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AN Bórd Pleanála has determined that issues raised with it regarding a contentious wall across a contested right of way have been dealt with previously.

James McNulty had asked the planning appeals board if development works (between the period 20042008) from the end of the public road L61041 across Doonbeg Golf Course to the public beach at Doughmore Bay, Carrowmore, Doonbeg, including the closure obstruction of the established public right of way to Doughmore Beach and the movement and alteration to the natural line of the public vehicular right of way at this location was considered development.

In his submission, the Cree man said he requested a declaration on the question from Clare County Council but had received no declaration.

An Bórd Pleanála concluded that the question being asked had already been dealt with and adjudicated on previously. The report said, due to “the evidence of the site inspection by the Board’s Inspector, where no works are apparent, it is considered that the substance of the case have already been determined and any further question has not been clearly articulated to enable the formulation of a determination.

“In deciding not to request further clarity in the matter, the Board considered that the substantive matter regarding previous works have already been dealt with,” it concluded.

A decision was made in May 2010, to a previous submission on the issue by Mr McNulty along with Theresa McNamara of Ballykeelaun House, Parteen. They appealed against a decision by Clare County Council to grant subject to conditions permission to Doonbeg Golf Club Limited for a development comprising retention of a gravel path, a dry stone retaining wall along a section of boundary between the golf course property and a neighbouring property, and the alteration of ground levels over an area of 300 square metres on the golf course to the west of the dry stone retaining wall.

At the time, An Bórd Pleanála upheld the local authority’s decision regarding that gravel path but refused permission for the retention on the contentious “dry stone retaining wall”.

“It is policy of the planning authority, as set out in the West Clare Local Area Plan 2009, to protect public rights-of-way and to keep them free from obstruction. This policy is considered to be reasonable,” the board said in May last year.

“I CRIED that day.”

Young mother Niamh Daly who spends every hour of every day caring for her three-year-old daughter with special needs was brought to tears by the announcement that the respite grant would be cut by € 325 to € 1,375 for the year.

This money was not used for the purpose of respite in her home, but to pay to replace essential therapies already cut by the government.

Little Chantelle was diagnosed with autism nine months ago. At the time, Niamh was told she would be sent on a course to teach her how to help her daughter with speech and language, but no speech and language therapist or occupational therapist would be provided directly to the toddler.

To provide such services to her nonverbal daughter would cost Niamh € 100 per week.

She decided to use the respite grant, designed to give carers a brief holiday from their round-the-clock dedication, to provide some essential services when possible, and horseriding therapy which also helps her little girl manage her condition.

“This is just a whole lot coming together,” said Ms Daly, referring to the respite cut – the straw that broke the camel’s already seriously weakened back.

“If they keep cutting, I will just have to sit home with my child all day,” she said.

She laughed at the thought of taking a holiday, explaining that a few hours to go into town would be a heavenly break.

Niamh spends 24 hours a day, seven days a week, caring for her daughter and, as a result, cannot hold down a job.

“I can’t go out to work because my child requires 24-hour care. I want to work. This is the first time in my life I have not gone out to work. If I could work, I would at least be able to do overtime to get her some therapies, but I can’t because I have to care for her full-time.”

Niamh is busily collecting old mobile phones in the hope of exchanging them for an iPad.

She must collect 185 in a bid to get the tablet that would allow Chantelle to communicate with her mother and alleviate some of her daily frustrations as she struggles to speak.

The mother of one is angered that all Government TDs have been offered free iPads, along with all the other allowances and expenses, while carers struggle to survive.

She called on the ministers and TDs to spend a day living her life and believes that, after such an experience, they would reconsider any cut to carers and people with disabilities.

Cuts to the respite grant will save the Government € 26 million while TDs’ allowances and expenses come in at € 25 million.

MORE than 30 young men and women from the North Clare and South Galway area have contacted Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) either applying for a job or asking to be trained to work on the 500-hectare organic salmon farm proposed for off the Clare coast.

Despite growing concerns about the impact of the fish farm among local fishermen and agencies such as Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), BIM confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that they have been inundated with young people looking to work on the proposed site.

BIM have also confirmed that, should the farm be given the go ahead by the Department of Agriculture, the organisation will establish a temporary training facility in North Clare where people can learn the skills needed.

“We have not only had people inquiring about jobs, we have also had people asking about training courses where they could up-skill in preparation for the jobs coming on line,” said Donal Maguire of BIM.

“I think most people understand that the jobs will come when we are in a position to appoint an operator. But we have had an awful lot of enquires from people who want to get qualified in operating a boat or diving training – things like that. There are quite a lot of people locally who are thinking ahead with a view to being at the top of the queue if and when these jobs come online.”

BIM have said that the fish farm could create as many as 500 jobs locally, if it is given the green light by the Department of Agriculture. The number of jobs have been queries by the IFI and other groups.

