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THE Fianna Fáil leader was in Shannon on Friday to launch the State Airports (Amendment) Bill 2012, which states that Aer Rianta International (ARI) must be part of any future independent Shannon Airport.

The Government is proposing to cut the Clare airport loose, erase its estimated € 100 million debt, and give ARI to the Dublin Airport Authority.

The opposition party argues, however, that for the airport to survive, it must retain ARI, and is willing even to keep the debt if the profit-making company is retained in its Shannon birthplace.

Clare Fianna Fáil TD and Transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley said Fianna Fáil does not agree with separation at the moment.

“If that is the decision that is taken, it is imperative that Shannon has the appropriate means to survive into the future,” he said.

“Shannon in its current format even if you had no debt – is not profitable and unlikely to be profitable, now in a recession and in a normalised environment, unless you drum it down to a Farranfore style airport. If it is just a Farranfore style airport it is not going to accommodate the larger jets that are such an integral part of the US tourism business here. The infrastructure needs upgrading, so it needs a recurring revenue base,” he told a group in Shannon.

Among those listening were former airport employees Liam Skelly and Michael Hanrahan.

They argued that money directed to Dublin through ARI should be repaid to Shannon and Cork.

“Writing off the € 100 million is in no way compensating Shannon. We must make sure that Shannon gets a viable chance of being viable for the future,” said Mr Skelly.

“I feel that we need someone independent spells out what Shannon has lost by not having ARI and not getting a piece of the sale of the Great Southern Group. To date Shannon has made € 100 million during the 16 years it was under the old Aer Rianta.”

It is also estimated that ARI made € 160 million in the last eight years.

“Fianna Fáil believes that in the middle of an economic crisis, separating Shannon from the DAA is the wrong thing to do. However, we support the work of the steering group; particularly the aviation business development task force in identifying business opportunities for the new Shannon entity and the change management task force committee in working towards the transitional arrangements; charged with developing Shannon Airport and the region,” said Deputy Dooley.

Meanwhile the Government is expected to announce details of an arrangement with Ryanair and possibly other airlines in the coming weeks. “We are all very clear that hitching your boat entirely to the Ryanair brand certainly leave you open to potential difficulties in the future,” said Deputy Dooley.

THE Killaloe Diocese is facing a “crisis” of holy orders, with the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) predicting that the entire diocese will be serviced by a handful of “ShannonDoc priests” in as little as a decades time.

The organisation, which now represents more than 1,000 parish priests in Ireland, says that massive changes are required by all the Irish Bishops and the Vatican if this doomsday scenario is to be avoided.

According to Fr Tony Flannery of the ACP, the priesthood is set to become a transient profession in Ire- land, with a much reduced number of priest delivering sacrament across many parishes – without having the time to be based in any individual community.

A spokesperson from the Killaloe Diocese told The Clare People yesterday, that there have been active moves to engage with lay community in the diocese over the last 12 months – there are some issues which can only be changed at Vatican level.

“Priests in the Killaloe Diocese are already doing the work that three priests would have been doing ten years ago, and this is going to get much worse, very quickly. This is a crisis, no questions about it. In 10 or 20 years time there will be only a handful of priests and they will be just saying mass in an area and moving on – they will be like ShannonDoc priests,” said Fr Tony Flannery.

“The ACP now have more than 1,000 priests in our organisation and it is growing all the time. This is in spite the feeling that priests are being actively discouraged by the powers that be to join. So it shows you that there is a real desire among the priests for change.”

According to Fr Brendan Quinlavin, spokesperson for the Killaloe Diocese, Bishop Kieran O’Reilly has been engaged in a “listening” process over the last 12 months designed to allow lay people to have more say in the diocese.

“The ACP is concerned that there is not a proper dialogue between lay people and the church hierarchy but that has been happening in this diocese for more than a year. The Bishop [O’Reilly] has been fully involved in this process so I would reject any suggestion that we are not interested in taking the opinions of the people of the parish on board.

“There are issues of Church doctrine that cannot be dealt with at a diocesan level and would need the input of the Vatican, the Curia and indeed the Pope to change. But that is not to say that we in the Killaloe Diocese can not do everything we can to empower people to become active members of the Church.” Wh ile t h e re wo n’t b e t o o m u c h ra in t h is we e k (3/ 4 m m s), it w ill b e c h illy, g e t t in g w in t e r c o ld by t h e we e ke n d , wra p u p !

