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CLARE’S President of Ireland, Dr Patrick Hillery, was caught in the eye of a diplomatic storm in 1982 over the birth of Prince William, the son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and second in line to the throne.

The State Papers from 1982 reveal that President Hillery was accused of snubbing the royal birth, but that what happened was that diplomats had wrongly advised him not to send a message of congratulations to Queen Elizabeth on the birth of Prince William.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach’s office became embroiled in a row over whether or not to send a message of congratulations. A memo sent from assistant secretary Richard Stokes to Charles Haughey outlines advice given by the Chief of Protocol, who said it would not be appropriate for a message to be sent as Prince Charles and Princess Diana were not Heads of State.

The Chief of Protocol had been asked for his advice following a press query by a journalist to the President’s office. Stokes told the Taoiseach he “would strongly disagree with the Foreign Affairs advice on this”.

“I believe that a message of congratulations should be sent by the President to the Queen on the birth of her grandson,” he continued.

President Hillery’s chief of protocol in the Aras sought advice on the issue, with his own thinking being that a message was not necessary, as Prince Charles, was not a head of state. Foreign Affairs backed the advice, as did a Mr Ó hAnnrachain in the Taoiseach’s office, who also said then Taoiseach Charles Haughey was not to be consulted.

However, Mr Stokes believed “an explanation will be no substitute for a warm and gracious message for this happy event on our neighbouring island”.

Another document from HJ Dowd, an official in the Department of the Taoiseach, shows that he was in agreement with Stokes. He also said it would be of “no harm” to tell the Foreign Affairs Department that “they were in error when they said that their files suggest that a message should not be sent”.

He points to two further precedents for sending such a message. On the 15 November 1948, President Seán T Ó Ceallaigh sent his wishes to King George VI on the birth of a son (now the Prince of Wales) to Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen). On the 16 August 1950, he sent a similar message to King George on the birth of his grand-daughter Princess Ann.

A note made out on the 22 June shows that the Government then scrambled to reach an agreement that the President should send a message of congratulations. The draft was cleared with the Chief of Protocol at 12.50pm.

A MAJOR shake-up in the way that policing is operated in Clare was announced in December with the news that eight Garda Stations were to close around the county.

Stations in rural areas such as Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda were named for closure while it was also announced that both Ennistymon and Killaloe District Garda Headquarters will be downgraded.

Former Superintendent, Frank Guthrie, who is now involved with the Inagh Housing Association said that there was some concern in the village about the new arrangement.

“A lot of people, especially older people, favour the old-style policing and confiding in their local garda. They felt safe. The meeting is really to see how this will be dealt with,” he said following the news.

The changes will see the garda serving in Quin reassigned to Ennis, the gardaí in Inagh and Lahinch moved to Ennistymon, the Broadford garda will now be based in Ardnacrusha, the Mountshannon garda will be based in Killaloe and the Doonbeg garda will be working out of Kilrush Garda Station.

Labasheeda and Doonbeg stations were provided with a garda from Kilrush every weekday from 10am to 1pm and at the weekend from noon until 2pm. These stations will also close.

The Chairperson of the Lahinch Community Council welcomed the closure of Lahinch Garda Station, saying the station was already “virtually closed” and the town would be better served from Ennistymon.

Donogh O’Loghlin believes that the closure of Lahinch Garda Station will not have an effect on the safety of the local population.

“I am not really concerned by the closure of the station. It is a beautiful building but I think it has been more or less closed for years already,” he said.

“It should have been closed years ago really. The local people here don’t have any idea when there will be a garda present in the station or not, so what is the point of having it there? There are 30 guards stationed just two miles out the road in Ennistymon. That should be enough.”

Clare Labour Party National Executive Member Seamus Ryan called on the Government to rethink the course of action.

“While the Commissioner is operating under the same financial constraints as so many people and the Government, it is short-sighted on the part of the force to abandon these facilities in favour of patrols and cover from other stations, some of which are up to 20km away and are themselves part-time and up to 25km to a 24-hour station for communities like Mountshannon,” he said.

