Month: June 2006

FRANK Conway’s autograph book is a veritable who’s who of names.

The common denominator linking all the signatories to the little tome is that they all passed through Shannon Airport.

John Wayne, Victor Mature, Doris Day, Eleanor Roosevelt, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Stewart, Charles Laughton and Laurence Olivier are in Frank’s little pocketbook. So are Muhammed Ali and Charlie Haughey.

Two heavyweights, if in very different ways. Frank met them both and even took a punch in one of his jousts. Not from Ali, who was en route to America after a fight with Henry Cooper in ’67, but from Haughey, who was also going transatlantic.

The punch wasn’t in anger though, more a shadow box because of what happened the day before – February 26, 1985, the day Dessie O’Malley was expelled from Fianna Fáil.

Frank Conway was a member of the National Executive at the time and, along with members from all over the country, was summoned to Dublin for a meeting at which Haughey cited O’Malley, for “conduct unbecoming of a member”.

“It’s him or me,” said Haughey, “And I want it to be unanimous for the good of the party,” he added. Conway was one of only nine out of 82 members to vote against the motion. It was a vote against Haughey.

The following day, Frank was back at work in Shannon when Haughey passed through on this way to New York. “I felt a bit sheepish, I can tell you,” recalls Frank. “They were all clustered around him and then our eyes met across the arrivals hall. I said ‘Here goes Conway, you’re a Fianna Fáil man, go up to him’.

“I moved in and I said ‘Welcome to Shannon Mr Haughey, sorry about yesterday but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do’. He shook my hand and stared. Then he gave me a mock left hook to the right cheek. I was startled.”

There was more to come. Years later, when Frank was back on the National Executive, he walked into his first meeting only to hear Haughey say “Ah there you are Conway, you can’t kill a bad thing”.

“I answered by saying ‘You should know yourself’. He laughed. He had the same glint in his eye the day he gave me that mock punch. I took it that all was forgiven and, a few years later, secured a meeting with him in Government Buildings.

“I was working in Shannon and felt that public relations for the airport shouldn’t be done from Dublin. I got nowhere with him, but remember that he was drinking a cup of tea in a lovely fragile cup, looked up and said, ‘Tell me about Clare, Conway, it used to be such a f***ing lovely place’.”

Haughey’s final act was to sign Frank’s book: “To my good friend forever, Charlie Haughey,” he said.

It put him in there with Ali et al.

WHEN Fisheries Minister Brendan Daly attended cabinet meetings under the directorship of Charlie Haughey, he arrived on time. He knew better than to be late.

The “boss” held a tight reign on his ministers and he made no secret that there was always someone who could take their place.

“The meetings started on time and if you arrived late you wouldn’t do it again,” said Senator Daly.

The meetings were “electric” and the Taoiseach went through the agenda at speed. He had no time for wasting or time-wasters.

Senator Daly remembers occasions when ministers were sent from the cabinet table back to their departments to solve on-going issues and report back before the end of the meeting on their success. And success it would be because nobody would face Charles J Haughey with failure.

Cabinet sub-committees dealt with any issue that might take up the time of the ministers at the cabinet table. Personnel were called in from outside to assist the committee and were given days to offer a solution or suggestion.

“He kept a very close eye on what was going on in the media. If a minister made a statement that wasn’t with Government policy, they were quickly called in,” said Daly.

But the somewhat controversial Taoiseach also sought advice from the experts when it came to drawing up policy.

Dermot Desmond is believed to have offered the suggestions and ideas that led to the financial services centre. Mr Haughey also brought experts in to address the cabinet on different issues when policy was being decided.

“He was very good at close quarters. If a minister was going to give a statement, he would give a look at it and change around paragraphs to improve it in a matter of minutes.”

Although Senator Daly had known Charles Haughey long before he was elected to the Dáil, he admitted that very few people really knew him.

“He kept an aura around him. I knew very little about him in real life,” he said.

MIKE McTIGUE was never afraid to say he was a Charlie Haughey man. He arose and followed Charlie many years ago and his admiration stayed true, through thick and thin.