A MAN who used a hammer to bang on the door of an Ennis pub in protest over noise has been fined € 200.

Patrick Cunningham (49) used to hammer to strike a door near Kelly’s Bar on Carmody Street, Ennis on November 14 (2011).

Mr Cunningham, with an address at 3 Carmody Street, Ennis, denied charges of criminal damage and provoking a breach of the peace at Ennis District Court on Friday.

The court heard that two witnesses observed Mr Cunningham striking the door with the hammer.

John Kelly, who was working in the bar at the time, was outside the premises, when he saw Mr Cunningham leave his house on 3 Carmody Street.

He told the court that the accused came out onto the street with a hammer and struck an adjoining door of the bar. Mr Kelly said that Mr Cunningham then turned around and walked back into his house.

Veronica Cassidy, Mr Kelly’s girlfriend, was also on Carmody Street when she saw Mr Cunningham strike the door with the hammer.

Garda Colin Egan, of Ennis Garda Station, said that at the time of the incident, CCTV cameras in the area were pointed in a different direction.

Garda Egan told the court that a slight mark had been left on the door but there was no “substantial damage.”

Mr Cunningham admitted that he had struck the door lightly with the side of a hammer.

Asked by defence solicitor Tara Godfrey why had he acted in such a fashion, Mr Cunningham said, “It was noisy and it was driving me mad at the time.”

Inspector Tom Kennedy put to the accused that he had walked onto the street at 9.30pm with a hammer in his hand.

Mr Cunningham said, ‘I was made at the flipping noise.”

Mr Kelly told the court that he had not received any complaint from the accused regarding noise from the pub.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy struck out the public order charge against Mr Cunningham following an application from Ms Godfrey. He convicted the accused of criminal damage and imposed a € 200 fine.

Ms Godfrey told the court that her client, originally from Dublin, had battled problems with alcohol.

She said Mr Cunningham apologised for any inconvenience and distress caused.

THERE have been calls for Ennis Town Council to drop a controversial charge for use of facilities at the Lees Road Sports and Amenity Complex.

Last February members of Ennis Town Council voted through byelaws which allowed for the introduction of a new € 40 charge to be levied on clubs for the use of facilities at Lees Road.

It followed a number of meetings where strong opposition was expressed to the charge. According to the council the charge is needed to cover the high costs of maintaining Lees Road.

The area charged for relates to a section of re-developed track that borders woodland at the rear of the facility’s synthetic running track and all weather soccer pitch.

The November meeting of Ennis Town Council heard calls for the charge to be dropped.

The meeting was attended by representatives of local athletics clubs.

In a motion, Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind) proposed that the byelaws be amended “with regard to the charging of fees for the cross country track”.

Cllr O’Shea said the charges for a 600 metre section of cross-country track is unfair. He said clubs are being “victimized” as individuals and other groups are not being charged for the use of the same section of ground.

“This is a nonsense. That charge needs to be dropped,” he added.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said athletics groups are being “charged on the double” for the use of the synthetic track and the cross-country track.

She said athletic clubs had already paid € 2,000 to Lees Road in the past five months. Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) also called for the byelaws to be amended.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said, “It’s unfair, this particular byelaw, it should be amended.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind), who is chairman of the Lees Road management committee, said the matter should be raised at the council’s budget meeting.

He added, “There has to be a reasonable charge for Lees Road. I would hate to see a situation where Lees Road has to close for two or three days because of a lack of finances.”

Cllr Neylon said the committee had never received a complaint from any of the clubs using Lees Road.

Yesterday’s discussion followed a recent meeting between sports clubs and some councillors in the Auburn Lodge Hotel.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said the council should proceed with a promised review of byelaws and also hear from Lees Road general manager Tim Forde.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said he agreed with Cllr Meaney’s suggestion that the byelaws be reviewed.

Town Clerk Leonard Cleary acknowledged the effort of voluntary organisations.

He said it was not “procedurally possible” for the council to change the byelaws immediately. Mr Cleary added, “The Lees Road facility is a significant cost to the council…there are significant ongoing maintenance costs there.”

The matter is to be discussed at the next meeting of the Lees Road management committee.

A LARGE amount of stone has reportedly been stolen from walls on sections of the Burren Way walking trail in Corofin. The stone has been removed from privately owned boundary walls in the Wood Road area of Corofin and the Vigo area of Kilnaboy in recent weeks.

