Month: April 2006

GORT could face into an economic crisis unless a second entrance to the town is built into the new bypass, a public meeting has heard.

Some 200 people attended the meeting, which was organised by Grace (Gort Regional Alliance for Community and Environment).

It saw senior executives from National Roads Design Office, Galway County Council and the road’s designers answering questions from the floor.

“Most people left the meeting feeling very frustrated with the no, no, no response that they got,” a spokesperson for GRACE told The Clare People . “Our only option now is to prepare a submission to the Environmental Impact Statement.”

The deadline for such submissions is May second and if successful a representative from GRACE will be allowed to make his/her case for the second entrance, at an oral hearing.

“There will be a real bottle neck getting in to and out of the town. Mentally, if people have to go out of a town the same way that they come into the town, it will stop people from coming in at all,” continued the spokesperson.

“There is also a serious concern over the safety of pedestrians in the town, especially of Crowe Street and around O’Sullivan’s Hotel.”

A campaign has been in place in Gort concerning the proposed bypass since 2000. Initially, the focus was on increasing the bypass from a two carriageway road to a duel carriageway. However, the focus switched in

2002 when a new set of plans pro-

vided for a dual carriageway but left

only one entrance/exit to Gort.

AFTER more than eight years of campaigning the Doolin Coastguard finally looks set to receive a new base of operation.

Discussions between the Office of Public Works (OPW) and a local land owner are moving into the final stages.

According to Matty Shannon of the Doolin Coastguard, the exact location and size of the site has been finalised. He is confident that work on the base will commence in the near future.

“It has reached the final stage of discussion between the OPW and the landowner,” said Mr Shannon. “The site has been finalised and we also know the size of the base.”

The Coast Guard’s new facilities came up for discussion is the Dáil last week following a parliamentary question by Clare TD, James Breen (Ind).

Responding to the question, Transport Minister, Martin Cullen said, “I regard the provision of a new station house for the Doolin coastal unit as a very high priority.

ENNISTYMON woman Aloma McKay is in the running to become one of the most powerful women in rural Ireland.

She is campaigning to become the president of the Irish Country Woman’s Association.

Mrs McKay, who has been a member of the Ennistymon guild of the ICA since 1992, will be up against Peg McMeel from Dublin and Carmel Dawson from Carlow, when the voting takes place later this month.

Mrs McKay believes that a number of challenges in her life have prepared her for the election campaign and her responsibilities as president, should she be successful.

“It is a difficult and demanding position, but I enjoy a challenge,” said Mrs McKay, who came to live in Clare, in 1989.

“We were only here for six months when my husband died and left me with six young children in a foreign country.

“I am also a team player and I work well with others.”

American by birth, she settled with her family in the Ennistymon area. She hopes to use her cosmopolitan background to help improve the image of the ICA, which has, in some quarters an image of being old fashioned.

“The people who have negative images of the ICA, or who think that it is old fashioned, are usually people who have never been involved in it,” she said.

“We now live in a multicultural country. Ireland is moving with the times and the ICA is moving with it.”

Aloma has held many offices, both locally and nationally in the ICA. She served as secretary of the Ennistymon branch from ‘92-’95, chairman of the National Arts Committee from 2001-2003 and the Federation President between 2000 and 2003.

STIFFER penalties should be imposed on people who commit air rage on board flights, according to pilots’ union IALPA.

IALPA (Irish Airline Pilots’ Association) spokesman Conor Nolan was speaking to The Clare People in the wake of a one month sentence being imposed on a Polish man, for his antics on board a Centralwings flight into Shannon last Friday week.

Szczepan Drzewiecki, drank almost a full litre bottle of vodka, before hitting out at other passengers.

He tried to break the window of the plane, as it flew from Warsaw to Shannon.

The father-of-three, who was travelling to Ireland to start work in the construction industry, pleaded guilty to three offences.

He admitted being intoxicated on board the plane, engaging in abusive behaviour on the plane and failing to cease engaging in abusive behaviour, when requested to do so by a crew member, contrary to the Air Navigation and Transport Act, on March 24.

The Inspector, Tom Kennedy, said this case was “above and beyond the circumstances outlined in previous cases.”

The court was told the maximum term that could be imposed – for the offences before the court – was four months.

“Why didn’t he get four? That would be our question. The penalties there should be imposed,” said Mr Nolan.

“There doesn’t seem to be a sufficient deterrent to people to do this [commit air rage],” he said.

He also said “more specific aviation legislation” should be enforced, to address the issue.

“A judge has to deal with an air rage prosecution, as he would some row outside a chipper and it doesn’t necessarily represent the seriousness of it.

“There have been serious prosecutions, but they have not led to air rage convictions per se”.

