Month: September 2006

AS the election approaches, the Government parties are marking out territory and nowhere more so than in Clarecastle this week.

Just two days before she resigned as leader of the PDs and Tanaiste, Mary Harney was greeted by a picket made up not just of concerned citizens but politicians, including members of her Government partner’s party.

Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley joined in the protest organised by the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee to highlight concerns over the delay in the development of the hospital.

Asked if it was a conflict of interest in standing at the picket line as a member of government, Senator Dooley said, “It was in showing support for the development of the General Hospital that I stood with the non-aggressive ligatures.”

But there is a doubt as to whether Ms Harney agreed with Senator Dooley’s assessment as she said during her tour of Roche, “I, like Mayor Garvey, was quite taken with the colourful lampshades. They reminded me of a previous Government and, if my Oireachtas colleagues keep protesting the way they were, it could be the colour of a new one.”

Senator Dooley referred to the remarks as “tongue in cheek”.

Other comments made by the Minister were not taken in such a lighthearted manner however.

Comments by the minister questioning if the organised protest was an “animal welfare lobby or what”, led to an angered reaction room the hospital development committee.

PRO for the group, Councillor Brian Meaney, argued that while Minister Harney “may want the hospital to go to the dogs, the people of Ennis are not animals.”

He claimed the comments caused great hurt to the people on the protest, “many who owe their lives, or the lives of relatives, to the accident and emergency service in Ennis General Hospital.”

THE Lahinch Community Council has targeted the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, and President Mary McAleese in a desperate appeal to end antisocial behaviour in the town.

In a strongly worded statement sent to hundreds of public representatives and the Garda last Friday, the community council described a situation where “people urinate, defecate, vomit and have sex” on the streets of Lahinch in the early hours of the morning.

The statement outlined the community council’s belief that the escalation of the public order problem in the village had resulted in a downturn in tourism with weekend golfing tourist particularly affected.

“Golf tour operators are saying that they will not place business in the village on weekends because of the debauchery they have witnessed on the streets,” the statement reads.

“Some people make more and more money while others see their businesses wither and die. The people who just like to play golf, enjoy the beach with their families and drink responsibly no longer want to come to Lahinch.”

The statement has prompted a sizeable response, with a number of public representatives already showing their support for the community council.

“We have received responses from the Department of Justice and a number of other agencies claiming that they will look into the situation,” said Mary Comber of the community council.

“Madeleine Taylor-Quinn contacted us, offered her total support and said that she had already made representatives to the Director of Services at Clare County Council, Clare Garda Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn and the Minister for Justice.”

According to the Community Council, the level of antisocial behaviour in Lahinch has increased dramatically this summer.

“Our windows are broken on a regular basis and our doors kicked in . . . our cars are deliberately and casually vandalised almost every night during the summer and large groups of drunk people roam the streets, lanes and promenade until the early hours of the morning, shouting and roaring, terrorising and intimidating anyone who tries to reason with them,” the statement continues.

The community council have also requested that a moratorium be placed on new holiday homes being built in the village until the situation has been resolved.

THE grief-stricken Royal Russian Circus opened in Ennis on Thursday, for the first time since one of its performers lost his life at a show in Scariff.

More than 300 circus fans visited the big top, which was the scene of the tragic accident just over a week before.

Vitaly Kharapavitski fell to his death as he performed the last trick in a comic air balloon act with his wife, Sasha.

The tragic Belarusian acrobat joined the circus last April with his wife of just one year. The 26-year-old was buried last week in Minsk.

The 35-member staff of the Royal Russian Circus was apprehensive about the first night’s performance, but all went to plan, according to the circus spokesperson.

Wayne Courtney said the show “went well in front of a very responsive crowd”.

He said that the circus was happy with the 300-strong attendance in the big top that holds a maximum of between 450 and 500 people.

The circus continued in the Ennis Showgrounds at Drumbiggle on Friday and Saturday, and finished with two large shows on Sunday before moving on to Galway.

Last week, Mr Courtney told The Clare People that performers risked their lives every time they stepped into the big top on show night, but there were very few accidents.

“While nobody was talking about their fears, I am sure that the accident was playing on the minds of the other trapeze artists,” he said.

SERIOUS concerns were raised last night about about Clare’s economic future within an enlarged Enterprise Ireland.

Former Clare TD Madeleine Taylor-Quinn was critical of the Government decision allowing the State company take over from Shannon Development, claiming Clare would have to compete for industry with more counties, as part of the enlarged agency.

