Month: April 2006

A damning picture of staff shortages and accusations of restrictive practice in the planning process, was painted at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Clare County Council.

During a lengthy debate, council officials were urged to take immediate action to alleviate staff shortages in Clare County Council’s planning department. The situation at the planning office was said to be at “crisis point”. The council was also advised to adopt a common-sense approach to addressing the accommodation needs of people with physical and mental disabilities.

Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind) said resources for the planning department had remained static, even though the workload had dramatically increased.

“We need more planners and resources for the people of Clare. We have to carry on this campaign as the service is suffering,” said Cllr Curtin.

County Manager Alec Flemming accepted that problems existed, but admitted his hands were tied because of strict staffing regulations.

“There is a staff embargo in force and there’s not much we can do about it. Even if I did manage to be successful in allocating new resources there is still the question of money,” said Mr Fleming.

Earlier, the council heard that planning restrictions in the County Development Plan discriminated against the “physically incapacitated and the mentally dependent”.

In a motion tabled jointly by Councillors Peter Considine (FF) and P.J Kelly (FF) it was proposed that the plan be amended to ensure disabled people living with their families weren’t forced to seek residential care because they were denied permission to amend their households.

Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) said he knew of cases “where people with cerebral palsy had been treated appallingly”, while Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said in such cases, planners should adopt a “common-sense approach”. Accusations were also made that the County Development Plan inhibited rural regeneration.

Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) said planning guidelines, in particular Section 47, made it impossible for people to settle in rural areas.

Comparing the situation to one faced by Jews in the film Schindlers List, Cllr Prendeville asked, “are we forcing people to locate to towns and villages of County Clare.”

“Cromwell had an expression ‘to hell or to Connaught’ and now it seem to be the case of ‘to hell or to town’” said Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind).

A MAN with an address in Ennistymon has appeared in court on a series of motoring charges, arising out of a hit and run road crash.

David Wheeler (30), of Apartment 2, The Glen, Ennistymon, appeared at Ennistymon District Court, in relation to an accident on October 1 last, at Killura, Ennistymon.

Superintendent Eamon Dolan said the accused, who was driving a friend’s car, hit another car and carried on driving, before hitting a ditch and overturning.

Defending solicitor, Eugene O’Kelly, said his client was attempting to go home to his mother on the night in question.

He lost control, hit the ditch and the car turned over. He paid compensation for the damage to the other car.

“He was the first black person to captain a county championship team, when he captained Inagh to the hurling championship, some years ago,” said Mr O’Kelly.

He said his client has started coaching football in schools.

The court was told the damage to the car he collided with was almost €3,000 and the accused had paid €1,000 compensation.

“I was asked to pay €1,000 by the garda,” said the accused.

The owner of the car told Judge Joseph Mangan he received €1,000 in compensation and said he was satisfied with that, as the car was a 1988 car.

Judge Mangan adjourned the case to finalise the compensation issue.

A 14-year-old boy who ran away from a residential centre in Clare five times last week has begged a judge not to send him to a boys’ centre in Dublin.

The boy, from Ennis, had been ordered to stay at the centre, as part of his bail conditions.

He is facing several charges, including burglary and criminal damage to cars.

The court heard last Friday that the boy was arrested in Ennis that day, on foot of a bench warrant. Garda Albert Hardiman said the boy was in breach of a bail condition.

“He continuously leaves the premises without authorisation and goes to Ennis,” he said.

He said the boy ran away five times last week, and disturbed his family when he arrived back in Ennis. Inspector Michael Gallagher said the boy’s mother was unable to control him and a place was available for him in Oberstown in Dublin.

Defending solicitor, Billy Loughnane, said his mother consented to this, but the boy wanted to stay in Clare.

When Judge Joseph Mangan said he was remanding him to Oberstown, the boy burst into tears and begged for one more chance.

“I’m sorry for running away. Can I get one more chance? I beg you so hard. I get down on my two knees and I pray. Please . . . I miss my family as well. It was just too hard to settle in,” he said.

Judge Mangan said to him, “You are making mugs of us.”

The boy then knelt down, saying, “I don’t like being on remand. I swear to God I’ll do everything I’m told to do.”

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded the boy to Oberstown Boys’ Centre, to appear again in court later this month.

