Month: August 2006

SECURITY at Shannon Airport is “grossly inadequate” if a major disaster were to happen, according to former Irish army commandant and security expert Ed Horgan.

Mr Horgan was speaking in the wake of a plot to blow up 10 transatlantic flights in the UK and America was foiled last Thursday and believes that incident increases the threat to Shannon.

He said the recent decision to step up security at Shannon was “window dressing” and would not “prevent people from getting access to runways.”

“Security at Shannon airport is seriously inadequate from a terrorist point of view. The fact that Shannon is still being used to transport troops makes it a terrorist target,” he said.

“There is a significant increase in risk to Shannon and Dublin. Dublin city centre and transport in Dublin is the major risk and then Shannon airport is the second target.

“If we have adequate security measures, they are not being applied. Security at Shannon is grossly inadequate, for a major disaster,” Mr Horgan added.

“Shannon is still wide open. It would take, in my estimation, a batch of troops – 500 – to properly secure the terminal building.”

He said he would support efforts by members of the Catholic Worker Movement to close Shannon Airport to troops. He pointed out that the drop in the number of troops travelling through Shannon last month was “purely for economic reasons,” given that a major airline carrying troops, World Airways, had pulled out of Shannon.

“They must stop the use of Shannon by troops. There is a likelihood of a terrorist attack on Ireland if we continue to support the war by allowing troops through,” Mr Horgan said.

“It would be far better if peace activists succeeded in closing Shannon to troops than if terrorists succeeded in closing it. There is a real danger that Shannon could be targeted by terrorists.

“To re-establish Shannon as an exclusively civilian airport, we need to publicly declare that it is being withdrawn for military use. Ireland and the people of Clare have assisted in the killing of more than 100,000 people and there is a price to be paid.

“We need to take steps to undo some of that wrong. If that means closing Shannon airport temporarily, that must be done,” he said.

Mr Horgan’s comments run along the same line as several international security experts who believe Ireland could be in the firing line, because of the use of Shannon by US troops.

PLANS are to continue for the unveiling of a statue to commemorate Richard Harris next month, even if locals appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

Last week, Clare County Council granted permission for plans to celebrate the late actor in Kilkee in spite of opposition from residents.

Project director Manuel di Lucia said the statue will be unveiled in a ceremony on September 30, irrespective of whether an appeal is lodged.

He added that invites for the September unveiling have already gone out to Hollywood stars Russell Crowe, Pierce Brosnan, Brad Pitt, Danny de Vito and Peter O’Toole.

He also confirmed that over €30,000 of the €42,000 budget has been raised, with former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds contributing €1,000.

The statue, to be placed in Wellington Square, will depict Harris playing racquet ball, in memory of the Limerick man winning four competitions in a row in the resort where he spent much of his summer holidays.

The twice Oscar-nominated actor had strong associations with Kilkee, and his three sons have confirmed that they will contribute €21,000 to the project.

According to Mr di Lucia, they will also be present for the unveiling of the statue by local sculptor, Seamus Connolly.

Mr di Lucia said that “the statue will be very good for Kilkee and will bring a lot of people into the resort”.

The proposal had resulted in five objections. Kieran Walsh, of Bella Vista, West End, Kilkee said, “This statue will become a focal point for people at night and unruly behaviour is likely to cause severe inconvenience to residents.”

Meanwhile, Limerick community activist, Sean O’Neill, last night hit out at the plan, claiming that Harris contributed very little either to Kilkee or his native city.

“The fact is the actor spent most of his time in the Bahamas,” said Mr. O’Neill. “His last wish was to have his ashes scattered there.”

O’Neill instead proposes a memorial to the Limerick writer JM O’Neill who retired to Kilkee where he wrote the award-winning novel of Limerick life, Bennett and Company , before his death in 1999.

CLARE householders using bin collections are still recycling only onefifth of their household waste, according to figures just released.

But Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney says that the “disappointing” figure does not reflect our enthusiasm for emptying the boot of the car into bring-banks.

A national report from the Local Government Management Services Board for 2005 shows that in the Clare County Council area, 20.2 per cent of the rubbish collected door-todoor was recycling.

A massive 79.8 per cent of what we put in our bins is still being sent to landfill.

This is in comparison to residents of Galway county, who recycle 30 per cent of their rubbish and residents of Limerick City, who separate just 14 per cent of theirs for recycling.