He said that quite often, alcohol was consumed before boarding an aircraft.

“This needs to be looked at. We want everybody in the chain to be vigilant at all times. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed industrywide,” he said.

This was echoed by Drzewiecki’s solicitor, William Chair, who told the court that while he didn’t wish to excuse his client’s behaviour in any way, that “airline crews should be looking out for signs such as my client displayed.”

Centralwings, which commenced its route between Shannon and Warsaw in November, declined to comment on the incident, despite requests from The Clare People.

AN Ennis man has told of the flight of fear he endured, while sitting next to an enraged passenger trying to break a window on their plane.

Seán Morgan (30) was flying from Warsaw to Shannon with his Polish wife Ewa and two-yearold son Leon, when drunk Szezepan Drzewiecki went into a blind rage.

Ewa and Leon were left in state of panic, while Seán tried to calm Drzewiecki, before he could do serious harm. Drzewiecki had drunk almost a litre of vodka.

The Morgans were returning from a two-week holiday in Poland when mid-air nightmare began.

Sean – who described Drzewiecki as a “time bomb” told The Clare People that the commotion started when they were boarding, but terror erupted during the flight.

Drzewiecki who had never been on a plane previously, first came to Seán’s attention when he spoke to another passenger.

“He was in his face a lot, leaning in on top of him. He then stood up, put on his jacket, took it off again,” he said.

“He started drinking and pounding the man beside him, smacking him on his face and then he went for another guy who was sitting on the inside seat on his row,” he said.

At that stage Seán intervened, and using the best Polish he had acquired, tried to calm Drzewiecki down.

“He settled for a minute, but then started swearing and shouting. Somebody had to take control of it. I told him there were other passengers, mothers and young kids, on the plane,” he said.

“Then, out of nowhere, he just flipped and pushed the seat in front of him, at which stage he started to punch the windows. He completely lost the plot,” he said.

Seán and a number of other passengers restrained him and in the process Drzewiecki sustained a nasty eye injury.

“Between the injury and the alcohol he lay there in a state,” he said.

Seán said while the incident was a hugely distressing for everybody, he would have no fears flying again.

“I felt a bit frightened but felt in control of the situation. It was a nightmare because everyone on the plane was in a serious state of shock and panic. It is the last thing you would expect,” he said.

He said if he did not intervene, Drzewiecki might have assaulted other passengers.

“If I had not taken action, he would have gone loose,” he said.

AN AMBITIOUS new proposal that would see over €4 million spent on upgrading broadband facilities in Ennis has been submitted by Clare County Council to the Department of Communications, Maritime and Natural Resources.

Councillors in the Ennis electoral area were informed at last week’s area meeting that a detailed submission aimed at addressing the shortfall in high speed Internet within the town had been forwarded to the department.

A total of 15.2km of fibre optic cable would be laid in Ennis under the proposal.

Government funding would account for 90

cent of the cost with both Clare County Coun cil and Shannon Development providing a further 5 per cent each.

Broadband technology would be installed in Ennis under the Department’s Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) scheme, which proposes the laying of “carrier neutral” fibre optic cable, where previously access to fibre optic technology was exclusive to the company that had installed it.

Councillor Joe Carey (FG) said he was astounded that Ennis had not been prioritised for Broadband access given its status as an information age town. He also stated that there were several blackspots around the Ennis area where broadband was unavailable.

“It is impossible to access broadband in Clarecastle. We are in limbo, it is a problem. It’s hard to fathom that Ennis hasn’t been prioritised and now we have top go with our begging bowl to the Government”

Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) said that many consumers found existing broadband suppliers too expensive and said that the problem could be traced back to the privatisation of Eircom.

FUNDING for public patients attending the radiotherapy unit at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital is being delayed, partly because of Department of Health guidelines, according to a senior health manager.

The clinical practice guidelines adopted by the department were highlighted as problematic for the satellite radiotherapy service, by John O’Brien, Hospital Network Manager for the Mid West Region.

The Health Service Executive Mid West has already applied for the €2 million funding necessary to run the Mid-Western Radiation Oncology centre every year.

“We have got some funding for cancer services, but we feel this service should be funded separately,” said Mr O’Brien, former assistant CEO of the health board.

The satellite unit on the grounds of the hospital in Dooradoyle, Limerick is currently treating 140 public and private patients from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

Patient referrals to the consultant radiation oncologist in the unit arise through the twiceweekly new patient clinics, or for in-patients at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

More than 1,600 treatments have been delivered by the on-site multi-disciplinary team of specialists in radiation oncology medicine, since it opened last October. There is now one linear accelerator at full service with capacity for a second.

