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THE Shannon region is ideally placed to cash in on a new tourism boom coming all the way from China, provided the proper marketing structures can be put in place to attract visitors from the world’s fastest growing economy.

This potential for the region to place itself in the shop window for Chinese tourist traffic was showcased at a Shannon Chamber of Commerce seminar last week that brought together leading Chinese academics and Tourism Ireland’s head of developing markets.

The seminar – entitled ‘Chinese Tourism on the Move: Targeting the Affluent Chinese Consumer’ – was hosted by the Shannon College of Hotel Management and supported by Shannon Development, Shannon Airport Authority and Tourism Ireland.

“Ireland has Approved Designated Status with China, which means that groups such as summer/winter schools, business tourism and spe- cial interest groups can be targeted,” Tourism Ireland’s Jim Paul told the gathering.

“A starting point for the Shannon region would be to build visits around the Cliffs of Moher, which gained a lot of air time during the Chinese vice premier’s visit to Shannon earlier this year. Ireland is often confused with Iceland, but once ‘Riverdance’ and the Cliffs of Moher are mentioned, there is an instant association,” he added.

A post-seminar workshop, facilitated by Kevin Thompstone, of the Thompstone Group, and former chief executive of Shannon Development, selected a number of areas for follow up as a first-stage attempt to position Ireland and the Shannon region as a preferred destination for Chinese tourism.

A less-restrictive visa process, direct access to Ireland, a Chinesefriendly standard for hotels, and group membership of Tourism Ireland’s Country Club to facilitate inmarket visits are listed as tier-one action items.

“Described by Emeritus Professor, Management School of Asian Studies, UCC, Deirdre Hunt, as ‘pioneering in many ways for the fifty-fifty Irish Chinese contributions and the increased depth and richness of material presented’, the seminar is but a first-step by Shannon Chamber to tackle the issues which hinder positioning the Shannon region as an attractor of a new influx of visitors to the region, from a vast country with a kindred love of family, place and space,” said Helen Downes, chief executive of Shannon Chamber of Commerce.

CLARE’S vast Diaspora is to be tapped in an effort to create new jobs in the county, with the Clare County Development Board throw ing its weight behind the project being promoted by the Connect Organisation.

“We will succeed. We can deliver jobs in Clare by using our contacts abroad,” Connect Ireland’s Alan Gallagher said when address a meeting of County Development Board.

In backing this drive at stimulating jobs growth in the county, Clare County Council enterprise officer, Majella McNamara revealed that “many leading companies have already chosen Clare as a location for investment.

“The purpose of this new initiative is to attract smaller, more mobile companies to locate here too. The smaller companies can set up operations more quickly with the result that new jobs can be created a lot faster in smaller locations, such as Ennis and other parts of the county.

“What we need is to have suitable, attractive business space and to showcase and sell all the attractive aspects of the county,” she added.

Connect Ireland is the company appointed by the government and the IDA to deliver the Succeed in Ireland initiative with the aim of creating 5,000 jobs in Ireland within five years as part of the Government’s 2012 Action Plan for Jobs.

The initiative works by encouraging ordinary people and businesses to use their international connections to encourage companies to set up in Ireland.

An individual who introduces a company that subsequently invests in Ireland and creates new jobs will receive a financial reward of € 4, 500 if three jobs are created up to a max- imum of € 150,000.

“We would urge the people of Clare to think about the people you know all over the world: friends, family, old school friends and teammates, neighbours and business contacts.

“Just check in with them, you might be surprised at where they work, who they know and just what that quick email or phone call could result in in terms of job creation in Clare,” added Ms McNamara.

HUNDREDS of pilgrims from Clare are set to attend the Eucharistic Congress that is expected to attract over 40,000 people to the RDS in Dublin between June 10 to 17 next.

The Clare contingent will be led by Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly, while a spokesperson for the diocese has revealed that busloads of pilgrims from all parts of the country will attend the weeklong event.

“This is the 50th Congress and it is a very big event,” said Killaloe Diocesan secretary Brendan Quinlivan. “There is a very big ecumenical theme to this year’s Congress and the dialogue between the different churches.

