get it finished. “I remember when I was a kid my father brought me back two books from Kilkee Moby Dick and The Ma n in the Iron Ma sk . After that I just read and read everything I could get my hands on.” The book tells the story of a man living on the west coast of Ireland. The man becomes engaged to a redheaded marine biologist who disappears and the investigation into her disappearance uncovers a large and complex web of intrigue.

“It is a psychological thriller because the characters and their personalities are just as important as the plot and what is happening next. It is quite a complex story as well – so if you miss anything in the beginning you could get lost pretty quickly,” he continued.

“Over the last few years, I have written 40 or 50 poems and I am going to work on getting them published. In the story itself, there is a four or five page epilogue. I wrote that to give me some scope to go on and do a sequel in the future. I have also been told that the book itself might make a good film, because the writing is so visual. So we’ll have to see what happens with that. Writing is great escapism for me, there is a huge amount of work in it but I love it.”

The book is available to buy online at www.choicepublishing.ie.

A 10-YEAR collaboration between local motorbike enthusiasts and Clare VEC has raised an estimated € 70,000 for local and national charities.

‘Wheels within Wheels’ started life as a motorbike restoration project involving students of Adult Education Services in Clare. The project’s aim was to raise money for charity by restoring, in some cases from scrap, vintage motorbikes.

Ennis man Jacko McMahon was the driving force behind the project for many years, helping to highlight various VEC initiatives and raise money for organisations such as St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin, Cahercalla Hospital, Steps youth club and the RNLI lifeboat service.

Since the project’s inception, Clare VEC provided facilities with education officer Dr Sean Conlan helping get the initiative of the ground in the early days.

Members of Clare’s motorcycling fraternity including the Banner Motorcycle Club also pitched in with their expertise over the years.

Jacko still helps out but the baton for Wheels within Wheels has been passed to Joe McConagle, a VEC tutor in motorbike and car mechanics.

For the past four years, Joe, supported by VTOS coordinator Frank Benson, has worked on projects with students at the Adult Education Centre in Kilrush.

Joe explained, “The bike is stripped down completely, rebuilt, finished and then we raffle it.” This year the team intends to fully restore a Suzuki GSX 750F with the aim of raising money for three-year-old Galway girl, Chloe Flaherty. Chloe requires round the clock care after suffering brain damage following complications that arose during surgery last year.

Joe, who is friends with Chloe’s father Patrick Flaherty, said, “She’s in full-time care. Her parents have almost had to stop working to provide care, it’s very specialised.

Work on the latest motorbike project has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of June.

There are also plans to mark the 10th anniversary of Wheels within Wheels later this year.

Joe added, “The money has gone to different charities, in Clare and around Ireland. We reckon its raised around € 70,000 over 10 years.”

For further information on wheels within wheels contact joe. mcgonagle@yahoo.com.

A CLONLARA couple is this week mourning the loss of their sevenyear-old son, who died suddenly at the weekend.

Patrick (Pat) O’Callaghan, who was the son of the CEO of County Clare VEC George O’Callaghan and his wife Patsy, died suddenly while at school at the Model School in Limerick City on Friday.

The little boy was the only son of the O’Callaghans and had one sister Mary.

George O’Callaghan is well known in teaching circles in Clare and has been the head of the VEC for the past few years. He is a native of Quin and currently lives in Clonlara with his family.

Patrick O’Callaghan’s funeral will take place today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday).

He will repose at his home this evening at Clonoughter, Clonlara, from 5pm to 8pm this evening. Requiem mass will take place in the Dominican Church, Limerick, tomorrow at 11.30am, followed by burial at Quin Abbey.

Tributes were paid to the child at a meeting of Clare County Council yesterday. Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins said, “The death of a child is a nightmare for parents.”

CLARE’S flagship beaches were given a clean bill of health last week with the announcement that all of the Blue Flags won by the county in 2010 would be retained in 2011.

The prestigious flags will be flying high in Fanore, Lahinch, White Strand (Miltown Malbay), Kilkee, Cappa beach in Kilrush, White Strand (Doonbeg), Ballycuggeran and Mountshannon this weekend.

The flags are awarded each year after a series of water quality and environmental tests carried out by An Taisce and Clare County Council.

This means that Clare has the fifth highest number of blue flag beaches in the county behind Kerry with 13, Donegal with 12, Mayo with 11 and Cork which won 10 Blue Flags.

“Local beaches and marinas play an important part in the lives of coastal communities and visitors alike, providing opportunities for walking, swimming, water sports and fishing to mention just a few,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG), Chairperson of the Strategic Policy Com- mittee for Environmental and Water Services.

“The responsibility is on all of us to keep our beaches litter-free.”

The importance of the Blue Flags in tourism generation is believed to be on the increase as a result of the increased number of Irish people choosing to holiday at home. According to the Mayor of Clare Christy Curtin (IND), the flags are key to the county’s overall tourism product.

“I am delighted that Clare again retained eight blue flags for 2011 and acknowledged the positive contribution that our eight blue flag beaches will make to tourism in the county,” he said. “The Blue Flag flying at any of these beaches indicates that you and your family can expect to find clean and safe environments when visiting these bathing areas.

“As Mayor of Clare, I am very encouraged by the continued assistance given to Clare County Council by local communities across the County to ensure that the high environmental standards are achieved and maintained at our beaches.”

CLARE County Council have teamed up with An Taisce in a novel plan to show the way for the rest of the country by organizing the first ever Banner Bike Week – a ground-breaking initiative to take cars off Clare’s roads.

Local An Taisce activist Róisín Ní Ghairbhith and the council’s road safety officer Barry Keating are spearheading the week long festival in which hundreds of people are expected to take to their bikes.

“This is about changing people’s habits and giving them the incentive to get back on their bikes,” says Ms Ní Ghairbhith. “As part of that we are organizing a series of events throughout the week to increase the amount of bike owners in the county by making cheap and free bikes available.”

The week starts this coming Saturday with what Ní Ghairbhith describes as “the Banner’s biggest ever bring a bike back bonanza”. At Gaelscoil Mhichíl Ciosóg in Ennis, four bike mechanics will be on hand to fix un-used bikes and find new homes for them in auction that takes place at 1pm.

The following day a free bike repair workshop takes place at Teach Ceol in Ennistymon between 2pm and 5pm.

The following Wednesday a series of community cycles will take place in Shannon, Kilrush and Ennis. “Up to 1000 children from fourth, fifth and sixth classes in 20 schools and 300 other members of the community will take part,” says Ms Ní Ghairbhith.

“It’s to show people safe cycling routes available in their home town. They will do Children from all the schools in these 3 towns will be doing a 7km cycle around their town and all staff, parents and members of the community invited to come along and cycle with them on the day,” she adds. A Teens on Wheels event takes place on June 26 – this involves a teenagers cycling a 7km loop form Ennistymon to Lahinch and back, while the following day a Community and Family Cycle from Ennistymon to Lahinch takes place with a starting time of 1pm.