“Once we get the go ahead for this we will set up a mobile training unit in North Clare or in Galway so that we can deliver training on the spot to the local people,” continued Donal.

Meanwhile, groups opposed to the fish farm will protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), this Saturday, December 15.

In a statement, No Salmon Farms At Sea (NSFAS) said that it will join like minded groups Save Bantry Bay, Save Galway Bay, FISSTA and Friends of the Irish Environment for the protest march in Cork.

A NEW era in policing County Clare, which includes the closure of eight Garda Stations and the downgrading of two Garda Divisions, has caused concerns for many communities across the county.

Those representing the elderly said those living alone in rural Ireland are particularly concerned at the loss of the “local garda”.

Last night, police chiefs were meeting with people in Inagh to allay fears and explain how the new system would work. Former Superintendent Frank Guthrie, who is now involved with the Inagh Housing Association said, “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 of the “new concept in policing”.

The majority of the Clare stations to close are along the west coast and in rural East Clare, including Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda. Ennistymon and Killaloe District Garda Headquarters will be downgraded, and the administrative responsibility will come under the Ennis and Kilrush District Headquarters.

None of the stations to close were open 24 hours a day but six of the sta- tions had their own gardaí stationed there.

With the closure of the stations, the garda serving in Quin will now be reassigned to Ennis, the gardaí in Inagh and Lahinch will be stationed in Ennistymon, the Broadford garda will now be based in Ardnacrusha, Mountshannon 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.

Many of the stations to close in Clare have served their communities since before the state was formed, with many RIC barracks in a previous life. Broadford was one such barracks and, up until 1993, the station had a sergeant and guard. In 1993, a staffing reduction removed the sergeant from the station

Local councillor Cathal Crowe (FF) described the closure of the station as “an attack on rural Ireland”.

“Broadford Garda Station serves a large area of East Clare and includes the communities of Kilmore, Truagh, Oatfield, Ballyquin, O’Callaghan’s Mills, Kilbane and, or course, Broadford village. The station currently operates on a part-time basis and roundthe-clock coverage for this area is given by gardaí stationed in Killaloe. The presence of Broadford Garda Station gives the people of East Clare a great sense of security. Elderly people in the locality have been very vocal in voicing their concerns for what the closure of the station could bring.”

Those supporting the Government have also raised concerns about the closure of the eight Clare Garda Stations.

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.

TD Timmy Dooley (FF) described it as an “appalling attack” on communities across the county. “Clare has fared one of the worst in Minister Shatter’s hitlist. Within the next six months, Clare will have eight less garda stations and many of our communities will have lost their local station.”

NEWCO, the working name for the new organisation to manage Shannon Airport and its 2000-acre landbank, will become the engine for growth the mid-west region, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Richard Bruton has declared. In hailing the new departure for Shannon, Minister Bruton said that the “ambitious” plans for the new independent Shannon Airport structure can be delivered upon thanks to the goodwill of the people in the mid-west.

“Keeping the status quo is not an option,” he revealed, “and we have now created a real opportunity for exciting development.

“It is a very good day for the Shannon region. We are creating a new engine for regional development and it is being built from structures that unfortunately for different reasons were running into extreme difficulties,” added Minister Bruton.

The minister paid tribute to Shannon Development’s record over the past 50 years, but revealed that it was time for change because “the funding model that supported them for so many years has been severely damaged by the property crash”.

“We now have to create new structures that will carry on that work (of Shannon Development).

“I believe that we have in the business plan development and the merged entity, NEWCO, the opportunity to start a new chapter in regional development for Shannon.

“By restructuring the enterprise agencies in the Shannon region we can ensure that indigenous and multinational industry already in the region or considering locating there have access to a comprehensive range of supports.

“By merging a strong independent Shannon Airport with the extensive property holdings, experience and expertise of Shannon Development we will create a strong new State company which will work with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on developing an International Aviation Services Centre in the region.

“The implementation of these decisions represents a new start for enterprise and jobs in the Shannon region,” added Minister Bruton.

Shannon Passenger
Numbers 2007- 2012 2007 3.62m 2008 3.16m 2009 2.79m 2010 1.75m 2011 1.62m 2012 1.5m

THE community spirit of the Clare Tidy Towns effort was celebrated on Thursday night by the county’s flagship centre in the national competition over the last number of years.

Ennis was presented with seven different awards on the night, with the chairperson of the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee, Áine Purcell hailing what she called “a back to basics” approach as being the major contributory factor for the county capital’s achievements.

“In Ennis this year what we decided to do was go back to basics,” Ms Purcell revealed when accepting the award for Ennis as Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre. “We led by example. I know Tuamgraney do it, I know Mountshannon do it, I know Kilrush do it – I know all of you do it.

We asked people. People like to be asked. Everyone likes to be part of a community so we asked people.