Mr O’Brien told last Tuesday’s meeting of the Regional Health Forum West that the Department of Health now wanted to bring that second line on stream.

AER LINGUS workers at Shannon Airport have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action should the Government press ahead with plans to privatise part of the State airline.

Of the 2,100 SIPTU members who voted on the issue last week, 94 per cent voted in favour of the possibility of industrial action.

The workers involved are largely based in the ground operations areas, including clerical workers, cleaners and a small number of cabin crew.

SIPTU national secretary, Michael Halpenny, said that sanction would be sought from the union’s national executive council, before notice could be served on the airline.

Halpenny said that the vote was “evidence of the workers’ determination to defend their job security and conditions of employment if management push through privatisation without addressing concerns.”

Halpenny said that the union had “attempted to honour our promise to the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, on meaningful engagement with the airline and have detailed concerns of our members. Regrettably, to date, there has been an absence of meaningful engagement on the part of management.”

A NEW policy has lessened the threat of council tenants being evicted from their homes.

The document aims to assist tenants and tenant purchasers, who may find paying rent difficult to maintain.

It was one of three policies launched last Friday in Ennis.

The second policy focuses on combating anti-social behaviour in housing estates. Its objective is to reduce the number of anti-social complaints and to initiate a prompt response to them.

The third policy aims to stamp out illegal dumping in local authority housing estates.

This is based on a number of principles, including the creation of partnerships with residents associations, community and environmental groups.

Chairman of the Housing and Social Policy Strategic Policy Committee, Councillor Joe Arkins (FG), said under the initiative, residents would be provided with a better level of support.

Resident participation in estate management should also become much greater, he said.

“There are 24 residents associations established throughout the county in council estates. We are aware that the needs of the residents vary significantly, having regard to the demographic size of the estates,” he said.

“The councils are committed to ensuring that peaceful occupation of each tenant will prevail, in all estates. There is only one acceptable level of anti-social behaviour and that is zero . . . zero tolerance,” said Cllr Arkins.

Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn, Ennis, said the opportunity was one to be proud of.

“Certain members of the population engage in crime, in drugs and in violence, which impact on the community,” he said.

The appointment of a Juvenile Liaison Officer (JLO) in Clare late last year has doubled the number of staff dealing with young offenders, while further steps were been taken, he said.

“Kilrush and Newport (Tipperary, which is in the Clare Garda Division) are working with local authorities to develop JLO programmes, similar to that in Ennis, which has proved very successful,” said Chief Supt Quinn.

Tim Ryan, who represented the Health Services Executive at the launch, said multi-agency cooperation could lead to huge successes.

“This is an example of what joinedup thinking can achieve,” he said.

“One of the most serious impact on any family is financial stress,” he said, referring to the policy document on rent/tenant purchase.

The document was a tribute to those behind it, but the real challenge lay in converting theory into reality and achieving on-the-ground success, he said.

ONE of the longest established companies in the Shannon Free Zone has recorded a large increase in sales.

Element Six – formerly De Beers Industrial Diamonds – increased its turnover from $185 million in 2003 to $237 million in 2004.

The most recent accounts filed to the Companies Office, also show that the company increased its gross profit from €83 million in 2003 to $123 million in 2004.

The profit increase can be linked to an increase in the size of Element Six’s sales and marketing division, which almost doubled its personnel, from 25 people to 48, in 2004.

However, the accounts also show the company’s pension fund for employees was deficient by $59.7 million. The company says there are proposals to remedy the deficit.

Element Six is the world’s leading supplier of high quality superabrasives and industrial diamond materials.

The principal activity at Shannon is the manufacture and sale of industrial diamonds.

According to the Directors Report, the company made a net profit of $15 million in 2004.

“We expect the general level of activity to improve in the foreseeable future,” the directors’ state.

The accounts also show that Element Six – which re-branded from De Beers in 2002 – paid a dividend of $89 million in 2004, which followed a dividend of $20 million in 2003.

In 2004, Element Six employed 530 people at the Shannon plant, an increase of four on the previous year.

Underlining the importance of Element Six to the Clare economy, staff salaries and associated costs amounted to $42.5 million in 2004. This represented an increase on the 2003 figure of €34.9 million.

The accounts also show that loans have been advanced to three Element Six directors, “to assist with the acquisition of housing and are interest free”.

The company accounts state that the loans “are repayable on retirement, or when the directors leave the company”.

The accounts record that at the end of 2004, MC Sexton, Dr TA Spooner and EA Brooks had loans of $43,000 each, amounting to a total of $129,000.

On its pensions deficit, the company state in the accounts statement the trustees have formulated a funding proposal to the Pension Board to address the deficit.

“The proposal involves increasing the contribution rate and reducing certain scheme benefits.”