THE 500 year-old body of a Clare teenager discovered in April is helping to paint a clear picture of what life was like for the people of Ireland during one of the most violent periods in the country’s history.

Carbon dating of human remains, discovered in a cave on Moneen Mountain, just outside Ballyvaughan, has revealed that the dead person was between 14 and 16 years of age, and was severally malnutritioned.

According to Dr Marion Dowd of IT Sligo, the evidence suggests that the youth crawled into the cave and died, rather than being placed in the cave after death. This suggests that Moneen Mountain was being used as a refuge or meeting place for poor Clare people at this time.

This period, around the time of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, was one of the bloodiest times in Irish history.

“At this time in Ireland, there was religious persecution, a lot of warfare, Gaelic people are being dispossessed of their land and there are lots of famines.

“But to find the remains of one of these individuals and to see, first hand, the evidence of what was going on is very interesting,” said Dr Dowd. “Another mystery is why the remains were in the cave and not in a burial ground – because there were a number of official burial grounds quite close to the cave. It seems that this young person went into the cave, crawled into a small recess in the cave wall and died there.

“This person may have been completely on his own and died in the cave or there may have been a few people hiding out there.”

The excavation also revealed evidence which suggests that Moneen Mountain may have been a significant place for Bronze Age people.

“The other material dates back to 1,000 BC. We discovered a large quantity of broken-up pots and a deer antler. There is something quite unusual about this also, it does not look like a refuge, there was no-one living inside the cave at the time, and we know that the pots were weathered outside,” continued Marion.

PLANS to construct a massive Rotterdam-style transshipment port at Kilrush were lodged with an Bord Pleanála in December.

The multi-million euro project has been earmarked for banks of reclaimed land adjacent to the Moneypoint Power Station and could create hundreds of sustainable jobs locally if successful and transform the area into one of Europe’s largest freight ports.

The Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company lodged papers with the national planning authority seeking to have the development classified as a Strategic Industrial Development (SID).

The deep waters of the Shannon Estuary would allow larger vessels from America and Asia to unload massive volumes of cargo in the area – which would then be transferred to smaller ships and brought to shallow ports in other parts of Europe.

The 16-metre water depths on the Shannon is rivalled only by Rotterdam in Holland. The Dutch port employs well over a hundred thousand people directly and indirectly around the Europort facility, the biggest in Europe and currently operating at full capacity.

A Spokesperson from An Bord Pleanála said a meeting with the Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company would likely take place in January but could not confirm any details about the specifics of the proposed port.

If the facility is deemed to be of strategic national importance, An Bord Pleanála will give it SID status – which means than a decision on planning will be made by them and not by Clare County Council.

The application was made by the Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company – who are not currently listed with the Irish Company Registrations Office (CRO).

The Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC), who had previously examined the possibility of creating its own deep water transshipment facility in the Shannon Estuary, confirmed yesterday that the application had not been made by them.

A spokesperson said that that the organisation had “no comment” to make on the proposal currently before an Bord Pleanála but did say that the company would assist “any marine or shipping related projects” in the area of the estuary.

In 2004, the Shannon Foynes Port The Shannon based Atlantic Way group commissioned a feasibility study on a deep water port in the Shannon Estuary in 2009. That report, conducted by international expert Dr John Martin, indicated a massive demand for a deep mater port to service shallow ports across Europe.

Speaking on behalf of Atlantic Way yesterday, former chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, Brian O’Connell, said that his organisation were not responsible for the application to An Bord Pleanála.

SHANNON Airport’s status as a stopover point for world leaders from President John F Kennedy to Mikail Gorbachev to Barack Obama has been showcased once more with release of the State Papers from 1982.

The papers released under the 30year rule show that Cuban leader Fidel Castro passed through that year, creating the possibility for what could have been one of the more unlikely summit meetings in Irish history.

All because when passing through Shannon, Castro left a gift for Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The documents show that the Cuban president stopped off at Shannon Airport in late 1982, probably en route from Moscow after attending the funeral of USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Haughey wrote a private letter to the Cuban president on 9 December, 1982 – one of the final acts he performed during his term as Taoiseach in that government – to thank him for the gift Castro had left for him.

