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EAST Clare is reeling from the shock announcement that Finsa Forest Products, the area’s main employer for over 50 years, is to close its doors, with the last remaining employees at the chipboard factory in Scariff being laid off before Christmas. The last remaining 20 jobs left at the landmark industrial plant are to go, as the factory that has been part and parcel of East Clare life since the late 1950s finally shuts its doors . The closure has been described as a hammer-blow to the region, with Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes, leading the criticism of a decision that he has labelled as “a disaster for the region that what was once East Clare’s biggest employer is now gone. For the people who face losing their jobs before Christmas, it is very hard, but it is also hard for the entire region because it shows up that East Clare is now an unemployment blackspot,” added Mayor Hayes. The closure of what was once Scariff’s flagship employer comes less than a year after the most recent round of cutbacks at the factory saw 52 people laid off in early January. As recently as 2009, there were 160 people employed at the plant, while at peak production it had 300 workers and was responsible directly for another 200 jobs. The development of the chipboard factory had its genesis at the inaugural meeting of the Scariff Development Association in 1957 when Nenagh-based industrialist Jeremiah O’Driscoll revealed that German industrial firm Aicher Chipboard wanted to expand into Ireland. A site in Scariff was subsequently selected and thanks to a government grant of £186,000 and a local contribution of £40,000, the factory costing £486,000 was built. The first sod on the factory was turned 53 years ago while Chipboard Ltd, Scariff went into full production on December 17, 1959 – 52 years ago this coming Saturday.

RIVER levels in Ennis are being monitored twice a day in Ennis as authorities remain vigilant of flooding.

Records from Met Eireann show that the total accumulated rainfall recorded in County Clare from January 1 to November 30 stood at 872.2mm, more than the 845.1mm recorded during the entire of 2010.

In a statement, Clare County council says this December is also expected to see the mean rainfall total for the month being exceeded with further heavy rain forecast.

Ennis Town Manager Dollard said that river levels around Ennis are monitored twice a day and that the council would continue to monitor water levels throughout the winter period.

He stated, “Our experiences from severe flooding in Ennis, and East and North Clare in late 2009 have taught us that being prepared in advance is key to effectively managing flooding when it does occur.

As well as reviewing information contained on the council website, I would urge members of the public to visit www.flooding.ie to familiarise themselves with the range of actions that can be taken in advance of, during and after flooding events.”

Mr Dollard was speaking as Clare County Council launched an online advice and information guide to raise awareness of the importance of preparing for severe weather during winter.

The ‘Be Winter-Ready’ guide has been published on the council website, www.clarecoco.ie.

Work on flood prevention measures is currently underway at a number of locations around Ennis. Pipeline work has been completed on the Lough Girroga Flood Relief Scheme while additional site investigation works are due to start at Fioruisce on the Gort Road.

According to the council, the Watery Road/Elm Park Flood relief scheme will be placed on e-tenders. A temporary pumping system for the storm drain has been put in place at the Watery Road to cater for high river levels until permanent works are in place.

The council says it is monitoring the Fergus and Claureen river lev- els.

The planning process for the St Flannans, Toberteascain – Ballybeg Lake flood relief works has been delayed due to a requirement to carry out specialised works.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Pat Breen has said that the Government remains committed to the construction of phase two of the Ennis Main Drainage Scheme.

Last week it was announced that the Office of Public Works (OPW) had terminated the tendering process with immediate effect.

Deputy Breen stated that Minster for State with responsibility for the OPW, Brian Hayes, is committed to funding the € 12.8m scheme, as previously outlined in the 2012 capital works programme.

THE TOWN rate in Shannon will not change next year and remains at € 2.11 for the third successive year. That is according to the Town Manager, Bernadette Kinsella, in her annual draft budget which was presented to the local town council last week.

Expenditure in Shannon is projected to drop by € 4, 500 next year – from € 149, 500 to € 145,000. Income will increase from € 39, 500 to € 41,000 in 2012, according to estimates.

The amount of money spent in a number of areas will reduce next year, including office expenses and advertising; light, heat and power; travel and subsistence; audit fees; training and the town twinning programme with Guingamp in France.

The one area where spending is poised to increase is the community scheme which is estimated to increase from € 35,000 to € 36, 500 next year.

Recoupment of the community scheme is also expected to increase, from € 21,000 to € 22, 500.

“This scheme has been very positively received in the town and has done much to tackle the problem of litter throughout the area,” said the Manager.

In her report to the council, Ms Kinsella stated that the draft budget has been prepared “in a continuing difficult economic climate”.

“This is reflected in a reduction of funds available from Clare County Council and the maintenance of commercial rates at 2010 levels in recognition of the demands being placed on the business community,” she stated.