The Fine Gael general election candidate said responsibility for the area should not be transferred to Enterprise Ireland in its current format.

She argued that the Shannon Free Airport Development Company Organisation (Shannon Development) was effective as an instrument of regional development.

“The Government have done another u-turn. It seems that there is no logical planning within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and jobs within SFADCO (Shannon Development) and throughout the region are being treated in a haphazard manner.

“Why is this Government intent on dismantling all the structures in this region that are vital and essential to the future development of the area?” she asked.

“It seems to be the case of divide and conquer, while the region and county becomes the sacrificial lamb,” Cllr Taylor-Quinn said.

Shannon Development was remaining tightlipped yesterday evening as news broke that the IDA was no longer to take over its mandate in the Shannon Free Zone.

When contacted by The Clare People , the development company said it had no comment to make on the minister’s apparent change of heart, or his decision to sign over its responsibility for home grown industry to Enterprise Ireland on December 31.

MINISTER for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin has decided not to implement his controversial plan to allow the IDA take over the Shannon Free Zone mandate from Shannon Development.

While the Minister has ordered that foreign investment in the region will remain the remit of Shannon Development, he is to order that the company’s indigenous mandate will become the responsibility of Enterprise Ireland from January 1.

More than 50 staff will also have to transfer from the development agency to Enterprise Ireland.

In a letter to the chairman of Shannon Development, Minister Martin wrote, “It is intended that this transfer will be affected by way of ministerial designation of the staff concerned.”

He told the chairman that the necessary legislation to enact this would come before the next session of the Dáil.

The 50 or more staff moving from Shannon Development to EI will make up the first phase of the decentralisation of Enterprise Ireland to Shannon. The second phase of decentralisation will be made up of Enterprise Ireland staff already working in the Shannon region, while the third phase will include the 40 staff who expressed an interest in moving to the town.

Minister of State with responsibilities for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen told The Clare People , “Minister Martin said it would have been impossible to deliver Enterprise Ireland to Shannon in any meaningful way if the agency did not have any responsibility for this region as well as the rest of the country.”

The Clare junior minister said he was also pleased that a new national headquarters for the Enterprise Board was to be set up in Shannon.

Meanwhile, Minister Martin said he no longer intended to transfer Shannon Development’s mandate on foreign investment to the IDA.

Instead he said the development company would have the use of the IDA’s offices and contacts under a protocol yet to be decided.

“I am pleased that we have been able to persuade my colleague that Shannon Development is capable of making a positive contribution in the free zone,” said Minister Killeen.

Just over 13 months ago, Minister Martin announced that the IDA would take over the Shannon Free Zone.

PLANS to bring the body of Vincent Hehir to its final resting place were postponed at the weekend, after it emerged that a second post mortem examination was to take place.

A post mortem examination took place in Limerick last Friday and his body was due to be returned to his family for burial in Kildysart.

However, a request by one of the three men questioned in connection with the death for an independent post mortem meant that the funeral had to be postponed.

While no charges have been proffered in relation to the death, this request is the legal right of the man in question, through his solicitor.

The second post mortem examination was carried out in Limerick yesterday (Monday) evening, by Belfast Pathologist Dr Carson, and the body was due to be released to the deceased’s family by County Coroner Isobel O’Dea.

Friends of the deceased had travelled from England to Kildysart over the weekend, intending to attend his funeral, before it emerged that the second post mortem procedure was to take place.

The 32-year-old had been due to celebrate his youngest daughter’s christening last weekend.

His two-month-old daughter Margaret was baptised in a private ceremony at his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit at Ennis General Hospital on Thursday morning.

Mr Hehir had agreed to donate his organs after his death. A surgical team from Beaumont Hospital in Dublin travelled to Ennis on Thursday to ascertain the compatibility of his organs.

While many organs were damaged as a result of injuries Mr Hehir sustained in the alleged assault, some were deemed compatible and were rushed under Garda escort to Dublin.

The community in Kildysart has rallied behind Vincent’s distraught family over the past week.

Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen said everybody in Kildysart and surrounding areas was heartbroken.

“There is an air of doom and gloom around Kildysart and surrounding parishes. There have been a number of tragedies in the area over the past number of months,” he said.

IT’S every family’s nightmare. A young man goes out for a few drinks and a laugh, but never makes it home.

Vincent Hehir was enjoying a break with his family last weekend. He escaped the hustle and bustle of his home and business in London and visited his parents and family, at Glencanane, just three miles from Kildysart.

