Month: June 2006

THE decision to give the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) permission for a new runway at Dublin Airport has been criticised in a submission by a member of Clare County Council to An Bord Pleanála.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said the decision by Fingal County Council directly contradicted stated Government policy.

“We are approaching a first-quarter review of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) that will show that there has been no delivery of the objectives requiring balanced regional development,” he said, in his submission.

“Currently, the Greater Dublin Area accounts for 48 per cent of national gross value added and more than 40 per cent of national employment. Shannon Airport could comfortably handle more than three times its current throughput.

“An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to Government policy and must rule that capacity in Shannon be utilised to arrest the growing economic imbalance between the Dublin/Belfast region and the rest of the country.”

Cllr Meaney said that the biggest problem facing the development of population outside Dublin was transport infrastructure and the insufficient rollout of broadband.

“The correct approach would be to develop a high-speed rail rib from the east to Shannon Airport. This high-speed rail link would be an integral part of the Shannon Airport facility, with baggage check-in and other pre-flight requirements undertaken en route.

“I am aware that this is already being done in Germany with great success and there is no reason why this innovative concept cannot be applied here.

“The development of Shannon was built around new and innovative ideas with commitment at a political level.”

On the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) lodged with the scheme, Cllr Meaney criticised the lack of alternatives put forward by the DAA.

“Most significant is the argument used that expansion of Shannon ‘would require significant surface area access to infrastructure projects to be implemented (road/rail), in order to allow those who wish to travel to the Greater Dublin Area to reach their destinations’.

“This does not address the fact that Dublin Airport is currently deficient with regard to rail access to those travelling to the Greater Dublin Area,” he said.

A DRUGS charge against an Ennis man has been dismissed in the District Court.

Brian Greene (30), of Cornmarket Apartments, Mill Road, Ennis, was charged with possession of heroin on July 15 last year.

Sergeant John Brennan told Ennis Court that he obtained a warrant to search the home of the accused. He said that he knocked on the door and got no reply.

“I was aware the tenant was in the apartment. My colleague used a sledge hammer to open the door. The door was locked and there was a chain on the door,” said Sgt Brennan.

A second door, inside the exterior door, was also locked and that was also struck with a sledge hammer.

He said he could see two people sitting in the living quarters of the apartment and his colleague found a syringe and “a very small amount of brownish powder” in the sink.

The tap was running and the accused denied flushing anything down the sink and said he did not see anyone flushing anything down.

He asked the accused why the front door was locked, and was told, “There are people after me . . for security.” He told gardaí the items in the sink were not his.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said there was a party in the apartment the previous night and music was blaring when the gardai called. Sgt Brennan said he had no recollection of loud music.

His colleague, Det Garda Seamus McMahon said he found syringes “lying virtually everywhere in the apartment.”

He recovered a corner of a white plastic bag, containing brown powder, in the kitchen.

Ms Godfrey applied for direction, on a number of grounds. She said that possession was not proved against her client.

Judge Joseph Mangan granted her application and dismissed the case.

CIE TOURS is the latest company reputed to be showing an interest in buying the Shannon Great Southern Hotel, as part of the Great Southern group package.

The transport company originally sold the hotels to Aer Rianta and business sources have revealed they are now interested in buying them back, as a strategic addition to their steadily growing tour business.

If they make their interest public, CIE will be in the running, along with multimillionaire builder, Bernard McNamara and Choice Hotels, who form one of the groups interested in making a bid.

The group was officially put up for sale last week, but it is understood that the sale could be delayed until July 7, two weeks later than the original deadline.

It is expected that the sale will raise €200 million for the Dublin Airport Authority, which inherited the business on the break-up of Aer Lingus.

The Shannon Great Southern, along with the hotels at Dublin and Cork Airports, are the three hotels in the group to break even.

Galway, Killarney and the luxurious Parknasilla in Kerry – the Taoiseach’s favourite holiday spot – all need major investment and have accumulated losses of €40 million.

The Galway hotel has as many staff as it has bedrooms, while the Corrib is one of the worst performers in the group.

The eight hotels are being offered for sale on an individual basis, or as a portfolio. It is understood there have been more than 100 enquiries received by the advisers.

Shannon independent councillor, Patricia McCarthy, said that given the fact that Shannon was one of the hotels not making losses, it would make sense for the Shannon Airport Authority to have it in their ownership.

“It is catering for a niche market and doing well. It has a strategically very important position being next to Shannon Airport,” said Cllr McCarthy.

She added that the future of the 50 staff was a high priority.

