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A PROPOSED new road would not just by pass the town of Ennistymon but the whole Blake’s Corner issue, according to one Clare politician.

Labour Deputy Michael McNamara said he would be suggesting to Clare County Council and the NRA that they consider bypassing the North Clare town, as it would make more economical sense than rebuilding a preserved building piece by piece at a different location.

The Clare TD said the proposal to move the preserved building is an old issue and would not ultimately solve the traffic issues of the town, merely at best ease them slightly.

He believes that a new road possibly along the track of the old West Clare Railway or a similar route that avoids the centre of Ennistymon would provide for better access to Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher for tourists, and free up the town for business.

“As it is, coaches do not stop in the town. If it was easy to access and there was no traffic jam issue perhaps bus drivers would include it as a point to stop for refreshments,” he said.

“Removing Blake’s Corner is irrelevant now and was an issue for ten years ago. We are trying to solve a problem of the future not the past,” he said, adding that more and more busses full of tourists are travelling to the cliff of Moher every year and need to be accommodated.” We need a new bridge and bypass. “Obviously money would be an issue and a by-pass would be a significant cost, but dismantling Blake’s slate by slate and brick by brick will also cost a fortune. I believe this cost would go along way towards a bypass. “In the long term it would be more cost effective and I would rather see the money go towards a new crossing and road that will solve the traffic issues of the future as well as the present and past,” he added.

A GARDA investigation is continuing following a “sinister” attempt to set fire to Ennis Courthouse last week. A homemade petrol bomb was fired through a window of a downstairs courtroom at the rear of the building in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The break in activated an alarm and gardaí and a unit of Ennis Fire Brigade arrived at the scene at 3.45am.

Only minor property damage was caused to the courtroom, which is home to the Family Law Court.

The courts were on the August holiday break and no disruption was caused to administrative court business.

A bottle containing a cloth and traces of an accelerant were discov- ered in the room.

Gardaí have commenced an extensive investigation.

The scene was the subject of a forensic examination on Thursday and gardaí have carried out door-to-door enquiries in the immediate area.

Gardaí are also trawling through CCTV footage from the grounds of the Courthouse and from Newbridge Road, New Road, Lifford Road and parts of the town centre.

They are also appealing for anyone who may have been in the area on the night to contact them.

Detective Inspector John Galvin from Ennis Garda Station, who is leading the investigation, says there were an “unusually high number of people” in the town at the time attending a debs ball.

“There were a lot of people and cars in the area because of the debs. There were quite a number of cars tipping about.

“You would have had parents collecting their children.

“We can see it on the CCTV, people in tuxedos and dresses going along the road.

“If this was two weeks ago there would not have been a sinner on the street.

“We would ask that anyone who did see anything unusual to contact us at Ennis Garda Station,” he explained.

Det Insp Galvin said the incident is being treated as “arson”.

Gardaí have yet to establish any motive for the crime.

Among their avenues of investigation is whether there is any significance in the bottle being thrown through the window of the Family Law Court.

“We’re looking at that but we don’t know yet if that is of any significance,” Det Insp Galvin said,

He continued, “We’re keeping it in mind during our investigations but the reality is we don’t yet know. We don’t what the motive was.

“An incident like this has never happened at a courthouse in my lifetime. It’s a most unusual sort of offence and at the moment we do not have a motive. I find it quite sinister.

“This is the seat of justice in Clare and for the people in Ennis, it is an iconic and historic building.

“There was relatively minor property damage but it’s the sinister aspect to this that makes it quite serious,” Det Insp Galvin added.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Ennis Garda Station at 065 6848100.

The normal court schedule returns this week at Ennis.

A THIEF got more than he bargained for when he was caught breaking into a home in Ennis last week.

A brave homeowner was just returning to his house in Drumcliff when he discovered the person on the premises.

He managed to prevent the thief from getting away with some of his property by challenging him as he left the house.

The gardaí were called, promptly arrived on the scene and a person was arrested shortly afterwards and the property returned to the owner.