Limestone pavement exported from the Burren is being sold for premium prices in parts of the UK and even countries in mainland Europe. While it is currently unclear if this stone was removed for sale abroad, the removal of limestone pavement from the Burren has become a growing problem in recent years.

It is currently illegal to remove limestone pavement from any area which falls within the Burren National Park.

“The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) police the Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) inside the national park but there are other areas which are vulnerable,” said Burren-based geologist and member of the UK and Ireland Limestone Pavement Biodiversity group, Stephen Ward.

“This Burren limestone certainly does end up in garden centres in parts of the UK and I would suspect that it also goes as far away as Holland and Germany. There is a European-wide market for it.

“It is estimated that as much as 8,000 tonnes of this stone are ex- ported every year form Ireland. So there certainly is a market for it. The Burren National Park is protected and limestone pavement is considered to be a priority habitat for conservation in these areas.”

Limestone pavement has been offered to sale in many garden centres in the UK for the last 40 years. The spread of modern machinery coupled with the rising cost of the decorative stones themselves has made it easier for people to excavate and export the stone for sale.

IRELAND’S two national fisheries organisations are at odds over plans to construct a large organic salmon farm off the Clare coast. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) last week came out against the farm in its current form, saying that there has been a major lack of research into the impact that it would have on the local environment. The farm is being proposed by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), who claim that the farm could create as many as 500 jobs for the local economy. BIM have launched a pe- riod of public consultation into the proposed farm, with agencies such as An Taisce and the Galway City Salmon Angling Association also coming out against the proposal. The IFI was formed in 2010 after the amalgamation of the Central Fisheries Board and the seven former Regional Fisheries Boards. While the IFI and the BIM are State bodies, the IFI is responsible for river fisheries, while the BIM is tasked with promoting offshore, sea fishing activities. The IFI last week claimed that the fish farm could cause a major infestation of the salmon smolts that currently spawn in rivers in North Clare and South Galway, including large wild salmon stocks on the River Corrib. In an official submission to the BIM proposal, the IFI claim that there is a “considerable risk” that sea lice from the proposed sea fish farm will affect salmon migrating to rivers in the area. The group also questioned the methodology used by BIM, saying that recent research into the salmon migration in the Galway Bay area had been overlooked. According to BIM, the proposed fish farm has the potential to produce 15,000 tonnes of organic-certified salmon, create more than 500 jobs and inject more than € 14.5 million into the local economy.

THE prospect of having fine weather for a long weekend could be greatly improved if the power to determine one bank holiday a year was granted to Met Eireann.

An Ennis councillor is calling for the likes of Jean Byrne to have the final say on when bank holidays take place, in order to ensure a greater chance of the sun coming out.

In a motion submitted to the November meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) called on the council to “request that the Minister at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation allow Ireland’s Meteorological Service decide the date of at least one public holiday every year”.

Cllr Meaney told the meeting that Ireland had been plagued by bad weather in recent years, adding that it seemed like every bank holiday weekend was “abysmally worse than the last”.

He said if climate change is going to have such a major impact on Ireland’s weather, the government was going to have to start “thinking outside the box” to ensure people enjoyed a decent standard of life.

Cllr Meaney said it was “nonsensical” to have bank holidays at a time of the year where you are guaranteed to have driving wind and rain.

“We are going to have to look at giving consideration to one floating bank holiday weekend which would be decided by the likes of Jean Byrne or Aidan Nulty to have some chance of having a bank holiday weekend with fine weather.”

Cllr Meaney’s proposal was supported by the Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF).

However, Deputy Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) quipped that it might not be best to leave it up to Met Eireann because even they did not always get the weather right.

A MAN has received a suspended sentence for a “road rage” type incident in Ennis earlier this year.

Wayne Donnellan (31) struck Denis McElligott (53) during an altercation at Carmody Street, Ennis, on January 3. Mr McElligott said that Mr Donnellan had cut him off at high speed when driving through the Maid of Erin Roundabout.

The court heard that Mr McElligott got out to talk to Mr Donnellan after both cars were stopped at traffic lights near the old ESB offices on Carmody Street.