Top of the recycling league were Longford people, who see to it that more than half their rubbish – 51.28 per cent – goes the green route.

Worst in the recycling league table was the Environment Minister’s own county. Dick Roche’s native Wicklow puts just two per cent of its collected rubbish in recycling bins.

But Cllr Meaney has greater faith in Clare’s green agenda.

“That figure is disappointing but I believe it may not reflect the actual situation,” the councillor said.

“Recycling centres in Clare are constantly full.

“I think it is vital to give people access to bring-banks in as many locations as possible and to have as many banks for different kinds of materials as possible.

“When people are given the option to recycle materials free of charge, they will use it,” he added.

The figures are for door-to-door collections and do not take into account bring-banks, which account for 40 per cent of all recycling.

Other figures gleaned from the report show that Clare County Council issued 515 on-the-spot litter fines in 2005, prosecuted 29 cases for nonpayment and secured 14 successful prosecutions.

Neighbouring Limerick city issued 797 on-the-spot fines, with 263 prosecutions taken, with 66 convictions secured.

Galway County Council issued on the spot fines in relation to 335 littering instances.

Six prosecutions ensued and 33 prosecutions were secured.

ROAD safety signs in Clare may soon be required to appear in Polish and Lithuanian if a new safety campaign receives the backing of Clare County Council.

Ennistymon County Councillor Martin Conway is preparing a motion for the next meeting of the local authority in September which will include a call for a complete examination of all the dangerous bends in the county, as well as putting forward the case for multilingual signs.

“I think that we need to be much more proactive about the signage,” said Cllr Conway. “We should be looking at putting up signs in other languages where there are Polish and Lithuanian people working and driving on the roads.

“I am really looking for Clare County Council to look at road behaviour, identify the dangerous bends and give us a commitment in terms of time and funding.”

Six people have already died on the county’s roads this year and with the creation of the Road Safety Authority, road safety looks certain to be a major issue in next year’s general election.

“What I want to see is a complete survey from Clare County Council of all dangerous bends and road surfaces in the county,” continued Cllr Conway. “It is very easy for officials to wash their hands and say that it is not their fault.

“As an agency, we have a role to play. I see this as something concrete that can be done to reduce the levels of road accidents. There is a myriad of areas around the county with bad roads and they need to be addressed. I want to see a commitment to action by Clare County Council.”

With funding for road projects always in short supply in the local authority, it may be necessary for an outside agency to foot the bill for the road improvement.

“Funding is always going to be an issue. I would say that the Department of the Environment would have a role to play in that but, wherever the money comes from, it is needed sooner rather than later,” said Cllr Conway.

“There are a number of accidents which don’t have fatalities and don’t get the media attention. This doesn’t mean that these sections of the road are not dangerous and will not be the cause of fatalities in the future.”

CLARE County Council has expressed serious concern over a proposed €40 million housing development for Kilkee.

Putting the planned 196 homes by Colm Kennedy, Noel Gallivan and James Rael for Kilkee Upper on hold, the council has expressed concern over the impact the development will have on adjacent properties, its density, the implications it will have for traffic safety and its piecemeal approach.

The three developers are seeking full planning for 116 homes and outline planning for 80. The plan also includes the construction of a childcare facility and nursing home.

However, the plan has attracted 24 separate objections. In their objection, Jackie and Joseph Haugh state, “Were this development to go ahead, it would be a social, environmental and economic disaster of epic proportion for Kilkee.”

In his objection, local businessman, Brian Melican said, “I live on the Dunlicky Rd, just a few hundred yards away from this development, and we can smell the raw sewage from where it is being pumped into the sea. Adding more to this will destroy our beach which is the biggest attraction in Kilkee.”

Estimating that there are 1,000 holiday homes in Kilkee, Mr Melican asked, “will someone in the council wake up and call a halt. We have a beautiful place but we have to protect it. Enough damage has been done. Leave it at that.”

Now, in its request for further information on the proposal, the council states that it has “serious reservations relating to this development as a result of the number of units with resultant volumes of traffic accessing onto Dunlickey Rd and Merton Close, and the absence of the relief road extending to adjoining lands. The council would be more favourably disposed to a more comprehensive approach to the development of the overall wider zoned lands and relief road.”