The break-in occurred at around 6.30pm on Friday, August 29, in the Drumcliff area of the town.

The suspect had initially gained access to the house by forcing in a rear window at the back of the house.

It was the second time in two days that a break-in was foiled by the occupant of a house.

Gardaí in Shannon are investigating a separate burglary that occurred at around 10.40am on Thursday, August 28.

This time a property in the Dernish Lawn area of the town was targeted by a young male who broke in through the front window.

However the culprit was forced to flee at speed from the property after he was disturbed by the occupant as he sought to steal various items from the home.

Gardaí have released a description of the culprit and are appealing for anyone with information to contact them. He is described as 5’4” possibly a teenager with dark clothing and blonde hair.

A dark coloured car was seen near the scene picking up three young males. Nothing was reported stolen from the Shannon house on this occasion.

A LOCAL man who advocates for one of the country’s largest suicide prevention services has paid tribute to the generosity of Clare people.

Tom McEvoy said support given by people in the Banner County is a key reason why Pieta House has been able to expand its services in the West and throughout Ireland.

“Clare people are unbelievable at supporting Pieta,” he said.

Mr McEvoy continued, “We had a great darts night there recently in the Grove Bar in Roslevan, run by Kieran Reidy. I’d like to publicly thank him very much for doing that for his huge efforts. It was huge success. There was nearly € 2,300 raised. For Pieta, that will go straight into therapeutic hours in Limerick. They are helping fellow Clare people down the line.”

Mr McEvoy said the support shown by Clare people to helping Pieta House provide support and coun seling to services to vulnerable people.

“The vision for Pieta is that we are looking to have a Pieta House within 100km of every person in the country. We opened four new centres last year: Roscrea, Cork, Galway, Tuam and Castleisland,” he said.

“That opened a huge part of the country to Pieta. What we are after now is to cover the North West, Donegal. We’re actually calling to people up there. I’m doing a lot of work up there. We’re also talking actively in Waterford where those areas are devoid of any help that we can offer. We’re planning to have those centres up and running. They are fantastic goals and achievable because of the community following we have.”

Mr McEvoy was speaking as new figures show a 44 per cent rise in the number of Clare people that sought help from the Pieta House centre in Limerick during the first six months of 2014, compared to the same period last year. He said greater awareness of suicide and the issues around is enabling more and more people to come forward to seek help for their problems.

“That can be down to people’s confidence and confidentiality. There can be a sense of pride as well; sometimes they wish to remain anonymous in the area where they come. We’re obviously trying to lift the stigma of suicide. Hopefully in time to come people will attend from the localities along with the surrounding areas,” he said.

Pieta House provides a professional, one-to-one therapeutic service for those who are experiencing suicidal ideation or engaging in self-harm.

A TOTAL of 15 Clare schools feature in a new ranking of the top 400 secondary schools in the country.

Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon is the highest ranked Clare school at 46th place, a jump of eight places on the North Clare School’s previous rank.

The school is also rated at 19 in the top 20 all girls schools in Ireland. Compiled by The Sunday Times, the list places Scoil Mhuire eighth in the top 20 schools in Munster, excluding Cork.

Colaiste Mhuire, Ennis ranked in 16th place in that particular list.

Colaiste Mhuire, at 74, is the only other Clare school that is listed in the top 100.

The remaining Clare schools selected by The Sunday Times are: Rice College, Ennis (106); Mary Immaculate School, Lisdoonvarna (126); Meanscoil Na mBraithre, Ennistymon (150); St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart (157); Scariff Community College (184); St Joseph’s Secondary School, Miltown Malbay (215); Ennis Community College (225); St Flannan’s College, Ennis (240); St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe (265); Kilrush Community School (249); St Caimin’s Community School, Tullyvarraga (304); St Joseph’s Secondary School, Tulla (318); St Michael’s Community School, Kilmihil (343).