MORE than 200 women in Clare are estimated to have opted for elective Caesarean sections last year.

According to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney, 44.8 per cent of Caesarean sections performed in the country’s public hospitals in 2005 were elective.

The Minister was responding to a question by Clare Deputy James Breen (Ind).

She informed him that a new collating system, allowing separate classification of elective and emergency sections, was not available before 2005.

Last month The Clare People revealed that 27 Clare women who gave birth in the National University Hospital Galway, opted for an elective Caesarean section.

One in three Clare women giving birth in the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick also had a caesarean section. But it is unknown exactly how many were classified as emergency and how many were elective.

According to the Perinatal Statistics for 2002, the Caesarean section rate in Irish hospitals increased by 72 per cent in less than a decade. In 2005, 30 percent of births in the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick were be c-section.

MUCH needed shower and toilet facilities should be in place in Lahinch by the beginning of the 2007 tourist season according to local Fine Gael Councillor, Martin Conway.

The town has been lacking in toilet facilities for the last number of years and plans are in the pipeline to construct shower facilities along with new toilets on the promenade, in a area believed to be close to the Seaworld building.

These plans are in response to the growing number of surfers who come to the village each week. With the numbers travelling to Lahinch to surf each week currently estimated to be in the region of 300 people, it has become big business and the town where three surf schools and a surf shop ow operate.

The toilet and showers facilities will not only allow bathers and surfers to wash after the water but it will also allow surfers to clean their equipment after surfing and protect it from the expensive damage that can be incurred from the salt water.

“Surfing is now big business for county Clare with thousands of people coming from all over the country to surf in Lahinch, winter and summer. Lahinch is benefiting enormously from surfers who come 52 weeks of the year,” said Cllr Conway.

“In the region of €90,000 was collected in car parking charges alone last year and a significant amount of this revenue was generated from surfers. It is shameful to think that they cannot even have a cold shower after coming out of the water.”

The news has also been welcomed by Tom Buckley, owner of the Lahinch Surf Shop.

“We have been looking for facilities like these for year,” said Mr Buckley. “Every time a politician came knocking on the door during an election we mentioned it but noone seemed to take any notice.

“It is about time that Clare County Council start to put some of the money that is raised from parking along the promenade back into the town.”

Cllr Conway has also expressed his hope that the facilities will be delivered sooner rather then later and also commented that shower facilities are needed in other beaches such as Spanish Point and Fanore.

“More and more local people from the parish and from all over county Clare are surfing on a regular basis and it is embarrassing that no showers are available,” concluded Cllr Conway.

ONE of two teenagers accused of involvement in a crime spree in Kilrush last week has claimed he has been threatened in a detention centre.

The 17-year-old said he was threatened in St. Patrick’s Institution, where he was been held in connection with damage to two houses and four cars in the John Paul Estate.

His solicitor asked Ennis District Court last Friday that his client be transferred to another place of detention.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, and his co-accused, John Casey junior (19), of Crawford Street, Kilrush, are both charged with six offences, arising out of alleged incidents, after 2am on April 4.

At Ennistymon District Court last Wednesday, gardaí successfully opposed bail for the pair, because of the “seriousness of the charges”.

Both appeared again at Ennis District Court on Friday, where solicitor, Eugene O’Kelly, detailed the claim made by the 17-year-old.

“We are consenting to a remand, but we are requesting that he not be sent to St. Patrick’s Institution . . . He has been threatened on numerous occasions,” he said.

He told Judge Joseph Mangan that his client had made several complaints to the governor there and he was told to bring it to the attention of the court.

“If there is a problem with St. Patrick’s, I can’t administer St. Patrick’s. If you conceive that your client has problems, you can communicate with the Minister. If that is not satisfactory, you can go to the High Court,” said Judge Joseph Mangan.

He remanded the accused to St. Patrick’s Institution and refused bail for Casey.

In opposing an earlier bail application last Wednesday, Detective Garda Michael McDonagh said John Casey did “not have regard for law and order in Kilrush.”

“I believe Mr Casey is capable of approaching a witness. I have no doubt about that,” he said.

“The injured parties are in a vulnerable state. For their own safety, we would strongly object to Mr Casey getting bail here today,” he added.

