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CLARE County Council has been hit with yet another notification of non-compliance by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their management of the Inagh landfill.

It is understood to be the tenth such notice that the council has received since the landfill opened in September 2002.

At last night’s March council meeting, the Council’s Director for the Environment, Ger Dollard told councillors that the council was to contest the notification with the EPA because it lacked sufficient grounds.

The EPA’s move followed the instituting of High Court proceedings by residents, in a bid to have the facility shut down. They’re also seeking damages. Mr Dollard didn’t reveal the details of the non-compliance, but commenting on the High Court action, he said it was unfortunate that it had gone to court.

“The Council has put in place a huge number of measures at the facility to ensure that it is operated to the highest standard.”

The level of waste being disposed at the landfill has plummeted with possible ramifications for the Council’s Environment budget. Mr Dollard said that the rate of tonnage at the landfill this year was operating at 42 per cent of its capacity.

This was due to the additional options waste collectors had in disposing of waste at alternative landfill, he said. Mr Dollard said that the drop in waste being deposited at the landfill “will have huge financial implications”.

A MAN who admitted handling stolen property has been warned by a judge that he may face a six-month jail term.

At Ennis District Court, Mark Mooney (29), of Cahercalla Estate, Ennis, pleaded guilty to handling stolen property in the carpark of the social welfare office, Kilrush Road, Ennis, on December 15 last.

Mooney also appeared on a charge of interfering with a car in the carpark on the same date. Inspector Michael Gallagher said the accused was arrested a short time after gardaí received a report that a man was interfering with a car. He pleaded guilty to handling stolen property, on the same date. The court heard that when arrested, he had the stolen property on him.

Defending solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said her client had significant addiction difficulties, going back a number of years. She said he had suffered from depression and was dependent on prescription drugs.

He is attending Sláinte, on the recommendation of psychiatrist, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee. Ms Godfrey asked for an adjournment, for Dr Bhamjee’s report to be compiled. Judge Joseph Mangan agreed and said, “my intention is six months imprisonment. I doubt very much Dr Bhamjee is going to change my mind in any way.”

UNIONS have told the Polish subcontractor working on the €360 million retrofit at the power station in Moneypoint to consider hiring local workers.

General Secretary of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) Owen Wills said that ZRE Katowicz (Ireland) should consider employing locally to allay fears they were not playing fair.

Last week, the ESB uncovered alleged underpayments to 66 Polish workers working on the retrofit.

The TEEU said the welders and fitters who worked for the sub-contractor ZRE Katowice, received €5.20 per hour, just over a third of the agreed rate of €18.97 per hour.

While the company disputed the figures, it admitted during the week that limited underpayment had been discovered.

The pay irregularities were uncovered when the ESB carried out an internal audit of wages.

The ESB and TEEU have said they will now be keeping a close eye on the sub-contractor to ensure it carries out its commitments to back pay the employees, and continues to pay them the agreed wage.

A spokesperson for the ESB said the company would be re-auditing the payroll in Moneypoint again in the near future.

Meanwhile the union has said that with the continued expansion of the multi million euro retrofit, ZRE Katowice should be able to continue to employ Polish workers and local workers on the same wage.

According to the TEEU, there has been a tradition in West Clare to recruit suitably qualified local labour when refurbishment takes place at the power station.

The union also vowed to continue representing all Polish workers on the site fully.

A spokesperson for the ESB told The Clare People that the retrofit contract, like all contracts of its size, was required to be advertised in the EU journal and employees sought from across the EU.

Meanwhile, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Michéal Martin described last week’s revelation as “unacceptable”.

He said the underpayment of the Polish workers was a “straightforward breach of the law”.

The multi-million euro clean-up currently underway at Moneypoint is necessary to allow the station operate past 2008. The Environmental Protection Agency has set that deadline for the station to drastically cut its levels of pollution.

A 17-YEAR-OLD youth who has been waiting several months to have a case against him heard in the District Court has opted to stay in jail for three weeks, rather than agree to strict bail terms.

The terms offered to the boy have led his solicitor to claim that Judge Joseph Mangan has attempted to limit “an individual’s behaviour under the guise the the Bail Act”.

The boy’s bail became an issue again last Wednesday after delays in other cases at Lisdoonvarna District Court meant the boy’s case was put back for another month. One prosecution took four hours.