“We didn’t make any emails, we didn’t make any phone calls, we didn’t write any letters – all 22 of us just went around and asked people. It paid off very well in that there’s a tradition that we’re very proud of, but it paid off more importantly in that it brought everyone together as a community,” he added.

Ennis’ other honours were as in the Gum Litter Taskfore competition, where the town was named both the large urban centre and national winner, the Tourism Town Award, the County Award, as well as a Gold Medal and the Shannon Region award winner.

“One of the highlights for me personally,” continued Ms Purcell, “was after we won the award as Ireland’s largest urban centre, someone said to me in the street ‘didn’t we do well in Dublin’.

“That was powerful because there was a sense of ownership in that because it was the community coming together.

“We are very, very fortunate in Ennis in that we have a very positive and great working relationship with our town council. Any positive relationship that you can foster is brilliant. SuperValu are to complimented for promoting Tidy Towns and promoting bringing communities together,” she added.

THE new independent Shannon Airport has been warned away from entering into a new deal with Ryanair similar to the one that resulted in record passenger numbers of over 3.6m passing using Clare’s international airport in 2007.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar told a media briefing in the Dublin Convention Centre that was attended by key figures from the Shannon Airport Authority, Shannon Development, Clare Oireachtas members and the mayors of Clare and Ennis that any dealings with Ryanair in the future should be on “a commercial basis” and instead pointed to the benefits of securing more military traffic through the airport.

Shannon’s passenger numbers rocketed to 3,620,623 in 2007 on the back of an incentive package arrangement between the airport and Ryanair that saw the low-cost carrier operate over 50 routes, but since then have declined year-on-year with figures expected to dip below 1. 5m by the end of 2012.

“I would expect that any deals that the new Shannon Aiport makes would be on a commercial basis that can be sustained, which was not the case in the previous Ryanair deal,” said Minister Varadkar, before revealing that targeted growth of having up to 2.5m passengers over the next decade was not dependent on a new Ryanair deal.

“They did reach a peak of 3.6 passengers largely on the back of that arrangement (with Ryanair),” said Minsiter Varadkar, “but bear in mind that prior to that they were well over 2m passengers on various occasions and up as far as 2.7m passengers at one point”.

Last June, Ryanair made a pitch to treble its passenger numbers through Shannon to one million if it was given a new deal by the Shannon Airport Authority whereby all charges would be waived for all additional passengers over the current level of 375,000.

Meanwhile, as late as last week it was revealed in The Clare People that the budget airline was on the cusp on announcing a new investment at the airport to bring in one million extra passengers providing an extra € 100m passenger spend to the region.

However, instead of looking to Ryanair, Minister Varadkar championed the cause of secured extra military stopover at Shannon as a way of boosting the airport’s figures.

“I have indicated for a very long time that Shannon has been a transit point for military flights and part of the plan would be to grow that,” he revealed.

A LICENCE to begin exploratory fracking in West Clare could be granted within months, with no input from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or any of the planning authorities.

That is according to Clare Fracking Concerned, who believe that UK-based company Enegi Oil could begin fracking in Clare early next year, once the Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte (LAB), gives them the green light.

The company announced last week that their initial assessment of the Clare Basin showed it to be a “highly prospective project” while Enegi Oil CEO, Alan Minty, said he would ap- ply for an exploration licence in February of 2013.

Kilmaley resident and member of Clare Fracking Concerned, Sarah Akamine told The Clare People yesterday that the organisation has become complacent as they believed that the company would not go ahead with the project.

“This is very bad news for all of us. Many of us [in Clare Fracking Concerned] had been under the impression that the Clare Basin project was not commercially viable – and because of that I think we got complacent,” she said.

“I think that a lot of people assumed that this would focus on the very west of Clare, but Enegi’s statement indicated that they are looking at the whole Clare Basin – that means everything west or north of Ennis – which could affect a lot of people.”

Clare County Council voted earlier this year to change the County Development Plan to prohibit fracking. While this does not prohibit Minister Rabbitte from licensing a project in the Clare Basin, it does mean that the project must be referred to the EPA before it can begin.

However, according to Clare Fracking Concerned, the same rules do not currently apply for fracking exploration licences.

“Clare Basin is a highly prospective project and we are delighted to be involved at this early stage,” said Alan Minty last week.

“The whole acreage appears to be very prospective and we are particu- larly excited by the area at the centre of the existing seismic grid which we have defined as high grade.

“Whilst these results are very encouraging, further exploration work is required to identify specific areas of prospectivity and potential future drilling targets.

“We look forward to providing details of our planned work programme and development plan once we have been awarded an exploration licence.”

Fracking involves pumping large amount of water and other liquids deep underground to shatter layers of shale rock and release the natural gas inside for collection.