An election in November had seen Fine Gael and Labour form a coalition and Garrett Fitzgerald took over from Haughey as Taoiseach on 14 December, just five days after the letter was written.

In the letter, Haughey thanked Castro for the “magnificent gift” of cigars and a casket which the Cuban leader left for the Taoiseach during the stopover.

“The hand-carved casket is most impressive and the cigars will be greatly enjoyed by my family and friends at Christmas,” Haughey told Castro.

Given the differences in political philosophies between the two men and Cold War tensions at the time, it is somewhat surprising how eager Haughey seemed to be to meet with the socialist leader, telling him:

Please accept my apologies that I could not be there to greet you in person but I hope that we can meet on some future occasion.

The letter ends with Haughey expressing his “warm personal regards” for the Cuban leader.

THE future of Clare’s international airport was finally resolved in December when the new vision for Shannon Airport and Shannon Development was announced in Dublin.

The decision to separate Shannon Airport from the control of the Dublin Airport Authority was confirmed by the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar (FG), who said that as many as five thousand new jobs could be created in the new company over the next five years.

It was also confirmed that Shannon Airport debt, understood to be in the region of € 100 million, would remain with the Dublin Airport Authority – but Shannon would also lose any stake in Aer Rianta International.

The new airport authority was been provisionally named as NEWCO. The Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton (FG) confirmed at the announcement that there would be no compulsory redundancies form Shannon Airport or Shannon Development. The Clare People also reported on December 4 that Clare woman Rose Hynes was being lined up to become the first chairperson of the new airport authority.

The Bellharbour woman, who chaired the Aviation Business Development Task Force that drafted the new airport plan, was rubber stamped into this role later in the month.

At the Dublin announcement the government set a ambitious target for boosting passenger numbers at Shannon by one million over the next nine years, Minister Varadkar telling The Clare People that “if Shannon can’t achieve that kind of growth, then there is no future for the airport”.

However, it’s in the area of jobs that Shannon can expect its biggest windfall with the transport minister revealing that a new international aviation services centre has “the potential to create between 3000 and 5000 jobs within five years”.

Minister Bruton said the airport’s independence, which will see two companies in Shannon provide up to 850 in the coming months represents “a new chapter in regional development” in Ireland.

“The independence of Shannon Airport has been sought for many years,” said Minister Varadkar. “It certainly is a risk, but the risk with doing nothing is far greater. It is an historic decision and it will bring a new future for Shannon Development and Shannon Airport.”

Shannon was formally separated from the DAA on December 31. The government now plans to appoint a new boards for the NEWCO in the new year. The government will also have to address the possibility of industrial actions as Shannon Development workers hav raised a number of worries about the new arrangement.

MAURETTE and Barry Crowley were just newlyweds last December when they decided to go to Australia for a least a year.

Maurette, a teacher originally from Tulla, and Barry, an engineer from Knockerra, are now adapting to life down under and enjoying all that it has to offer, although they admit they do miss home at Christmas time.

“We would love to be home for Christmas, but it’s a good experi ence to be here for one Christmas,” said Maurette, explaining that they both intend to be having turkey and Christmas pudding in Clare next year.

The weather in Melbourne does not lend itself to the Christmassy feel. However, one morning last week, as Maurette got the train to work, the temperature dropped for a few minutes and she had to put on her coat as she passed a busker playing ‘Silent Night’ on a trumpet.

For a brief moment, it was Christmas time as she knew it.

The new Christmas experience consists of high temperatures and summer dresses, different foods and blue Christmas decorations.

“The decorations seem strange. They are all blue. There is no green and red like at home,” explained the Tulla native.

The Christmas carols also give the Clare woman pause for thought and a smile. She is currently working as a relief teacher in an Australian pri- mary school and is teaching the children ‘Ozzy Jingle Bells’.

“Instead of singing about the sledge, they sing about putting on the barbie. It is very funny and worth people Youtubing just to hear the difference,” she said, laughing.

Teaching in an Australian school brings home to Maurette how many Irish people of her generation have emigrated there, many with no other choice. There are Irish pupils in each class in the school, some who have recently moved to Australia with their families and others who were born to Irish parents in Australia in the last five years.