“There is a very high quality and level of service and that should be maintained. I would not like to see any erosion of wages or skills. A minimum wage job just would not be good enough.”

The three-star hotel has a brisk business as the airport “is busy night and day now. There are flights coming in at every hour,” said Cllr McCarthy.

There are 400 permanent workers in the group and part-time employees make up the equivalent of another 300 full-time jobs.

“NOW that the girls are going to be questioned on what they wore, why they were drinking, why they were talking to the man, they are not even going to go to the guards.

“It took two years with me fighting with myself to go to the guards. The only reason I went was because there were other people involved. I couldn’t think of myself, but there are a lot of people that aren’t going to go and I don’t blame them.

“If I had my choice over again, I wouldn’t go through it. I wouldn’t go to court.”

The angry words of a young Clare woman, who had been through the legal system under debate on Friday.

A number of years ago, she reported a family member for sexually abusing her as a child. But, while she does not regret reporting the abuse, she regrets the ordeal of the prosecution.

“I know from experience, you fight so damn hard to get it to the DPP. It took me nine hours sitting in the Garda station to tell my story,” she told The Clare People .

“Nine hours is a hell of a long time to sit there and pour your heart out.

“Then they decided whether to charge him or not, whether it was worth it,” she added, with tears of frustration in her eyes.

“Then you have to go and sit through a court room, where you are humiliated and treated like you are the perpetrator.

“If I murdered somebody, I wouldn’t be treated as badly as I was in court and that is wrong.”

The young woman, now in her twenties, explains how she lives every day with the ordeal of her young life.

“We live with this absolutely everyday of our lives,” she said, referring to all victims of abuse.

“Then you hear people like this, allowing them back out on the street with a pat on the back saying ‘off you go it wasn’t that serious’.

“You fight so hard to put them in prison and they turn around and let them back out. There is no justice in that. “I was told to stop crying in the court, or the case would be thrown out,” she explained.

“I wasn’t wrong to bring him to court, but there are days I still wake up and feel I did the wrong thing because I was treated so badly,” she said.

Following her day in court, she failed to get a conviction.

JUST hours after the first email was sent that a protest was to be organised, hundreds had gathered at the courthouse in Ennis.

The news had also spread via text messages, phone calls and local radio.

Armed with white flowers, flags and hankies the people of Clare took time out to make their feelings felt.

Some rallied behind a banner, as members of an organisation or charity; others spoke out for the children and parents of Ireland; while more stood quietly among the crowd, only too familiar with the outrage being debated.

It was a hot, sunny afternoon in Ennis with a long weekend approaching, yet people of all ages, creeds, gender and race gathered in dignified low tones.

Fear, anger and frustration reigned in the crowd, at the High Court decision to release 41-year-old Mr A, who had pleaded guilty to plying a 12-year-old with drink before having sex with her.

Before the decision could be successfully appealed to the Supreme Court, the people of Clare gathered before their courthouse fearing the release of other offenders.

In Dublin, the Dáil sat in an attempt to bridge the gap in the legal system that could see these offenders set free.

Following the 20-minute “show of concern” in Ennis, the people went about their business, after leaving their flowers at the courthouse door.

Collette Reddington, Director of Clare Haven House said she was not surprised by the turn out, as it was a measure of the strength of people’s feelings.

“If you can get some sort of goodness out of a situation like this, it is that you can bring all these people together with one voice and they are all saying ‘no, this is wrong.’”

The decision, she explained, seemed to be a retrograde step following all the hard work by organisations caring for the well-being of children and women.

“You sometimes feel powerless, but I think coming out here today like this really shows that people really really feel strongly about that,” she said.

Among the crowd were Clare’s only two women county councillors, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) and Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG).

As the people walked away, Cllr McCarthy told The Clare People that the Supreme Court decision was a slap in the face for society.

“Certainly society has been let down. Decent honourable people are suffering because of this, and will suffer,” she added.

Cllr Taylor Quinn said she was concerned that children would now face cross-examination under the new emergency legislation.

“I think the evidence presented both by the medical people and the gardaí should be more than adequate to actually proceed with the prosecution.

“The thought of any minor who is a victim of abuse being put up on the dock in court and cross examined, is to me, frankly, unacceptable,” she said.

“The law seems to be very much on the side of the perpetrator and very much against the victim.” Of the number of sexual abuse cases reported, 3.5 per cent end up in prosecution, but only 2.5 per cent end up in conviction.