Vincent regularly visited his family and enjoyed catching up with his friends over a few drinks in the village of Kildysart. And last Sunday GARDAÍ investigating the death of Vincent Hehir have taken statements from up to 80 people who were in Kildysart on the evening he suffered his injuries.

They still believe that a number of people who may have useful information have yet to come forward.

As part of the investigation into the incident, gardaí interviewed a number of people on the streets and was no exception. He enjoyed himself that evening and prepared to return to London, after his break with his children.

But fate was to intervene and Vincent never made it back to his parents’ house at Glencanane.

He sustained head injuries in an incident outside Mitchel’s Corner Bar shortly after 11pm, and was brought to Ennis General Hospital. He underwent a CAT-scan at Limerick Regional Hospital on Monday morning and returned to hospital in Ennis.

He remained in a critical condition throughout the week and, sadly, lost his fight for life on Wednesday in the pubs in Kildysart late on Sunday night, exactly one week since the incident, which has shocked the close-knit west Clare community.

Three local men, aged 21, 23 and 33, were arrested in connection with the incident last Tuesday morning. All three were detained at Kilrush Garda Station throughout the day and were all subsequently later released.

Three homes in the area were also searched, as part of the investigaevening.

Although he was in a critical condition during those three days, his family remained by his bedside and hoped against hope that he would make a miraculous recovery.

The people of Kildysart are still in shock at the tragic death, at such a young age. Vincent was only 32.

Many knew him well before he moved to the UK, where he managed a bar. Others did not know him, but are acquainted with members of his large family, who are well known in the area.

Kildysart, like most villages in rural Ireland, is not alien to tragedy tion.

A full file is currently being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide later whether charges are to follow.

Initial results from the post mortem examination carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis last Friday showed that Mr Hehir died as a result of head injuries. The Pathologist’s full report will take some weeks to complete.

Superintendent Joe McKeown, of and the pain of Vincent’s death cuts deeper, given recent heartbreak in the community.

Less than three months ago, the Corry family, from Moyfadda, Labasheeda, lost their son Stephen (21), when he was killed after his car crashed into a wall at Main Street, Kildysart, in the early hours of June 12.

Stephen’s parents, Michael and Vera, are trying to slowly come to terms with the death of their son.

Stephen, like Vincent Hehir, had left his home on a Sunday evening, and spent hours socialising with friends, but never made it home. Kilrush Garda Station, said he believed some people still had information and he urged them to come forward.

“We carried out questionnaires in Kildysart, between 10.30pm and midnight on Sunday.

“We interviewed people in pubs and on the streets and stopping cars. We spoke to a number of people who were in the village on the night in question,” said Supt McKeown.

Gardaí believe Vincent arrived in Kildysart village shortly after 8.30pm, and visited a number of pubs, where he met up with friends.

He sustained injuries outside Mitchel’s Corner Bar on Main Street, some time after 11pm and was brought to hospital, where he died on Wednesday evening.

“We are still appealing for anyone out there who witnessed this incident and haven’t come forward. We are trying to track down his (Vincent’s) final hours,” he said.

“People who live in the area, who reside close by or who were walking down the street at the time may have information that could assist,” said the superintendent.

A special Garda conference on the investigation took place at Kilrush Garda Station – where a conference room was set up last week – yesterday evening, as gardaí continues to sieve through information.

“We have more statements to take and we will see what direction we will take then,” said Supt McKeown.

POLLUTION, water extraction for housing development and the introduction of new species have wiped out the population of a fish, the Arctic Char, in Clare waters over the last nine years.

An extensive survey conducted in north Clare’s Lickeen Lake last week failed to find any trace of the ancient trout-like species.

The survey, which was conducted by Scottish expert Ron Green with the support of the Irish Char Conservation Group, Shannon Fisheries Board, the Heritage Council and the Lickeen Development Co-op, failed to uncover a single Arctic Char, but found that the Rudd population has exploded in the lake.

“It is difficult to prove an extinction, but from the evidence of the study, that is the situation in Lickeen,” said Fran Igoe of the Shannon Region Fisheries Board.

“In Lickeen, in appears that pollution is the most likely source of the problem. We found large quantities of Rudd, which was introduced into the lake in the 1960s.

“Rudd thrives in dirty water and this pollution has essentially changed the ecology of the lake.”

Fears have also been raised about the future viability of trout in Clare’s lakes.