Defending solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said her client, who was unemployed and lived with his mother, had “never been convicted of threatening or attempting to tamper with a witness.”

Both accused will appear again in court later in the month.

CLARE politicians have appealed to their Limerick city council colleagues to withdraw their application to extend the city boundary into Clare, in light of a statement from Minister Dick Roche during the week.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, said he was not convinced that an expansion of the city boundary into Clare was an option, “given the attachment of the people in the area affected to their county”.

The minister was responding to an application by Limerick City Council to extend its boundary into counties Clare and Limerick, an application that has been opposed by the two county councils.

“As a first step, I propose to invite the three (Limerick city, Limerick county and Clare county) managers to meet with me, to see if a suitable process can be put in place.”

Senator Brendan Daly (FF) has now also called on the city council to withdraw its application to extend into Clare.

“There is no point in following this application, when the Minister has said it is not an option,” he said.

The senator said that if the application was withdrawn, it would show goodwill between Limerick City and Clare County Council, allowing a good working relationship to develop for the benefit of the people living in the 1,621 hectares in Clare under dispute.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen has accused the Minister of “fudging” the issue.

“The Minister has taken a long time to deliberate on this. He said at the Ógra conference that he would make a definite decision. I believe he has now fudged it.”

While welcoming the Minister’s indication that the boundary should not be extended into Clare, Deputy Breen said, the issue had “not gone off the agenda unfortunately”.

Limerick City Manager Tom Mackey told The Clare People that he expected to get notification of the meeting with the Minister and two county managers shortly.

Minister Roche said there were a number of options which should be explored by the three councils.

“These range from increased cooperation on a voluntary basis, formal co-operation/service provision across existing boundaries, possible changes to the boundaries between the two Limerick authorities, right up to novel institutional arrangements, which could apply across the whole metropolitan area – for example in the area of planning.

“I strongly believe however, that the maximum consensus on such issues should be arrived at locally, in advance of any direction from central government,” he added.

NEWS that Clare will most likely be ruled out of any boundary extension to Limerick City has been welcomed by local representatives.

Councillors in the South East Clare area have been campaigning against a bid to take parts of the county into Limerick city, under an extension of the city boundaries.

Labour councillor, Paschal Fitzgerald, said that he was pleased with the decision. “Now that Clare will not be touched, we can hopefully get on with other business.”

He added that now that the county was to keep the South East area, the local authority would have to fully take ownership of it.

“The county council will have to recognise that East Clare needs more facilities, such as community centres. The authority needs to show East Clare that we are staying put.”

Cllr John McInerney(FG) said that he was “delighted” with the decision. “If Limerick moved in from that side and Galway from the other side, we would be left with a county no bigger than Leitrim.”

He added that on the ground “most people are very pleased. It is a sensible decision. Limerick gets Limerick and Clare keeps Clare.”

But there was some disquiet among the local representatives about the fact that the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, was bringing the Clare County Manager to the table of the boundary commission.

The move puzzled Councillor Cathal Crowe(FF), who said that there should be no need for Clare to be involved with talks on the boundary extension.

“I am glad the Minister has taken this decision, particularly at a time when we are voting in the county council on important plans for the area. For instance, we have money for play facilities and Parteen and Meelick need playgrounds. I am pleased that we can now move ahead on these issues.”

“I’m still a bit dubious that our county manager is being called to Dublin.

“We should not need to be at the negotiating table if Clare has been ruled out of consideration for inclusion in the extension.”

He added that Clare County Council could continue to work alongside Limerick, as it had been doing in the spatial strategy, but should not be dragged into the formal decision on the boundary extension.

A CLARE politician who supports the use of Shannon Airport by US troops, has welcomed calls from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to have Shannon planes searched for rendition prisoners.

Green Party Councillor, Brian Meaney, said that the “taint of having any involvement in this inhumane business should be removed from Shannon.”

Councillor Meaney said that it was a “source of great shame that Shannon should be considered as a wayleave for these appalling flights where people are deprived of their basic human rights.”

The Clare councillor said that the “only thing we can do is to have any suspect flights searched. The US should allow us this freedom to ensure that Shannon is not tarnished with these allegations.”

UN Commissioner Louise Arbour said that more proactive initiatives on checking planes from states that could be involved in “extraordinary rendition” would be welcomed.