The council also states that it has reservations about the location of the crèche and the principle of the “lockup” units, due the requirement for through traffic to access the crehche and the potential for anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of the lock-up units.

A decision is due on the application later this year.

SERIOUS doubt has been cast on the future of plans to upgrade Ennis Hospital after a HSE committee asked for a value-for-money report on the project.

With just over €20 million sanctioned for the project, the costs have now risen to a reported €40 million plus, and the health authorities finance board asked at a meeting last week for the figures to be explained and justified, sources have revealed.

But hospital campaigners say that the underestimate and subsequent report are causing unjustifiable delays, while one senator has raised questions about the viability of the plan.

Senator Timmy Dooley said he has fears that the continuing delaying in proceeding to planning stage with the upgrade are “a smokescreen. I have to ask, is someone within the HSE trying to stymie this development in favour of investment in developing the Regional Hospital in Limerick?”

€20.8 million for the up-grade was sanctioned this year under the Capital Development Works Plan. But now, it is understood, the actual cost of the project stands at a figure closer to €40 million. *1986 – First talks about redevel-

opment of hospital take place.

*2001 – £15 million is pledged for

the redevelopment of the hospital.

Discussions set up to draw up a

hospital development control plan.

*2006 – The Tanaiste and Minis-

ter for Health, Mary Harney, signs

off on the €20 million needed

for the development to proceed to

planning stage.

*June 2006 – Finalised plans were

due to be ready to submit through

the planning process.

*July 2006 – The HSE go into dis-

“This is bureaucracy gone mad. Someone within the bowels of the HSE has managed to complicate a plan which should be very straightforward,” said Senator Dooley.

A spokesman for the Ennis Hospital Development Committee said that the further delay “just isn’t good enough. It’s nearly six years since €20 million was committed for this plan. With inflation running as it is and changes to the original plan, anyone who thought it was going to come in at the same price now is living on a different planet.”

The spokesman warned that people in Clare “will not tolerate this. This is going to cost votes and all the candidates will have to make a firm commitment to the provision of a first-class hospital service at Ennis.”

But Deputy Tony Kileen said that he is “confident the costings will stand up to scrutiny.” He added that he doesn’t believe the need for extra funding will delay anything. “Very little of the money will actually need to be paid this year or even next year,” Deputy Kileen said. But he added that he would be “happier if reliable information were more readily available from the HSE.”

There was no comment available from the HSE. cussions on the increased costings

of the project.

*August 2006 – The HSE finance

controllers seeks a value-for-mon-

ey audit of the new costings. *September – The plan gets ap-

proval.

*Late 06/early07 – Contractors

come on-site

*Late 08/early 09 – Final fit-out is

completed.

THE end of a glorious era in Clare life was signalled yesterday with Anthony Daly’s decision to step down as Clare senior hurling manager after three years in charge.

Daly’s announcement, given to The Clare People , is expected to usher in the final break-up of the team that brought unprecedented success to Clare hurling in the past 12 years.

“My time is up,” Anthony Daly revealed with a heavy heart as he bowed out of the centre stage of inter-county hurling in the aftermath of Clare’s eight-point defeat to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final.

And, he won’t be alone. Daly who captained Clare to All-Ireland victories in ’95 and ’97 will be joined in retirement by his successors as captain, Brian Lohan and Seánie McMahon who almost certainly played their last game for the county.

Tributes have been led this week by County Board Chairman, Michael McDonagh, who has urged Anthony Daly to reconsider his position and commit to another term of office.

“He has been an inspiration, I will be sorry to see him go. Even at this stage I would hope that he would reconsider his decision,” McDonagh told The Clare People .

“I want Anthony Daly to stay for another period – he did a fantastic job with a team that put in a massive effort, while to the players who are going to retire I salute the massive contribution they made to Clare life and urge them not to finally make up their minds for a couple of weeks. ”

A MIDWEST businessman has called for regulations which would level the playing field when it comes to waste collections in different counties. Mr Binman boss, Martin Sheehan Snr, told The Clare People that he collects waste in seven different areas and has to deal with different rules in each of them.

He was responding to an announcement from Environment Minister, Dick Roche, of Government approval to initiate a public consultation on regulation of the waste management sector.

“In recent years we have put in place a robust system of environmental regulation to ensure that the waste management sector can operate in a sustainable manner. The time has now come to examine whether there is a need for a better system of socio-economic regulation to complement this,” the Minister said.