“There are people coming from all over the world to this Congress – from eastern Europe, from Africa and Clare will be very well represented with people from all parishes attending,” added Fr Quinlivan.

“Next Monday is the big ecumenical day of the Congress,” revealed Fr Jerry Carey, “and young people from around the country will be gathering in the RDS on that day for special prayer services. There are young people from all over Clare who will be attending,” he added.

Eucharistic Congress organiser in the Diocese of Killaloe, Essie Hayes, revealed that many volunteers from the county will play their part transforming the RDS centre in Ballsbridge into a Eucharistic Village.

“It’s all about volunteerism,” she said, “and a big part of the village will be an exhibition that will remember when the last Eucharistic Congress came to Ireland in 1932,” he added.

Over 1,000 people from Clare attended the 1932 gathering, the 31st Congress since it was established in 1881 the Vatican as a gathering of clergy and laity to bear witness to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

MOVES are being made at Ennis Town Council level to mark the historic 1828 election of Daniel O’Connell in Clare by staging an annual event in honour of the ‘Liberator’ in the county capital.

The cause of O’Connell in Clare, which has been championed by a number of local historians in the county, will be taken to the floor of Ennis Town Council this week, with a motion being tabled by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) expected to receive the unanimous backing of the ninemember local authority.

O’Connell was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ennis on July 5, 1828. Having been proposed as a candidate by The O’Gorman Mahon and seconded by Tom Steele, he beat Vesey Fitzgerald in the election.

It was this victory that sparked the granting of Catholic Emancipation the following year, while Cllr Flynn’s motion to honour one of the most famous campaigns in Clare electoral history is being timed to coincide with the 185th anniversary of the election in 2013.

“We want O’Connell recognised in Clare by having a special day annually in his honour,” said local historian Declan Barron. “By having a Daniel O’Connell Day in Ennis and having that day set as July 5 every year, a whole new industry and interest can be cultivated.

“Daniel O’Connell’s election wasn’t only a turning point in Irish history, but it was a turning point in world history. That’s because it was the world’s first democratic revolution. Are we just the fighting Irish, who remember patriots because they were involved in wars or were killed?

“It is the first time that democracy was used to rebel against the status quo and the ruling powers. It was on July 5 that he was elected and it should probably be called Democracy Day, after Independence Day the day before. 2013 would be an ideal year to start this, on the 185th anniversary but also because it could become part of the ‘Gathering’ project,” added Mr Barron.

GAY and bisexual young people living in Clare are more likely to contemplate and attempt suicide than their heterosexual piers.

That is the opinion of openly gay Ennis priest Fr Bernard Lynch and consultant psychiatrist Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, who believe that the lack of positive, openly-gay role models in the county can leave young Clare people feeling isolated and possibly suicidal.

Following the closure of the volunteer group Gay Clare nearly two years ago, there is no longer any Clare-based organisation to cater for the needs of rural gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered people.

According to Dr Bhamjee, many young gay people can find themselves completely isolated and in a very desperate position.

“People in rural Ireland can find it much more difficult to deal with their gayness – that is the case in many parts of Ireland and in rural areas abroad as well,” said Dr Bhamjee. “The problem is that they don’t have anywhere to express their sexuality and this can be very, very isolating for a person. In some ways, younger people are more open and more understanding, but there is still a huge stigma.” For a full inter view with

Fr Ber na rd Lynch, tur n to page 19.

ENNIS General Hospital has under gone significant changes in the services it offers patients in the last three years. While the County Clare hospital has lost its 24-hour accident and emergency service along with its acute services, the number of day surgeries and non-acute procedures it is undertaking has grown significantly.

In 2008 there were no cardiac day procedures carried out at the hospital. In 2011 however there were 72 such procedures undertaken by specialised staff.

Similarly in 2008 there were no gastroenterology, geriatrics, maxillo-facial surgery or plastic surgery day procedures carried out at the hospital.

Three years later, 228 plastic surgeries, 143 gastroenterology procedures, 119 maxillo-facial surgeries, and three geriatric procedures were completed in one year on the hospital campus.