CLARE County Councillor, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, is to champion the rights of the county’s women Gaelic players, by demanding a level playing pitch for all.

Cllr. Taylor-Quinn (FG) has vowed to contact the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform about what she describes as “ending the inequality of treatment that overshadows women’s Gaelic Games”.

She said that camogie clubs in Clare had made representations to her, because their players are routinely forced to make do with substandard kits, equipment and facilities.

“The camogie clubs do not enjoy the same resources and opportunities that are now the norm in many hurling clubs,” she said.

“It is clear from the conditions that the players are being asked to put up with, that the State’s policy on encouraging sport has failed to prevent women playing Gaelic Games bearing the brunt of inequality,” said Ms. Taylor-Quinn.

“This is not the fault of the GAA county boards, which can only rely on small gate receipts for camogie and ladies football to pay for development. Rather, it is because the Government has failed to support the county boards, with funding to ‘incubate’ women’s Gaelic Games, in order to help them grow and to provide tangible improvements in the conditions for players.

“Despite all the current Government’s talk on how they value the contribution of sport to society, camogie and ladies football players can see clearly what they must make do with.”

“This imbalance in support provided for women players is very plainly an issue of equality of opportunity, which by consequence, comes under the Department responsible for equality and law reform,” said the West Clare councillor.

Cllr Taylor Quinn said she would impress upon the department the need to provide interim funding for women’s GAA immediately.

“This should be spent on providing those involved in these games with the sort of provisions that are often regarded as basics in other codes,” she said.

“Research is also required to fully quantify the problem in Gaelic Games – and to establish the situation with all other women’s sports. This can be used to fine-tune how further funding is provided.

“But ultimately, I would see the research as providing the blueprint for how we can end the marginalisation of women’s Gaelic Games, through direct State intervention in support of equality of opportunity in sport.

“Naturally, it could also act as a model for other sports played by women, if the need is out there.”

CLARE County Council has rejected calls by worried parents to have the speed limit on a section of road in front of a west Clare primary school reduced.

The area of road in St Senan’s National School Knockerra, described as “an accident waiting to happen”, is to remain as an 80 kilometre per hour speed zone, parents learnt this week.

In a letter from the local authority, the parents’ council was told that “the imposition of speed limits in most such areas, unless they can be strictly enforced, is not alone pointless, but also brings the speed limit process into disrepute.”

The response has angered parents who claim that the highest speed recorded just metres from the church and school, at Power’s Shop, was 90 kilometres per hour.

Chairperson of the parent’s council, Jackie Bonfield, said that the 15-foot wide road was too narrow to take the legal speed limit (80 kilometres per hour).

She pointed to the flashing warning lights, adjacent to the 32-pupil school, which were hidden behind trees. Two of the lights were broken.

According to a traffic survey carried out by parents, as many as 72 vehicles use the route between 9 am and 9.30 am, the same period that children arrive at school.

Secretary of the council, Sue Mepham, explained that cars were coming from Moneypoint and that the road was also one of the main routes to the Killimer ferry.

The council conceded in the letter, that a “special speed limit” was “likely” to be introduced at the school at certain times of the day, but this would be “part of the next stage of the process”.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that the suggestion for a special speed limit now being advanced by the council, was a dilution of what was agreed at a meeting of the authority’s western area.

She said the councillors agreed to widen the road, draw white lines, add footpaths, and introduce traffic calming measures.

“Are they going to wait for a child to be killed before they act?” she asked.

“It is one of the worst (situations) in the country and an accident waiting to happen.”

The council letter cited a report carried out by the council and the Garda advising against reducing the limit, on the basis of Department of Transport guidelines.

However, the gardaí also sent a letter to Ms Bonfield in March, indicating that the speed limit should be reduced due to traffic from Moneypoint.

THE Department of the Environment has confirmed that it is to contribute €210,000 to an initative to rejuvenate the Burren.

The news represents a major boost to Clare County Council’s €1.4m plan to boost the Burren’s tourism potential and halt environmental damage to it.

A decision is expected on the application for funding from Fáilte Ireland later this month.

Environment Minister Dick Roche has also confirmed that work on the Burren National Park Management Plan will begin later this year.

His department will contribute the €210,000 over three years, from 2007.

“The proposal is expressly linked to the environmental protection of this unique and sensitive landscape and is being undertaken in partnership with a wide range of stakeholder groups,” said Mr Roche.

He said the plan would “demonstrate best practice associated with the integration of environmental protection, rural development and tourism development in the protection of the heritage and landscape of the Burren region”.