But Sheehan, head of one of the biggest waste collection businesses in the MidWest, with collection services in Clare, Kerry, South Tipperary, Limerick county and city, Waterford and Kilkenny, said the Minister should standardise the regulations in every county.

“If you look at the permits we have, there are lots of differences from one county to the next. For instance, in some places you can collect dry recycleables in bags, in others they have to be in a bin and in another, there has to be a third bin. There’s no standard operating procedure which makes it very difficult. If the minister plans to regulate the waste collectors, he should also regulate the way local authorities draw up their rules,” he said.

Sheehan also claimed that the situation makes it very difficult for companies like his to expand and do business in neighbouring counties. “I need a permit to go into each county and I have no problem with that but they should be standard permits. There should be one waste strategy across the board,” said Sheehan.

Announcing that he was starting the consultation process, the Minister said: “We now have a waste management marketplace which, unlike other similar sectors, has not got an independent regulator. It is timely to consider if such independent regulation is now warranted and, if so, the form it should take.”

Minister Roche added that he is keeping an open mind on the matter and wants to hear the concerns of the various people involved, “most particularly the public”.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant O2 has refused a request by Clare County Council to reduce the height of a 50-foot proposed mast at Lisheen, Ballynacally.

Earlier this year, the council put the plan on hold, stating that the proposed mast was visually obtrusive and asking O2 to reduce its height. In response, O2 claims that 15 metres is the lowest possible structure that will provide the required coverage.

The company states, “If we were to (reduce the height), coverage would be blocked by the hill to the east of the site and render that sector useless”.

The company was also asked by the council to investigate the option of colocating a mast. O2 responded, “There are no structures in the area upon which to co-locate”, but added that co-locating a mast would have been its first and preferred option.

The plan has encountered stiff opposition locally. In all, 57 objectors, led by the Lisheen Mast Action Group, have lodged objections. The objection lodged by the Action Group, and signed by over 120 people, expressed health fears over the mast.

A decision is due on the application later this month.

Meanwhile, residents in the Moveen area of west Clare have made a last ditch attempt to prevent eircom from retaining a phone mast that residents believe is illegal.

Last month, Clare County Council granted planning permission to eircom to retain the structure at Moveen Hill, Kilkee. A five year planning permission was previously granted to eircom and this permission expired in May 2004.

The proposed structure encountered stiff local opposition. In an objection lodged by the Moveen East Protest Group, its chairman, Shay Hynes stated: “The existing mast doesn’t have planning permission and should have been removed since May 2004. This is an illegal structure.

“Eircom Ltd has blatantly ignored the requirements of the original planning permission, has changed the use of the mast without permission, increased RF radiation emissions to unknown levels and ignored the enforcement order issued by the council.”

However, eircom warned that the removal of the mast would leave the area without eircom or Vodafone coverage for a substantial period of time.

Now, the Moveen Mast Protest Group has appealed the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanala. In a brief two-page appeal, Mr Hynes states that eircom has materially changed the development from that originally permitted. “This makes the mast a prominent feature in the skyline all around Kilkee,” he states.

A decision is due on the appeal later this year.

AN ENNIS business consortium has bought the whole Island of Ireland – and they paid just €20 million for it.

And in this Ireland, you can take a water taxi to Thailand for lunch, do dinner in New York and still be back in Eireann before pub closing time.

The Ireland in question is a man-made island off the coast of Dubai, measuring five acres and is part of a project called The World in which countries are represented by smaller islands shaped like the originals.

Ray Norton, MD of Larionova has teamed up for the investment with his brother-in-law, Andrew Brett and property developer, Noel Conlon, both from Ennis as well as John O’Dolan from Galway.

“We will try to build a vision of Ireland on the land – that is the Ireland of 2007 – and we are currently developing plans for what we hope will be landmark buildings that will truly represent our country,” Norton said.

There are plans for 170 apartments and some villas with their own marinas, with prices on the properties ranging from €400,000 to €1.9 million.

The development will be worth €125 million in all and Norton is hoping that it will attract some Irish investors, although the local market in Dubai is the most likely one.

Larionova is also the exclusive Irish agent for Dubai Sports City, a 2 billion development that will include four sports stadia, a golf course, commercial district and office blocks.