Arbour made the remarks while in Dublin last week to receive an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland and to visit the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

Earlier, the Government had restated that it was satisfied with assurances from the US that planes that landed here were not carrying prisoners bound for torture, after Amnesty International published a report, which stated that planes regularly used for rendition had flown through Shannon.

But speaking in Dublin, the commissioner said that the Government’s position represented an unsatisfactory approach.

“Wilful blindness on the part of

states to the ultimate purpose of ex-

traordinary rendition is unacceptable.

Where there is a risk of torture, there

shouldn’t be any resort to diplomatic

assurances,” Arbour said.

She said she understood that the

Government could board CIA flights

if there was any evidence that the

flights were being used for an illegal

purpose.

“In the current climate, I would wel-

come even more proactive efforts on

the part of all governments,” she said.

“I would welcome initiatives that

go beyond the legal requirements,

like seeking authorisation for random RESPONDING to question put to him by The Clare People , the acting Chief Fire Officer for Clare County Council, Anthony Travers, said that it is unlikely that John could have been saved if a better supply of water had been available.

“When the fire services arrived at the scene the fire was already well developed with flames coming through the roof,” said Mr Travers. “Any fatality that had occurred would have already occurred at this time.

“There is a programme ongoing in conjunction with the Sanitation and Water Services to map the locations of all the fire hydrants in County Clare.”

With each fire engine carrying approximately 400 gallons of water it is

searches. It would be a very good sig-

nal from governments to see for them-

selves what is happening rather than

rely on assurances.”

The IRHC commissioner, Michael

Farrell, welcomed Arbour’s com-

ments.

“We very much welcome the com-

ments of the High Commissioner on

the issue of extraordinary rendition

and her supportive attitude on the is-

sues in which the IHRC are actively

engaged, including the drafting of the

proposed UN disability treaty and the

position of migrants in Ireland.” not an uncommon practice for water ‘ferrying’ to occur in rural areas.

The Kilshanny and Kilfenora communities have been left devastated following the tragic fire.

“The first thing is the state of shock at what has happened,” said local Priest Fr Joe Roche. “He had been in the village earlier in the evening. He was a very well liked man from a very well known and liked family.

“There hasn’t been a tragedy like this in the area in a long time and the people are awfully shocked at what has happened. Words are fairly useless at occasions like these and it is the presence of friends and loved ones that will be of real support to the family.”

THE Chairman of the Green Party has called for a comprehensive investigation into revelations that Shannon Airport has been used to export military helicopters to Israel.

John Gormley TD said that revelations that a cargo aircraft used to transport Apache helicopters, passed through Shannon in February, called into doubt the position of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern.

“This matter must be comprehensively investigated by the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Foreign Affairs and if it is established that the Department lied about this, then the Minister for Foreign Affairs will have no option but to resign,” said Mr Gormley.

On Saturday, it was revealed that the cargo plane landed at Shannon Airport and that the Departments of Transport and Foreign Affairs, which are responsible for foreign civilian flights and foreign military flights respectively, initially denied any knowledge. Photographs have now emerged of the controversial plane on the ground at Shannon.

“It is bad enough that Shannon has effectively become a US military airport for the occupation of Iraq. Now that it is implicated in the suppression of the Palestinian people as well, it confirms that this Government’s foreign policy is ad idem with US foreign policy,” he said.

The massive Antonov 124 cargo aircraft landed at Shannon only hours before US President George W. Bush made the first of two refuelling stopovers at the airport, on February 28th last.

The plane, and a second aircraft owned by the same company, parked overnight in a specially constructed high-security corral.

According to the Department of Transport, the original information provided to it by the aircraft operator showed that the flight in question intended to travel from the USA to Israel, via Iceland and to return via Shannon.

“We were informed that the flight landing at Shannon on the return leg would be empty,” said a department spokesperson.

The aircraft, operated by the Volga-Dnepr Group, which has a maintenance base at Shannon, diverted to Shannon so that company engineers there could attend to a technical problem with one of the planes.

“I am not at all surprised by this,” said former Irish Army commandant and well known anti-war campaigner Ed Horgan.

“The Government has been caught out by denying that these flights landed at Shannon. Only when presented with the evidence did they come clean”.