The defendant’s solicitor and prosecuting Inspector Tom Kennedy agreed that the contested matter would take at least two and a half hours more.

They concurred that it would be too late in the day to begin the case last Wednesday.

When the youth reaappeared in court in Ennis earlier this month to have his case heard, the matter was further adjourned after other cases overran on the day.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded in custody at Kilrush District Court on February 13 after he appeared on charges of breaching bail conditions, which included a 10pm curfew.

He faces five charges in all including assault and breaches of the Public Order Act.

At that hearing in Kilrush, the youth’s solicitor expressed concern that the court was engaging in a policy of “regulating an individual’s behaviour under the guise of the Bail Act” by imposing strict curfews on defendants. Mr Pat Enright, of Lees Solicitors Listowel, told Judge Joseph Mangan “I fail to see the point of making such orders”.

Mr Enright said he had no doubt that the court was entitled to impose such conditions, but asked that it reflect on the effects of such conditions.

Last Wednesday, Mr Enright applied to the court to have his client released on bail and to have previous bail conditions relaxed.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said if the State was to consent to bail, it would be under the same terms as previously imposed.

After consulting with his client, Mr Enright informed the court that the teenager would not accept those terms and would prefer to remain in custody.

Judge Mangan remanded the accused in custody to appear again in court next month.

AN TAISCE has withdrawn its opposition to €1 million plans to transform the cottage of GAA founder Michael Cusack into a visitor attraction.

A spokeswoman for the Clare Association of An Taisce confirmed to The Clare People that An Taisce had now withdrawn its objection to the proposal after the developers made changes to the plan.

“We are happy that the plan is now more in keeping with the Burren and we have withdrawn our objection,” she said.

Last year, plans were lodged by Michael Cusack Development Co Ltd to develop an interpretative centre, including a multi-media interactive facility, a café, reception area and a resource room in the environs of the cottage.

However, An Taisce lodged a a strident objection against the plan.

“The locals have clearly shown that they do not want any obtrusive tourist development in the Burren Complex and the National Park and, as this lies in the middle of this unique landscape of the Burren, this would not be a welcome development”.

The National Trust pointed out that “no commercial development, including tourist development, is allowed under the zoning of this unique landscape, particularly land adjacent to the National Park and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) protected landscape.

Project leader, Martin O’Loghlen said that the promoters of the cottage were able to meet the concerns of An Taisce.

They are now racing to have the development in place for November of this year – the centenary of Michael Cusack’s death.

Carron man and chair of the Burren IFA, Michael Davoren said, “The people of Carron are 100 per cent behind the project.

“The design is not intrusive in any way and Michael Cusack is part of the heritage of Carron.”

Mr O’Loghlen said that the object of the plan was “to commemorate and celebrate a dynamic force in Irish society, create a unique and memorable participant experience for all and ensure a project that is distinct, sustainable and viable.”

Already, the bid to renovate the cottage has had a number of false starts over the years.

In 1976, Clare County Council adopted a motion to provide for the restoration of the Cusack homestead.

In association with the GAA and the Clare County Board, the council purchased the property for the purpose of commemorating the founder of the GAA in 1984.

THE Fine Gael party has seen a 2,000 per cent increase in its membership in Shannon town in the past year, while membership has increased three-fold across the county.

The Shannon town branch has swollen to 21 and a half times its original size, from 24 to 516 in the run up to its election convention, which is pencilled in for mid-May.

Across the county, the party has increased to more than 2,400 members as the preparations continue for the one-member one-vote general election candidate selection process.

The new branch of Ennis Central, set up after the last General Election, has increased its figures by almost 600 per cent, growing from 23 members to 161. The second Fine Gael branch in the county town, Marie Connolly branch, increased its figures from 16 to 90, an increase of 460 per cent.

The membership in Kilrush town stood at 24 in 2005 and is now at 47, while Balynacally who had just over a dozen members in 2005 now has 124.

With the membership growing, the selection convention is estimated to attract at least 1,800 delegates.

It is now expected that sitting Fine Gael TD Pat Breen along with councillors Joe Carey, John Crowe, Tony Mulcahy and Madeleine Taylor Quinn will learn their fate on May 14, the weekend after the Fine Gael Ard Fhéis.