The most significant increase was in vascular surgery, where the number of procedures in a year increased by 400 per cent from 28 in 2008 to 140 in 2011.

There was also a significant increase in work carried out in the urology department from 69 procedures in 2008 to 342 procedures in 2011 – a jump of 395.65 per cent.

Gynaecology procedures increased by 43.75 per cent in that time period, while dentistry increased by 27.79 per cent.

With the change in the hospital’s status within the Mid Western Hospitals Group medical procedures and surgical procedures had dropped by 35.64 per cent and 12.59 per cent respectively.

CEO of the Mid Western Hospitals Group, Ann Doherty has previously explained, “We are engaged in build- ing a single hospital system. If that sounds radical let me assure you that the Trust will not be an exercise in centralisation of services at the expense of the smaller hospitals. It is significant that changes in medicine and technology are leading to the establishment of region-wide specialist departments in fields such as radiology and cardiology. This had led to dramatic improvements such as in Ennis where tele-radiology was introduced in April 2011 as the main method of reporting X-rays and the development of outreach cardiology services such as the heart watch programme.”

A new 50-bed unit at Ennis General Hospital is scheduled to open at the end of the month, which will provide new facilities to go with the procedure including two new wards with 50 new beds and en-suites, and facilities for CT scanning, operating theatres, endoscope facilities and day surgery.

SHORTLY after the ballot boxes opened on Friday morning, it was clear that the people of Clare had voted overwhelmingly to accept the Stability Treaty, and there were few if any protest votes among those tallied.

At 2.09pm, Clare’s Returning Officer Patrick Wallace announced that the people of Clare had resoundingly accepted the treaty.

As many as 26,121 people, or 65.7 per cent of the poll, had voted yes the previous day, while 13,613 or 34.3 per cent had voted no. Less than half a per cent of the votes were spoilt.

While the turnout was low, there also appeared to be no orchestrated protest vote against the Government.

Even in areas like Parteen, who are concerned about the proposed Limerick Northern distributory road cutting through their village, there seemed to have been no orchestrated protest vote. The Parteen ballot box opened in Clare showed a tally of 130 for, with 72 against. The second Parteen box was opened as part of the Limerick City constituency.

There was a slight swing towards the no camp in Shannon Town but the yes vote still won the day.

In the Shannon Electoral area, an estimated 61 per cent of voters voted for the treaty, with 39 per cent voting against. According to the tallies, there was one “no box” in Shannon Town. However, the tallymen and women missed a box and a half of votes from St Aidan’s School Ballycasey. It was estimated that the town voted 54 per cent in favour of the treaty and 46 per cent against, which made it the lowest yes vote in the county.

In total, the joint tally between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil accounted for 78 per cent of the boxes. Despite missing a few boxes, the tally was still within one per cent of the overall result, predicting a yes vote of 64.8 per cent.

The north Clare area was the biggest supporter of the treaty, according to the tallies. As many as 67.8 per cent of people in the Ennistymon Electoral Area voted in favour of the treaty, with both Ennis electoral areas returning a joint yes vote of 66 per cent.

Kilrush Electoral Area returned a yes vote of 65.5 per cent, with Killaloe Electoral Area supporting the treaty by 64.73 per cent.

Shannon Electoral Area had the lowest yes vote, but still voted in favour of the referendum by a margin of 61 per cent to 39 per cent.

THE voter turn-out for the Stability Referendum last week was the lowest in the county in almost a decade.

Campaigners from all sides said they were disappointed with the 49.8 per cent turn-out in Clare, which was just short of the national average. However, the large number of people staying at home at the time of a referendum is not unusual in Clare’s recent history.

Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.

This was a huge drop from the previous referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for ‘Recognition for Local Government’.

In March 2002, just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turn out for a referen dum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on the Citizenship.

From then until last Thursday, the turn-out remained over 50 per cent in the Banner county, with 52.48 per cent voting on Lisbon 1 in June 2008, 56.9 per cent voting on the second Lisbon referendum in October 2009, while 56.12 per cent voted on the House of the Oireachtais Inquiries and 57.95 per cent on Judges Remu- neration during the Presidential election in October 2011.