Down the years, his sculpting skills also paid tribute to the lost leader of Fianna Fáil. Only last year, he was commissioned to sculpt a limestone plinth for a bold relief of the former Taoiseach down in Dingle. It wasn’t the first time that McTigue’s craft honoured Haughey. When he retired as Taoiseach in early 1992, McTigue was also on hand to mark the occasion.

McTigue was on the national executive at the time. He recalls two meetings as Haughey’s reign was coming to an end.

“Two nights after Sean Doherty made his allegations about phonetapping, he chaired a national executive meeting. People were calling for Charlie’s head – the PDs and the media. But in the meeting. he was calm and said, ‘It’s not the PDs, or the media, it’s the enemy from within’. You could hear a pin drop when he said it. Albert Reynolds and Padraig Flynn were sitting behind him.

“Then he chaired his last meeting in Leinster House, the meeting that ratified Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach. When Charlie’s business was done, he got up, gave a little bow like he always did and walked out. General secretary, Frank Wall, was behind as he always was. There was a sense of history passing that day.”

CHARLES Haughey’s rise to the top of Fianna Fáil was 13 years in the building. He had designs on leadership in ’66. These weren’t completed until ’79 and Clare’s contribution to it cannot be underestimated.

It was Dr Bill Loughnane who fired the first shots of a battle that eventually saw Haughey replace Jack Lynch as Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach.

“The trouble with the Fianna Fáil party originated with the formation of a cabinet advisory group which completely ignored the ordinary TDs, who are in constant touch with the people in towns and rural areas of the country,” said Loughnane on July 27, 1979.

“These people were mostly theorists with no practical experience of the ordinary TD’s situation. The rural TDs were never asked about it until the Ard Fheis, when he had to withdraw it and show his incompetence,” he added.

Loughnane also called for Neil Blaney’s return to Fianna Fáil. It was seen as a direct pitch of support for the leadership ambitions of Haughey, something Dr. Bill further embellished when saying “there is compatibility between Blaney and Haughey, while there is no compatibility between Blaney and Lynch”.

Then came Deputy Síle de Valera’s attack at the Liam Lynch Commemoration on September 9 in Fermoy, when she openly criticised the Taoiseach’s policy on Northern Ireland.

“If our political leaders are not seen to be furthering our republican aspirations through constitutional means, the idealistic young members of our community will become disillusioned and discontented with politicians, and far more important, they will lose heart in the political and constitutional process and turn to violence to achieve their aims, which the politicians, in their eyes, have ceased to further,” she said.

“As a young person whose one wish is to further the task, which such young men as Liam Lynch had set before us, I look upon our party and particularly our leader to demonstrate his republicanism and bring these beliefs to fruition in our people,” added Deputy de Valera..

This outburst caused a sensation within Fianna Fáil ranks, even if it was thought that many members of the parliamentary party shared her views and her direct challenge to the Taoiseach. That challenge had its day on December 5th that year, when Jack Lynch resigned as Taoiseach and party leader to be replaced by Haughey.

GAA President, Nicky Brennan, will make his first official visit to Clare since assuming the reigns of power on Friday, when he turns the sod on the €1million Michael Cusack Project.

The project is being spearheaded by the Michael Cusack Development Company and will see the restoration of the Cusack family cottage in Carron and the construction of a visitor centre and exhibition space.

The centenary of the death of the founder of the GAA occurs later in the year. The key objective of the voluntary company behind this venture is to honour Cusack with a project that commemorates his achievements. Friday’s event takes place at the cottage at 11.45am.

Clare GAA board chairman Michael McDonagh said “the Cusack Project has now been cut loose from the mother ship and we’ll see where it comes in.

“There is no question, but Michael McDonagh had to take a lot of credit for what has happened with the Cusack project,” said secretary Pat Fitzgerald.

It is hoped to have the project completed in time for the centenary of Cusack’s death, which falls on November 28.

Cusack’s cottage was first renovated in 1984, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years.

A CALL was made last night for Clare County Council to appoint an in-house legal agent to work full-time with the local authority.