This date has not yet been confirmed officially, but all indications are that the convention will take place then.

There are currently 2,126 Clare adults registered with the Fine Gael party in Clare with approximately 300 young Fine Gael members also having a vote at the selection convention.

Last year, the party registered just 793 members in the Banner county.

The increase has been attributed to the party’s selection process.

Cllr John Crowe, who put his name forward for consideration in the run up to the 2002 election, said he was looking forward to the convention and just wanted a date to be set at this stage.

Cllr Joe Carey is also looking to the selection convention, saying the country needs a change in government.

“We need a new direction and new team for the Clare. I represent that new energetic, youthful approach,” said the youngest candidate in the running.

Cllr Mulcahy agreed new blood was welcome.

CLARE writer Mary O’Donoghue has been shortlisted for the prestigious Francis MacManus Short Story for Radio Award, on RTÉ Radio One. The Boston-based author hails from Tubber and received the nomination for her radio play ‘Bumpwoman’.

She is one of 20 writers shortlisted for the prestigious award which carries with it a prize fund of €6,000 and is in its 20th year. In ‘Bumpwoman’, O’Donoghue takes an unusual slant on the notion of pregnancy.

“It deals with maternity but with a twist,” said Ms O’Donoghue. “It is a contemporary Irish work and its main protagonist is a woman. It is a light-hearted story and takes an unusual slant on the experience surrounding expectancy.”

While ‘Bumpwoman’ is set in rural Ireland, it is not based in Clare. Indeed, Mary admits that very little of her work is autobiographical and she prefers to look elsewhere when looking for inspiration.

“None of my stories are autobiographical. Many of them are rural, but they could be set anywhere in Ireland. In fact, I try to write as far away from my own experiences as possible,” said Mary.

“The tendency now is to read a lot of fiction as if it is autobiographical and, to be honest, I don’t find myself that interesting. In fact, in a lot of my writing, the main protagonist is a man.”

Mary attended NUI, Galway where she achieved a BA and Masters in Irish Studies. She later settled in Galway where she racked up a string of achievements in a very short space of time.

In 1998, she was awarded the Brendán Ui hEithir Bursary and in 2000 she was awarded the Sean Dunne Young Writer Award for her poetry and also won the Salmon Publication Prize, which led to the publication of her critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection ‘Tulle’ in 2001.

Also in 2001, she crossed over from poetry to fiction and won the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune First Fiction Award as well as the overall New Irish Writing Award for her short story ‘The Byre’.

That same year, Mary moved to Boston where she took up a teaching role in Babson College. Since then, she has continued to write and be published in various anthologies and journals across America.

In recent years, she has read all over America, including an appearance at the inaugural Boston Voices series in 2005 where she read with the likes of Dennis Lehane and Sue Miller.

In 2003, she received the Tyrone Guthrie/Virginia Centre for Creative Arts Fellowship.

While living in the US, Mary maintains strong links with home. She participated in the Cuirt International Festival in Galway and worked closely with Irish language poet Louis De Paor in translating his work.

The winners of this year’s Francis MacManus Award will be announced by RTÉ next Monday.

AN TAISCE has joined with the Ballyvaughan Development Association and other residents in opposing a proposal to build what’s claimed will be the largest estate in the north Clare coastal village.

A developer, Thomas Considine, has lodged plans with Clare County Council to build a multi-million euro, 21-house extension onto the existing 12-house “Dolmen Village” estate.

In its objection, An Taisce states public services are in need of upgrade, and such a large estate would consequently, be premature.

They claim that the development should be in keeping with the Burren landscape and warn, “this may set an example for future developments.”

In its objection, the Ballyvaughan Development Committee states that “the proposed development is not in keeping with the existing Dolmen Village, where each of the houses are single dwellings, each on their own site.”

“Knowing the serious constraints that presently exist regarding the water and sewerage infrastructure in Ballyvaughan, we regard this application as premature, pending the proper upgrading of facilities at Ballyvaughan,” said Chairman of Ballyvaughan’s Development Committee, Gerry O’Sullivan.