The minister said it would also advance and integrate several existing community, nature conservation, archaeological and tourism initiatives that were operating in the Burren; and combine these with infrastructural improvements. These improvements would be undertaken by Clare County Council.

“The allocation is most welcome. Practical support like this from our key partners in the project is essential to the successful development of the initiative,” said the council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella.

“This work will be the start of the implementation of long established recommendations for the region and will see dedicated staff for the area for a period of three years, to progress the actions and manage community liaison and involvement in all aspects of the work.”

The move to put in place an integrated visitor management strategy for the Burren is the first by a number of agencies since the Government announced its ill-fated visitor centre plans for Mullaghmore in 1991.

Three major reports have been published on the proper management of the Burren: “Tourism in the Burren: A Strategic Plan” in 1994; “The Burren Monuments Strategy” in 1996 and “The Burren Tourism and Environment Initiative” in 2000.

The council has said that the reports contained worthy suggestions and recommendations, “but unfortunately until recently very few actions have followed these recommendations”.

The project is the first phase of a visitor management strategy for the Burren and will take three years to implement.

A FISH thought to be extinct in the waters around Clare was on display recently in the county.

The ‘Arctic char’ could be used as a measure of the cleanness of our water supply.

The fish, as well as more common species, was on display at this year’s Clare Biodiversity Day. The day has now become an annual event.

The exhibition of fish, by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board in association with University College Cork and the Irish Char Conservation Group, had Arctic char as its central theme.

This is because it is believed that all of County Clare’s Arctic char populations are now extinct. The Arctic char in the aquarium were hatchery fish, originally from County Kerry.

According to those involved in the project, they were put on display “to illustrate to the crowds not only how beautiful these fish are but that they are also useful water quality indicators.

“The Arctic char are very sensitive to water pollution and it is in everyone’s interest to ensure that water quality is maintained at the high standard required by this fish.

“There is no reason why they could not be reintroduced into County Clare and four of the five loughs where they once occurred also serve as a public water supply. Their presence would act as a freshwater canary, which would alert us if anything went wrong with water quality.”

Also on display was a river lamprey that was found attached to a brown trout caught by an angler on Lough Derg last week. This parasitic fish is unusual as it sucks onto other fish, feeding off them.

They are now relatively rare in Ireland and it is thought that there is a landlocked population in the lough. More common fish species, such as pike and tench, were also on display. These fishes are not native to Clare unlike the trout, Arctic char and pollan.

The Shannon Regional Fisheries Board is currently running a research programme with the Lough Derg Angling Association to look at the native fish biodiversity in the lough including the elusive Irish Pollan.

Anyone with information, or who might be interested in taking part, please contact Fran Igoe at 061300238.

A NEW scheme which will allow drivers to scrap their cars for free has received a welcome from Clare motor dealers.

The new legislation, which will come into force in January of next year, will take the onus off owners and dealers to foot the bill for scrappage.

And it will have the added advantage that fewer cars will be abandoned around the countryside.

Breakers will be authorized to dispose safely of any pollutants and recycles parts.

A spokeswoman for one of the county’s main car dealers said that the regulations were “very much to be welcomed. As it stands, we sometimes have to charge customers for scrapping their old cars when they buy a new one. You only have to drive into any of the multi-storey car parks around Ennis to see cars that have just been abandoned.”

The spokeswoman added that if the car has to be collected, “then owners are paying a serious amount of money. Free scrappage is definitely a good idea.”

Announcing the new regulations, Minister Dick Roche said that higher standards and a cleaner environment were just two of the benefits that would flow from the new regulations.

“Just as we have been getting rid of the fly-tipping of waste fridges and washing machines, we now want to see the last of rusting car hulks despoiling our urban and rural landscapes and posing a health and safety risk to the public. These regulations will provide a customised regulatory regime for dealing effectively with scrap cars,” said Minister Roche.

The regulations stipulate that when a car or small van reaches the end of its useful life, there will be at least one Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) in each area where it can be brought, free of charge, to be depolluted and dismantled.

The steel, plastic, glass, tyres and other components will be recovered for recycling.

The operators of ATFs must remove all pollutants from cars as part of the recycling process. The motor industry will be required to ensure that there is an adequate network of ATFs across the country providing take-back for their brand of car.

The scheme will be regulated by the local authorities and, when a car has been scrapped, the owner will get a destruction certificate.

“The Regulations will require all waste operators – scrap yards for the most part – to reach new, higher environmental standards. It will require investment on their part,” Minister Roche said.