The top 400 secondary schools are ranked by the average proportion of pupils gaining places in autumn 2011, 2012, 2013 at one of the nine universities on the island of Ireland, main teaching training colleges, Royal College of surgeons, or National College of Art and Design.

Data was collected from 30 third- level institutions in the Republic and two in Northern Ireland.

Where schools are tied, the proportion of students gaining places at all non-private, third-level colleges is taken into account. Schools offering only senior cycle and new schools were excluded.

A GROUP of Clare festival-goers had a lucky escape at the weekend when their tent was almost set ablaze.

The incident occurred at the Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally in Laois in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The four friends, who are all from Ennis, were staying right beside the tent that burst into flames at around 5am in the Pink Moon campsite.

They were rushed from the tent by other festival goers as the flames threatened to set it alight.

A couple asleep in the tent were hospitalised after suffering serious burn injuries as a result of the blaze.

None of the four Clare people – Ross Finn, Grainne Fitzpatrick, Laura Conlon and Alan Costin were injured. It is understood the fire was started by a candle, which was knocked over inside the tent. Some aerosol cans in the tent exploded causing some panic in the immediate vicinity. Gardaí were not treating the fire as suspicious.

THE amount of Government money allocated to Clare County Council for social housing has nosedived in recent years – at the same time as the need for that social housing has soared in the county, with Ennis worst hit. According to figures obtained by The Clare People , the Department of the Environment allocated just € 6.7 million to social housing projects in Clare in the four years from 2010 to 2013.

This represents a drop of more than 85 per cent on the € 46.9 million allocated by the department in the four previous years – between 2006 and 2009. While the county was in the middle of an economic boom in 2007, the Government allocated € 11.5m to build social housing in Clare. However, in 2012 when the construction and property markets in Clare were at the lowest ebb Clare County Council received just € 839,925 to provide social housing for the needy.

The number of people on the social housing waiting list in Clare has grown from 2,312 in October of 2012 to 3,066 in July 2014.

This housing crisis has meant dramatically rising rents are forcing low income families to the brink – with rent allowance no longer enough to cover rent.

According to the Clare Citizens Information Centre, the organisation has dealt with at least two Clare people in recent months who have been made homeless because their rent allowance does not cover rising rents. As of September 1, there were only 48 properties for rent in Ennis – with 400 the number needed in an area the size of Ennis.

IT HAS been billed in the national media as the Irish celebrity wedding of the year, but the people of Kilrush were not allowed into their own church during the cermony.

One hundred plus people gathered in Kilrush to see Xposé presenter and former model Glinda Gilson marry Rob McNaughton on Saturday afternoon.

The group of onlookers were just as interested in the guests as they were the blushing bride.

While there was excitement as the celebrity guests gathered, some local people were annoyed that they were not permitted to enter their own parish church by private security guards during the wedding.

Two men wearing black suits and earpieces were on hand to stop photographers and locals stepping inside the gates.

However those gathered made the most of the celeb spotting.

A firm favourite among a group of women that gathered outside St Senan’s Church in Kilrush was X-Factor judge Louis Walsh.

The Mayo man posed happily with his west Clare fans ahead of the nuptials of the 33-year-old television presenter to her partner of three years, Dublin businessman Mr McNaughton.

Wearing an ivory € 10,000 Vera Wang dress with a sweetheartshaped bodice and layers of silk, Ms Gilson was 36 minutes late for the ceremony.

The local crowd were happy enough to wait however spotting celebrities such as Boyzone member and actor Keith Duffy and his wife Lisa, actor Liam Cunningham, models Alison Canavan and Gail Kaneswaran, model and actress Vivienne Connolly, TV presenter Louise Loughman, and celebrity chef Dylan McGrath arriving at the church.

The Xposé presenter finally arrived and posed for photographs inside a car before stepping out to cheers and whistles

The happy couple and guests later travelled to Donald Trump’s Doonbeg resort for their reception.

Ms Gilson is not the first celebrity to be married in Clare in recent times.