“The overall effect of the proposed development will lead to near tripling in size of the present Dolmen Village, with what we consider to be inappropriate house type designs for a small rural village. We also consider the proposed development to be too dense. We are also concerned that the proposed development involves an erosion of the sole public open space in Dolmen Village.”

A number of residents at the estate have told the council that the proposed development “damages the overall integrity of the Dolmen Village”.

“It will create a 33-house development, which is far in excess of any similar size in Ballyvaughan, or anywhere near it, resulting in the largest housing estate on the north Clare coast.

“The Dolmen Village, will in effect, be tripled in size and this will have problems for water pressure, waste storage location, effluent treatment, irrespective of any proposed temporary treatment plant for the first phase of the development.”

A decision is due on the application later this month.

THE policymakers and people of Clare must make more of an effort to help the county’s estimated 6,000 strong foreign population integrate into the workforce and society of the county.

That’s according to Orla Ní Eilí of the Ennis Refugee Council, who says integration needs to be prompted because it will not happen by itself.

There are no formal events taking place in Clare to mark Intercultural Week, this week.

“We all need to keep looking at it and working at it. I think that at public policy, services, and community development level, integration has to be fostered and encouraged.

“It needs a bit of work and it needs to be managed, because it is not happening organically,” said Ms Ní Eilí.

Intercultural Week is taking place throughout the island of Ireland. The theme of this year’s week is participation and it culminates today with the United Nation’s International Day Against Racism.

“We are encouraging emigrants and refugees to get involved in every element of their society. We have to make sure that the opportunities are there for participation.

“We are running courses on employment and diversity and these are very important for people looking to integrate into working culture of Ireland,” said Ms Ní Eilí

While progress towards greater integration is being made in some sections of Clare society, others are lagging behind.

“Some sectors are better than others.

“The schools in Ennis, for example, are doing great work to ensure that all the children attending their school have proper access to education,” said Ms Ní Eile.

“We need to work very hard with our children to foster this understanding and sharing with different cultures.”

In excess of 60 events are taking place throughout the 32 counties as part of Intercultural Week.

Events are set to take place in Galway and Limerick but in Clare, where almost six per cent of the public are foreign nationals, no formal events have been planned.

“This is a special week and today (the International Day Against Racism) is a special day, but some of the events we had planned, like the intercultural soccer tournament didn’t make sense at this time of the year,” continued Ms Ní Eilí.

“There was a great participation in the Ennis Paddy’s Day parade in Ennis however with 90 flags being carried to represent 90 different countries.”

Intercultural week is being co-ordinated by the NCCRI. For more information check out: www.nccri.ie.

THE mid-west received a double jobs boost this week with the news that 140 new jobs were set to be created in the region.

Partners in Europe (PIE), a Shannon-based company that fulfils online trading orders for customers, has signed a five-year contract with Discovery Channel Europe that will see the creation of 20 new jobs at its facility in Shannon.

This followed the announcement by Limerick-based firm Vistakon that 140 jobs would be created in the city over the next 12 years.

The deal will see Discovery Channel Europe handle all of PIE’s e-commerce business activity and is estimated to be worth around €8 million to Discovery Channel Europe, with the Irish firm due to receive a small percentage of that.

PIE hopes to benefit from the its association with the Discovery media giant who broadcast to about €28 million people across Europe and the Middle East. The company is currently planning on expanding its online range from 600-1000 products by the end of September. The company was set up in 1993 and currently employs 56 staff and enjoys revenues of €5 million.

Last Thursday, Vistakon announced that it was set to significantly expand operations at its facility in the National Technology Park. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Vistakon, who design, manufacture and market soft disposable contact lenses, will invest over €100 million in their Limerick facility. The investment will result in 120 new jobs being created over the next 12 years.

“Since its arrival in 1995, Vistakon has provided high calibre employment and has made a meaningful contribution to the local economy. The news that it is to invest in new product development is a vote of confidence in the capability of its staff and in the environment in which it operates,” said Kevin Thompstone, Chief Executive, Shannon Development.

“As developers and managers of the National Technology Park, Limerick, Shannon Development continuously works to position the park as an attractor for knowledge-based enterprise activity. Ninety-five companies, a mix of foreign direct investment, indigenous companies, support services and training entities, now operate from the park, providing employment for over 4,000 people. This additional investment by Vistakon is great news for the area,” added Mr. Thompstone.