Last week’s drop below 50 per cent was a disappointment to the majority of people involved in the campaign. Some blamed referendum fatigue, others a lack of knowledge on the subject.

“An element of referendum fatigue was built into the turn-out. I was disappointed that more people didn’t choose to vote but it is the norm for referendums that you don’t have a large turn-out,” said Fine Gael TD Joe Carey.

Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy said he believed the low turn-out was due to frustration and annoyance among people. There was also an element of “people not understanding it” he maintained.

THE HSE have had difficulty filling nursing posts in the mid-west area which includes counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

That is according to Regional Director of Operations, HSE West, John Hennessy who was responding to criticism that retired staff continue to be employed within the HSE on a part-time basis.

Mr Hennessy maintained that staff were only re-employed in certain circumstances and for a short period of time. He added, “When we had permanent nursing posts in the mid-west we had difficulty finding someone to take up the post.”

Clare County Councillor Tom McNamara (FF) criticised the HSE for its re-hiring practices.

“There are people working in the HSE that have retired in the last five years taking posts that could be filled by young graduates,” he said.

“This [practice] is forcing young people out of the country, while these people’s pensions are not touched because they can work a day or two to bring them up to their former wage before it is touched.”

He proposed that the HSE take new people into the health service on a 12-month contract instead to cover any gaps in the system.

Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources, said it was HSE policy not to rehire people on pensions.

“In circumstances where we found ourselves having to re-hire pensioners it was only in extreme circumstances where we do this. This would also be for a very short period and only where a very specific specialist was needed,” he said.

“There is no financial gain in this to the pensioner. During this period their pension is abated. It is an issue we very carefully monitor.”

This week Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy proposed that selective redundancy be used in the public sector. “The problem is we are losing people we want to keep and we are keeping people we probably need to lose. We really are going to have to get the unions engaged on that and be supportive of that. I am 100 per cent supportive of the Croke Park Agreement because in fairness they [public sector staff] are working very hard,” he told The Clare People .

“But like everything else there is dead weight in a lot of organisations that has to be picked out and say no you don’t serve a purpose anymore and you are not doing what we need you to do and those are areas we have to tackle.”

A LEGAL case involving a thirdlevel student from Ballyvaughan will be appealed to the Supreme Court later this year, in a test case which could see full maintenance grants restored to thousands of students in Ireland.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) confirmed last week that they have decided to appeal the case taken on behalf of Medb McCarthy, from Murtyclough, outside Ballyvaughan, after receiving advice from their legal team.

Medb, along with other students Robert Johnson from Monaghan and Iesha Rowan from Oranmore in Galway, are fighting to restore their non-adjacent grants, which were removed following changes in the Department of Education criteria which came into effect in September.

The Student Services Act increases the distance that a non-adjacent student would have to live away from the educational institution from 24 kilometres to 45 kilometres. According to the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn (LAB), this change was introduced to reflect the improved public transport and general transport infrastructure in the country in recent years.

Under the new rules, Mebh, who is a third-year Arts student at NUI, Galway, would be considered to live “adjacent” to the university – in an area where commuting each day would be possible.

With no effective public transport in place in the North Clare area, Mebh will not be able to reach Galway City for college each day until after 11am. Despite working to support herself during her time in college, she is not in a position to make up the shortfall in the grants payment.

Mebh is currently in receipt of a grant of between € 6,100 and € 6,700 per year to go towards rented accommodation and maintenance while she studies in NUI, Galway. If the decision is not reversed, it will lead to a loss of between € 2,440 to € 3,900 towards her maintenance in college next year.

The case is being seen as a test case by hundreds of students in Clare who will have their grants reduced if the new system is enforced.

An initial legal challenge was heard in February of this year, with Mr Justice John Hedigan reserving his judgement for more than six weeks while he considered the arguments made.

When the judgement was released in April, Justice Hedigan ruled that grants cuts were in the public interest given the dire financial circumstances facing the country. However, Vice President of the USI, Conor Murphy, confirmed last week that the students organisation would be appealing the decision.