The process has been criticised for polluting ground water and even causing earthquakes. Th is we e k w ill st a y m ild b u t c o o l, t h e re a l c h ill is c o m in g n e xt we e k wit h fre e zin g t e m p e ra t u re s d u e .

SHANNON business is set to relocate to Ennis next Monday as hardpressed rate-payers in the airport town take their fight for survival and a better deal from Clare County Council to the December monthly meeting of the local authority.

Business people from Shannon, led by their three-person team of Skycourt manager Pat Kelly and business owners Eoin Hoctor of McLoughney’s newsagents in the town centre and Maurice Lynch of Lynch Transport, will bring the town’s plea for help to the floor of the local authority meeting that takes place in Shannon Airport.

The trio are set to make a presentation to local authority leaders in the hope of sparking what would be a ground-breaking policy shift by Clare County Council, whereby the commercial rates burden placed on business people would be significantly reduced.

Speaking to The Clare People ahead of the gathering, Pat Kelly said “this is about businesses in Shannon being able to survive” and called on the 32-member council led by Mayor of Clare Pat Daly, County Manager Tom Coughlan and other executive members to “play their part in help- ing business fight the recession”.

“It’s the first time in a long time that business representatives will be making a special presentation in the council chamber and we’re doing it because things have to change,” continued Mr Kelly.

“This is about businesses in Shannon surviving. The council and the councillors make the budget every year and we are just making the point to them that over the past five years every business has had to adjust to survive.

“Every business has had to cut their overheads – any business that hasn’t, hasn’t survived. There have been cuts in everything, but the one thing that hasn’t been cut is commercial rates. We are saying to the local authority – you are a business, we are a business, we have cut our overheads, you have to cut your overheads in order for us to survive.

“The rates have remained the same over the past four or five years, but businesses have had turnover reductions of 30, 40 and 50 per cent. Skycourt have cut our service charge costs by 25 per cent, we’ve cut our rents, but the one thing that hasn’t been cut is the rates. That’s the biggest deterrent for Skycourt to be able to rent units,” he added.

This decision by Shannon business people to make a direct plea for help from Clare’s premier decision-making body comes on the back of a series of public meetings that have taken place in the town, where disgruntled rate-payers aired their grievances over the county council’s failure to budge when it comes to reducing rates.

The latest meeting took place on Monday night when the finishing touches to the plan of campaign for next Monday’s council meeting were put in place, while as part of the process of seeking redress from the council on rates as seen a delegation of rate-payers meet with County Manager Tom Coughlan and Clare’s six Oireachtas members.

COMPANIES are queuing up to do business in the Shannon Free Zone and provide thousands of new jobs – the only thing they’re demanding to turn this commitment into a reality is that Clare’s international airport be freed from the strictures of Dublin Airport Authority control and be given its full independence.

This promise of a jobs bonanza for the region was delivered by Rose Hynes, the chairperson of the Aviation Business Development Task Force that has helped draft a blueprint for the independent Shannon Airport structure over the last four months.

“We have people lined up who are willing to do business with Shannon but they are only willing to do it if the airport and the new entity is created on the basis of separation,” Ms Hynes revealed at Monday’s press conference heralding the timeframe for the airport’s independence.

“People are willing to do business, but not when there’s an air of uncertainty. They want to do business when there’s certainty and separation. We are already talking from a position of strength where we have commitment for a 1000 of those jobs – that’s a position of considerable strength. We are talking a success- ful airport that when combined with the landbank we can actually create and additional 3,500 jobs over five years,” she added.

Ms Hynes, who is tipped to become chairperson of the new Shannon Airport structure, has moved quickly to dispel thoughts the jobs target is overly ambitious, telling The Clare People that the plan represents “the beginning of a new era” for the airport.

“We had intensive discussions and we formed the view that the status quo was not a sustainable option and that a restructured Shannon and Shannon Development can be sustainable and can be successful,” said Ms Hynes. “Shannon cannot just remain where it is at the moment. We have looked at the Shannon situation high up and low down and we are absolutely convinced that we have a plan that’s viable, that’s going to lead to a successful airport.

“We had a philosophy in the task force where basically we decided that we weren’t going to leave behind a set of recommendations that were going to just gather dust somewhere. We decided that if we were going to recommend something we were going to put momentum into it.

“We were going to try and take that as far as we could do. We did that in relation to job numbers; we did that in relation to every other recommendation that we made. It means that when we talk about it, we talk about something we believe,” she added.

Commenting on the cabinet decision, Shannon Airport Director Mary Considine said, “Today is a pivotal step in the process of separation. The focus of staff and management at Shannon Airport has been on ensuring that the airport is financially and operationally ready for separation.

“This entire process is all about securing a sustainable future for all the stakeholders of the Airport and that Shannon Airport delivers on its role as a key economic driver for the West of Ireland,” she added.