At last night’s adjourned council meeting, Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind) requested County Manager, Alec Fleming to appoint the full-time legal adviser to be based at the council offices.

Supporting Cllr Curtin, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) requested that the council undertake a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it was more effective to have an in-house law agent rather than retaining an outside firm to act for the council.

“I would like to know what is best practice in other local authorities. My own preference is that we would have an in-house law agent as opposed to employing someone from the outside, who can be distracted by other work,” he said.

The councillors made their call after the council confirmed in a letter circulated last week that it will advertise for legal services in the coming weeks, prior to the ending of the arrangement in September with Michael Houlihan & Partners, which have acted as the County Solicitor for the past 30 years. The post is a lucrative one with Houlihans receiving €2.2 million from the council over the past three years.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) last night recalled the contract being awarded in 1976 when the then County Manager told him that it wasn’t feasible to have a full-time legal officer.

Cllr Lafferty said, “Surely with the all the legislation that the council must now contend with, it is time that the Manager appoint a permanent law agent.

In response, Mr Fleming said that current contract is ending based on age and the new contract would be a seven year term.

AN Taisce was last night described as Ireland’s only secret society that receives state recognition.

Making the claim at last night’s adjourned June meeting of Clare County Council, Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) said, “An Taisce doesn’t release the identity of its members and they could come from the ranks of Al Qaeda, MI5 or the CIA. We just don’t know.”

Tabling a motion that objections received from An Taisce be made available to the public, Cllr Kelly said An Taisce was “anti-rural and anti anything outside of the Pale.”

“I have no problems with objections being lodged. If an ordinary person lodges an objection, the applicant can see the objection on file.

“However, An Taisce has special status and applicants cannot see objections An Taisce make against developments. This goes against any principle of natural justice as applicants can’t respond to the objections.

“An Taisce has special status under Clare County Council, but there is no provision in statute. The regulations only state that an An Taisce submission can be regarded as a report.

“Unless the council receives legal advice stating that it cannot release An Taisce objections prior to planning decisions being made, I am calling on the council to make public the objections An Taisce make, especially having regard to the chequered past of the organisation.”

Cllr Kelly’s call received support from his colleagues. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said, “It is only reasonable that the An Taisce objections be made available in the interest of transparency and fairplay.”

The Council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella, said, “Where we refer planning files to An Taisce in their role as a prescribed body, their reports are not available.

“However, when An Taisce make a submission or objection, they are available for the public to view.”

YOUNG local house-buyers are being prevented from purchasing homes along Clare’s coastline by a ‘Catch 22’ situation brought about by Government policy and Clare County Council, according to Councillor Martin Lafferty (Ind).

He said that young people, driven by high house prices in coastal resorts to look for planning permission in rural areas outside the towns, were running into trouble because the council did not consider them local, under the Government’s National Spatial Strategy.

“When these young people look to purchase homes in places like Lahinch and Kilkee, they cannot because of high prices and when they look to build outside these places in rural areas, they are asked by the council to produce birth certs.”

Mr Lafferty said that the council had contributed to the high prices, by making it very difficult for anyone to secure planning permission in areas outside the resorts.

“The council is putting in place Government policy by implementing the non-local rule in these areas.”

Cllr Lafferty contrasted the plight of young home-buyers with holiday home-owners and developers along Clare’s coast. Speaking at the council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) on Planning, Cllr Lafferty said that developers were building houses “for nothing, on account of the tax-breaks.”

Cllr Peter Considine (FF) confirmed to the meeting that he owned a holiday home, but added that the beneficiaries of the developments were the developers, through Section 27 tax incentives.

Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) said that the owners of holiday homes had done very well and dismissed any proposals that the council would help finance estate management companies for such developments.

“I can’t see why the council should have an additional financial burden to help maintain those estates,” he said.

Cllr Patrick Keane (FF) said that while the idea for holiday homes was good and there would be nothing in Kilkee without the holiday homes, they had inflated houses prices in Kilkee and Lahinch and young people couldn’t avail of tax-breaks, or concessions, unlike the investors of the holiday homes.