Last December, Sterephonics lead singer Kelly Jones wed MTV Journalist Jakki Healy in the same church and also held their reception at Doonbeg.

Meanwhile, in August 2009, Andrea Corr married Brett Desmond in Miltown Malbay. They also had their reception in Doonbeg.

RELOCATING homes inland is not an option for the residents of the town land of Cloughnainchy near Seafield whose houses had been flooded during the high tides and storms last winter, or a solution to further floods this winter.

Local resident Danny McCarthy ruled out the relocation proposal likely to be offered to some homeowners in other parts of the country as the Office of Public Works and Local Authorities begin work on addressing flooding and coastal erosion.

Last evening (Monday) the residents of Cloughnainchy, Quilty, re- ceived confirmation that € 200,000 has been released by the OPW to begin work on a feasibility study at Tromore West. This is the area along the coastline which includes Cloughnainchy, where the sea invaded 14 homes and swept away an acre of land out to the sea in January.

Clare County Council put the cost of addressing the coastal erosion and flooding issue in Cloughnainchy at € 4.7m. The feasibility study will fully cost storm and flood defence works at this site, which will then be presented to the Government department who will decide if work is feasible.

Mr McCarthy was hopeful last night that the study could begin immediately and that work on prevent- ing the natural disaster of earlier this year could begin soon.

“We are hoping it begins long before April when it was initially thought work would begin at the earliest,” he said. “We have already lost six months when nothing was done.”

Mr McCarthy, whose home was one of 14 flooded in the area, said the committee worked very hard with Clare county councillors to get the work even to this preliminary stage.

He ruled out any suggestion that moving the three to four houses nearest the coastline would be a financially savvy solution.

“This is a tourist road as well. Hundreds of people walk the two mile sandy beach, it is not just about the houses,” he explained.

According to sources close to the OPW suggestions have been made that it may be less expensive to build new homes for families affected by flooding than to begin substantial coastal protection works.

Former Minister for State with responsibility for the OPW Brian Hayes told The Clare People yesterday (Monday) that relocation was not likely to be a suggestion for Seafield and was never considered for this area during his time in charge.

“This is also private land and not public land,” he pointed out.

He confirmed that the OPW may consider it as a solution in some areas if there are yearly flooding events and it makes economical sense.

THE SALE of the year in the county has since become the bargain of the year as it emerged that flamboyant US billionaire Donald Trump paid € 6.5 million less for the Greg Norman designed golf course and resort in Doonbeg.

According to the filings with the Companies Office the Trump organization paid just € 8.7m for the luxurious Doonbeg golf resort.

It was previous suspected that the resort had been sold for € 15 million in February to Mr Trump by receivers for the property.

A report filed by the receivers David Hughes and Luke Charleton of accounting firm Ernst and Young – showed that the proceeds from the sale of the exclusive golf destination amounted to slightly more than € 8.7 million.

The property had been developed at an initial cost of € 28m at the turn of the century. It opened in 2002 and is West Clare’s largest employer.

When he arrived in Clare to view his acquisition last May, Mr Trump promised a further € 45 million investment, hundreds more jobs and the extension of the hotel and golf course at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland.

The sale to Mr Trump included the five-star hotel lodge, seven unsold suites and the Greg Norman-designed golf course.

The sale didn’t include a number of luxury suites that had been sold to investors during the boom and leased back to the hotel.

They bought those suites as investments, expecting to generate annual rental income and capital appreciation.

Approximately 47 suites had been sold to investors at prices ranging between € 1.2m and € 1.8m.

The major investment into the West Clare resort begins shortly when the hotel and golf course will close for the winter season.

As part of the investment, much of the golf course is being redesigned and Donald Trump himself has recently spent time in Doonbeg walking the course with renowned golf course designer Doctor Martin Hawtree.

The highly regarded British-based Hawtree can already boast redesign work on the nearby Lahinch championship course as well as Portmarnock in Dublin and British Open venue Royal Birkdale.