Mr Donnellan, with an address at Fiach Rua, Connolly, denied the charge of assault causing harm at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

Mr McElligott told the court that he got out of his car to tell Mr Donnellan to slow down. He said, “All I remember is getting a belt of fist. He was dragging me to the other side of the road.” A witness, whose car was stopped behind, told the court that he saw Mr Donnellan strike Mr McElligott and drag him across the road.

Both parties made statements to gardaí on the same day. Mr Donnellan told the court that his pregnant girlfriend and two other children were in the car with him.

He denied cutting Mr McElligott off, saying that his car had not en- tered the roundabout when Mr Donnellan drove through. Mr Donnellan said that when he stopped on Carmody Street he could see Mr McElligott gesturing at him.

He said, “He was yelling, screaming. He wasn’t in a good state of mind to talk about anything.” He told the court he got out to talk to Mr McElligott to “protect his family”. Mr Donnellan denied punching the victim but admitted slapping him in the ear. He said that he dragged Mr McElligott to the other side of the road for his own safety. “I was just worried about getting my family home,” he added. Insp Tom Kennedy put it to Mr Donnellan that he had “behaved in a road rage type manner”.

Mr Casey said there was a conflict between the evidence of State’s witnesses. Judge Aeneas McCarthy said he was satisfied, based on medical evidence handed into the court, that Mr Donnellan had assaulted Mr McElligott. The court heard Mr Donnellan has a previous conviction for assault. Mr Casey said his client had not initiated the contact.

“He is stronger, younger and he hit the man,” he added. Mr Casey described it as an “extremely unfortunate incident.” Judge McCarthy imposed a 10-month sentence. He suspended it for a period of two years on condition Mr Donnellan be of good beahviour.

AMERICAN football is being credited as the unlikely saviour of the tourism season in Clare this year, with the recent Notre Dame versus Navy Homecoming Game providing a much-needed visitors boost for the county.

This year’s London Olympics had a negative effect on the number of foreign tourists numbers visiting Clare, contrary to what many tourism organisations had predicted before the games.

According to year-to-date visitor numbers recorded at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Centre, the Olympics and Euro 2012 dampened down the number of individual tourists, both from Ireland and abroad, coming to the Cliffs.

According to Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, package or bus tours have saved the Cliffs from a large slump in individual tourists brought about by the large numbers visiting London for the Olympics and the number of Irish people who travelled to Poland for the Euro 2012.

The visitors centre, which is by far Clare’s most visited tourist site, is used by many in the industry as a barometer for the overall health of the tourism sector in county.

Year-to-date visitor numbers for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience are slightly ahead of 2011 figures.

Group tours have been performing well this year, especially in the autumn period, but individual visitors have not been quite as strong, according to Ms Webster.

“The Notre Dame versus Navy American football match at the start of September really helped pull up the numbers after a pretty poor summer. We saw a decline in numbers around the time of the Euro 2012 campaign and the Olympics.”

An estimated 35,000 American football fans travelled to Ireland for the Homecoming Game which took place in early September, a massive increase on the 10,000 who travelled to Ireland the last time a seasoned American football game was staged here.

The estimated boost to the country from the match was estimated at around € 70 million. The event was also seen as a major point to advertise The Gathering to Americans who may decide to visit Ireland in 2013.

A WEST Clare community is rallying around a shocked family to rebuild their home after it was struck by lightning at the weekend.

A gaping hole was blown open on the roof of the home of Barbara and Martin Haugh in Farrihy, Kilkee, shortly after 4.15pm on Saturday.

The lightening also blew out the electricity in the family home and the ceilings in two bedrooms collapsed. A nearby mobile home belonging to their daughter and her family was also hit, but no one was injured in the incident.

Ms Haugh, who was inside the house with her son Martin Jnr (23) and her six-year-old grandchild, was blown off her feet when the lightning struck the house, and although she was extremely shocked, she was unhurt.

Martin Snr was stranding outside when the freak incident occurred.

“It was very frightening but at least no one was hurt.

“The lightning came in through the phone line and my wife, who was standing at the front door, got blown down the hall. She wasn’t hurt at all but she was very shocked by it,” said Mr Haugh.

“All the electrical appliances just blew up.”

Mr Haugh admitted that he did not have insurance but said he did not think it would have covered this act of God.

The local community has already begun to rally around the family, with the power restored on Sunday by a local electrician.

The hole in the roof was also patched up, and a major clean-up began yesterday (Monday).

Local people described the Saturday afternoon weather in Kilkee, which included hailstones and lightening, as “horrific”.