There are also a number of Irish teachers teaching in the school so she is not the only Irish accent in the staff room either.

And as the staff all settle in for an Ozzy Christmas, Maurette and her husband Barry are heading to the Goldcoast to celebrate their first married Christmas with her sisters in 35- to 40-degree heat with blue Christmas decorations. “HOW is it being away from home at Christmas?” asks Jason Ryan of himself. “I’m in my shorts; we’re all in our shorts; it’s blistering hot outside and I have the The Clare People here in front of me.” It’s true, like the old Harp ad, the sun tan is for free and unlike back home in Clare, if one wanted to hit the town on Christmas Day, there’d be plenty of pubs with a ‘fáilte isteach’. It’s Phoenix Arizona, where 36year-old Jason Ryan has called home for the last seven years, moving permanently in 2005 after first visiting a year previously. With a wife and four children, ranging from the age of seven down to only a couple of months old, he’s not for moving. Back home or anywhere. Jason has The Clare People and Clare Champion thanks to his parents who landed for a week before Christmas. “There are 5,000 miles between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Phoenix,” he says, “so when they come over, it’s a long 14-hour trek. You won’t do it too often, so when your parents come over before Christmas it’s special and it’s important. You miss the craic of home around Christmas so having them over is great,” he adds. Before emigrating, Jason freely admits that Phoenix was never on his radar but that all changed when he met his now wife in NUIG. “Arizona and Ireland – the first thing I thought was total opposites but, after meeting, we came out and it wasn’t until I got here that I realised there’s such a big Irish community here.” And it’s something that Jason has immersed himself in over the last couple of years, mainly through the GAA. Like his father Christy, who is synonymous with the GAA back home, as are his uncles and first cousin Colin who inspired the Newmarket Blues to a first county hurling title in 31 years this year. “Five thousand miles is a long way,” he says, “but the world is a smaller place and, when you’re away, it’s more tolerable. It’s not just an evening phone call – there’s text messaging, Skype, Facebook, Twitter…

and you keep in touch that way with matches back home and what’s going on.

“With the GAA here, I am manager of the Phoenix Gaels and chairman of the South West Board of the GAA, so that keeps you in touch with home as well. When there are big games, you’d go and meet lads and watch them. Tony McCarthy from Killaloe and Eanna Mulkere from Crusheen would be two that I’d meet to watch matches. My brother Johnny is in Perth and there are eight or 10 more from Newmarket there, so we’d keep in touch through the social media.”

Still though, there’ll be a few home thoughts from abroad, but not for too long because he’s well ensconced in Arizona now and so comfortable with life a world away from Newmarket that he has a slow southern drawl.

“When I’m home, my wife can’t understand me but when I’m here you have to slow down for people to be able to understand you,” he says. “Everything is different, but it’s great. There isn’t the big Christmas dinner and turkey wouldn’t be traditional because of Thanksgiving, you’d just do a ham.

“Then you have movie theatres open on Christmas Day and people go there or to the bars – it’s not like home when everything shuts down. Even some of the stores are open for people to go shopping.”

He’ll hardly shop, because it’s not the done thing back home, catching a movie mightn’t be on his radar either, but a pint and toasting the great year that both the Blues and Newmarket Celtic enjoyed on Christmas Day.

Now, there’s a thought.

KILRUSH Town Council passed what was described as “a particularly difficult budget” on Thursday evening, a function they undertook for the second last time as the Minister for the Environment plans to abolish all town councils in 2014.

In drawing up the draft budget, which was accepted in full by the members, the council officials had to contend with a cut to its local Government Funding of five per cent – € 24,287.

Town Manager and Director of Service Anne Haugh said, “The Draft Budget provides for expenditure of € 1,348,986 in 2012. Income excluding rates and the Local Government Fund, has been estimated at € 631,133 in 2013 compared to € 625,473 in 2012.”

Kilrush Town Council payroll has also been reduced by € 32,237 from that provided in the 2012 Budget.

“However, notwithstanding this, Kilrush Town Council are proposing to maintain the existing level of services in 2013,” said Ms Haugh.