“There are owners of holiday homes in Kilkee who have never seen their homes.

“They have benefited very well from the tax-breaks,” said Cllr Keane.

PEOPLE who deliberately flout Clare County Council’s new day-time dogs ban on beaches have been warned that they will face enforcement action from the local authority.

At a meeting of the Special Policy Committee (SPC) on the Environment, the council’s Environment Director, Ger Dollard, said that there was some evidence that people are deliberately ignoring the ban.

“These are isolated cases, but I can assure you that these people will face enforcement action from the council if this continues.”

Mr Dollard said that, in general, people were abiding by the new bylaws, which prohibit dogs – even those on a lead – from going onto Clare’s beaches between 11am and 6pm each day over the summer months.

“We have always stressed that we would be taking a softy-softy approach in the early stages,” he said.

Chair of the SPC, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that the reaction to the new regulations had been positive.

“I have concerns that there are a number of isolated cases where dogowners have ignored the ban, but the public has shown that it is not willing to accept it and that has to be a good thing.”

Clare’s dog warden, Frankie Coote, told The Clare People that he had inspected Lahinch beach on three separate occasions “and I haven’t seen a dog on the beach.”

“It is very early stages, but the feedback that I have been getting is all positive.

“I have received no complaints, only compliments, especially from families on Lahinch beach. There have also been no complaints of anyone being bitten.”

According to the regulations, those found walking their dogs on Clare’s beaches between 11am and 6pm face on-the-spot fines of €125 and fines of €1,270 if cases go to court.

One of those opposed to the ban, Cllr Joe Carey (FG) said, “People are saying to me that they believe that this ban is over the top and wondering how they are going to be enforced.

“The ISPCA was against this ban and you have to respect their views that part of the beach could be cordoned off for dogs, but their views have not been taken on board by Clare County Council.

“If the laws in place prior to the ban were being properly adhered to and enforced, where people would be prosecuted for dogs running lose and allowing dogs foul, there wouldn’t be a need for the new laws.

CLARE woman and head of the Ennis Branch of the Refugee Council, Orla Ní Éilí, has been nominated and shortlisted for a prestigious national award which will take place in Dublin this afternoon.

The award, which is organised by the African Refugee Network, recognises people for their work in helping to integrate refugees and asylum seekers into the general community.

Orla has been shortlisted for the Judge’s Special Achievement Award alongside Frank Edwards and Pamela Howard of the Reception and Integration Agency, who have been jointly nominated, and Nadette Foley, activist and founding member of the Irish Refugee Council.

“The awards are designed to recognise the work of people who, in a professional capacity or in their private lives, help in refugee and asylum issues,” said Mabarak Habib of the African Network. “Orla is well-known for her work with asylum seekers and refugees over the last 13 years. She has contributed greatly, both as an individual and through her work in the Ennis Refugee Council.”

In all, six awards will be handed out in Dublin tomorrow. Aside from the Judge’s Special Achievement Award, presentations will be made in the categories of Education and Youth Work, Arts and Culture, Sports and Leisure, Health and Safety and Community and Environment.

“The awards are also designed as a way of reflecting the positive interaction of people across Ireland,” continued Mr Habib. “Much of the work that is undertaken at a local level is rarely highlighted, with the media chosing instead to focus on negative issues.”

The awards ceremony is being run to mark World Refugee Day which takes place today (Tuesday). Celebrations are being organised all over the country to mark the day and a number of events, yet to be confirmed, will take place in Ennis over the weekend. World Refugee Day is an international event sponsored by the United Nations and the theme for this year’s event is hope.

Meanwhile, a new organisation launched in Dublin last week could have a major impact for the hundreds of Nigerians who are currently living in the county. The Nigerian Association of Ireland Equality Authority was officially launched by Minister Ó Cuív in Dublin last Wednesday.

The new organisation aims to forge and strengthen links between the Nigerian community in different parts of Ireland. It also aims to generate a positive perception of Nigerians within the wider community.