The survey uncovered 69 Rudd, 10 trout and no Char in Lickeen.

The target for a non-polluted lake the size of Lickeen would be 40 Char and 100 trout.

“From a biodiversity point of view, this is a real warning for Clare, and other species unique to the county could also become extinct if this continues,” said Mr Igoe.

The Arctic Char came to Ireland after the last Ice Age and has fascinated scientists because of the unique way that different strands have developed in different lakes.

“The pollution has been the knockout blow for the Char in Lickeen,” said Ron Green.

“We are finding similar problems in Scotland and in Scandinavia but Ireland seems to have a bigger problem with pollution and also the extraction of water due to a lot of developments in rural areas.”

Records of Arctic Char exist for five freshwater lakes in Clare – Lough Gortglas, Cloonsneachta, Inchiquin and Finloe, as well as Lickeen.

AN investigation has been launched into a “very peculiar” suspected fish kill in a section of the River Fergus.

Tests on dead salmon found in the river near Doora bridge will be carried out in Limerick, after officers from the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board were called out last Thursday.

In total 10 dead fish were found on the river – five near Doora bridge; four further down the river near Clareabbey and one in Clarecastle.

The discovery was made at low tide by two local fishermen, Alan Considine and Martin Considine, earlier in the week.

Catherine Hayes, assistant director with the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, inspected the river and admitted the incident was unusual.

“It is very peculiar for it to happen in an area where there is such a high turnover of water.”

This section of the river is affected by tidal surges that raise water levels when fresh water is forced back up the system by a dam in Clarecastle. Fish kills usually occur due to a lack of oxygen in the water.

Mrs Hayes stated that no evidence of discharge had been found.

Local fishermen say their concerns over the condition of the river are being ignored.

Fred Coffey of the Fergus Salmon anglers association said, “You’d normally see a lot of trout in the river and a lot of small fish jumping about, but I haven’t seen a thing. When the tide rises, a lot more could be brought up”.

Cllr Joe Carey (FG) said the source of pollution must be determined as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, a meeting is being organised between farmers in Doonbeg and Kilmurry to fix a broken model, or type of weir, which threatens salmon stocks in the areas and could also lead to extensive flood damage to the local area.

The model, which is located at Cloghar Beach, has been at the centre of a long-running dispute between Clare County Council and the Office of Public Works with neither organisation willing to claim juristiction over it.

The meeting will take place over the next couple of weeks and organisers hope that a consensus between the farmers on how to move forward will be arrived at. It is likely that the first step will be to appoint an architect to examine the model and seawall located at Cloghar Beach.

In 2002, damage sustained by the model led to some 80 acres of local land being submerged.

WITH 1,350 Clare teenagers awaiting their Junior Certificate results this week, concerns have been raised that the widespread availability of fake identification will lead to many students drinking illegally and to excess.

Fionnuala Sheehan, CEO of Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society (MEAS), believes the problem of forged and borrowed ID is increasing both in Clare and nationally.

“We know from our own research that there is a very big problem with faked and borrowed ID’s being used to buy alcohol,” said Ms Sheehan. “This is a widespread problem and parents, licensees and the guards have a role to play in tackling it.

“Much more has to be done to tackle the problem of fake ID’s. It seems to us that it is fairly easy to forge an ID and we need to make the cards better and more tamper-proof.”

In a statement to The Clare People, the Vintners Federation of Ireland said that, “the introduction of mandatory, tamper-proof ID cards to assist publicans to establish that a customer is old enough to drink, would be an important stepping-stone in tackling the many issues that underage drinking poses.”

MEAS believes that a trend has developed for Junior Certificate students to use alcohol as a means of celebrating their results.

“The Junior Certificate has been getting more problematic in recent years, but particular effort is being made to minimise this,” continued Ms Sheehan.

“I do believe that the problem has gotten smaller in recent years because of the increased awareness and I hope that this year that would be the case again.

“Schools are organising it so that children only receive their results when they are leaving school, so that parents are available to bring them home.

“Parents are starting to sit down and look at the role that they themselves have to play.”

Earlier this month, MEAS launched a campaign in which they asked parents to consider their own alcohol use and what impact that was having on the thinking of their children.

“Parents influence their children with everything thing that they do. How much I drink has an influence on my own children and their own attitutes towards alcohol,” continued Ms Sheehan.

The Clare People contacted the Garda in relation to this story but no comment was forthcoming at the time of going to press.