In an attempt to balance the books and yet reflect the difficulties that local businesses are experiencing in the “current economic climate”, the local authority agreed to maintain the commercial rates at that 2012 level.

Impacting on the 2013 budget is a loan drawn down in 2005 to fund works on Henry Street and at the Vandeleur Walled Garden.

However, loan repayments have been reduced by € 9,023 on loan charges in 2012 due to capital re- payments on the loan and also the reduced interest rate.

There was some good news for those renting their home from the local government as it was agreed there would be no increase in household rent.

The council was not optimistic in receiving a large income for planning applications in 2013.

“It is anticipated that in the current economic climate that the number of planning applications received will again be insignificant, hence a provision of € 750 for planning ap- plications fees has been provided for in 2013,” explained Ms Haugh.

The town council agreed to support numerous community groups and public vents in the coming year.

A total of € 13, 550 was provided for tourism development and promotion, € 5,000 was provided for the Shop Front Initiative and a provision of € 2,000 was included for the Gathering in 2013.

The council provided € 10,000 in hope that it will be named the lead town in Munster for the National Famine Commemoration.

EIGHT people were treated in hospital on Thursday following an incident at the Chemifloc plant in Smithfield in Shannon.

Seven people, five men and two women, were hospitalised directly following the incident on Thursday evening with an eighth person presenting to the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick on Friday morning.

It is understood that staff were attempting to load a batch of bleach at the Smithstown Industrial Estate when a chemical reaction took place.

The reaction sent a vapour cloud of chlorine into the air, which also filled the building.

Eight units of the fire brigade from Shannon and Ennis attended at the scene and quickly dealt with the situation.

According to the Clare County Fire and Rescue Service, the chemical incident was “quickly contained”.

Gardaí set up roadblocks at the entrance to the estate – allowing only emergency vehicles entry.

A number of premises in the vicinity of the plant were evacuated by gardaí while fire crews investigated the extent of the spill.

Fire crews wore special protective suits over their fire fighting clothing as well as breathing equipment before they could enter the building and deal with the spill.

Clare Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly, on the advice of Chemifloc chemists, confirmed on Thursday night the gas emissions, which were caused by the chlorine reaction, do not pose a public health risk.

It is understood that none of the of the eight people hospitalised as a result of the incident are in a serious conditioned.

Most reported breathing difficulties are were retained at the hospital for treatment.

The seven people who were brought to the hospital on Thursday had to be decontaminated or washed down by fire personnel in a specially constructed tent outside the hospital, before they could be admitted and treated at the emergency department.

The company confirmed the workers were taken to hospital as a precaution, but that none had been seriously injured.

Chemifloc in Shannon are a water treatment chemical importer and manufacturer.

Products include aluminium sulphate, ferric sulphate, ferric chloride, and ferric nitrate.

CLARE businesses pay the third highest water charges in the country – it was revealed at last Tuesday’s budget meeting of Clare County Council. The issue was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) – who questioned why businesses in the county were paying highest than elsewhere in the country.

According to Anne Haugh, Director of Service for Environment and Water Services at Clare County Council, the same system is used to calculate Clare’s water charges as every other local authority.

“If there is one area that Clare County Council has to improve on it is why we have one of the highest water charge per metre cubed of any local authority in the country,” said Cllr Meaney.

“I would like an understandable, repeatable explanation as to why we have such a situation – especially when compared us to neighbouring counties with a similar cost base and structures.”

According to Ms Haugh, the price difference is explained by the physical make-up of the county’s water system and other cost factors such as waste.

“I don’t have a lot of say on it really. The mechanism that we use to set the price of water is set our by the Government,” she said. “There are large variances between counties in relation to the charge of water and the main factor in this is the cost. This is mainly to do with the number of schemes and water system in place in one county as opposed to another.”

Current levels of water leakage in Clare now stands at roughly 38 per cent of the water produced.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) called for special exemption from water to be made for voluntary sports clubs.

“I would expect a concession for sporting bodies. We should make a clear distinction between commercial sporting bodies and those that are not,” he said.