The level of demand “does not, for the second successive year, necessitate an increase in the town rate,” she added.

General office and operational expenses have been reduced by € 1,000, which has been done “on the basis of cutbacks under all of these cost headings and will require strict monitoring and review to ensure expenditure remains within budget provisions”.

The council’s annual budget meet- ing was told that a draft Shannon Town and Environs Local Area Plan is currently in preparation to cover the period 2012 – 2018. This will replace the existing Shannon component of the South Clare Local Area Plan 2009 – 2015.

The integrated plan will be in place next year and will form the basis for a high level strategy that will promote the opportunities available within Shannon, the airport lands, the free zone and Westpark, according to the council. An extensive consultation process will get underway in the coming weeks.

THERE will be no increase in rates in Kilrush in 2012, but local authority chiefs have stopped short of implementing an appeal from councillors in the West Clare capital for businesses in the town to be given a boost by reducing rates for the coming year.

Rates for the new year are to remain at 2011 levels, with Town Manager Nora Kaye telling in her estimates of expenses for the next 12 months – that will be debated at a special budget meeting this Thursday – that she is “proposing a zero per cent increase in commercial rates, being mindful of the current economic climate and the difficulties that same poses for local businesses”.

Ahead of the meeting, which will reveal that Kilrush Town Council will have a budget of € 1,348,896 in 2012 as opposed to € 1,387,843 in 2011, Ms Kaye has also told councillors that “due to the current climate, an increase has been provided in refunds and irrecoverable rates”.

The council decision not to cut rates for cash-strapped businesses in 2012 comes after a year that has been described as “very problematic” when it came to the collection of rates in 2011.

“Payments by customers continue to be very problematic. Rates collection at June 30, 2011 stood at 31 per cent in comparison to 39 per cent at June 30, 2010,” Town Clerk, John Corry revealed in September.

“Kilrush Town Council is dependent on rates income to maintain its operations as it represents 38.4 per cent of annual income. The slowing payment pattern highlighted above has resulted in a considerable negative impact on cash flow.

“Kilrush Town Council is acutely aware of the commercial difficulties which rate payers are experiencing, and has adopted a practical approach in terms of payment plans to facilitate rate payers.

“However, where customers fail to engage to deal with amounts outstanding, recovery of the debt by legal means becomes necessary,” he added.

Also included in the estimates is provision for the fact that “Kilrush Town Council’s allocation of the Local Government Fund will be cut by 8.98 per cent for 2012”.

It is also forecast that income for the council from parking will be down by € 45,000 in 2012. This is because of concessions that have been implemented in the town centre.

AN invitation has been extended to the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins to be named a freeman of Ennis. Ennis Town Council has written to the President offering him the freedom of the town. Last week’s monthly meeting heard that the council has not yet received an official response. If the Clare-raised former Labour TD does accept the offer, he would follow in the footsteps of Muhammad Ali. The former World Boxing Champion was named the first ever freeman of Ennis when he visited the town in September 2009. Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) raised the issue of conferring the honourary title on Mr Higgins at last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council. Town Clerk Leonard Cleary told the meeting that the Council had not received a response from Áras an Uachtaráin. Mr Cleary also confirmed that the President would not be attending an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of Glór in Ennis. In a letter, Aifric Hyland, secretariat, thanked the council for the invitation. She explained, “Your thoughtfulness in extending the invitation is very much appreciated but the President regrets that, due to the extent of his commitments, it is not possible for him to accept. “The President sends his good wishes and trusts that you will appreciate the reasons for his unavailability on this occasion”. Mr Higgins has strong Clare connections. He was raised by his uncle and aunt at their home in Ballycar and went to school in St Flannan’s College. Prior to taking up a job with the ESB in Galway, he worked in Progress International in Shannon.

EAST Clare district court sittings are to return to Killaloe for a trial period of three months.

O’Donovan’s bar and restaurant, Derg Court, Ballina, Killaloe, will host the sittings from January 3.

The court will sit on the first Tuesday of every month and will also sit on extra days – on the six second Tuesdays (January, March, May, July, October and December). It will sit at O’Donovan’s for three months initially, with the option of extending the lease on a monthly basis.

The announcement by the Courts Service came after a series of temporary measures in relation to a court venue for Killaloe. The court had sat at the Lakeside Hotel for a number of years. It emerged last year that the Lakeside would not be a long-term option. It was then moved to the Kincora Hotel after months of searching for a venue by the Courts Service.

However the Kincora Hotel went into receivership and a decision was then taken to move the September, October, November and December sittings of the court to Ennis Courthouse.

The old courthouse in Killaloe is in a state of disrepair and funding is not available to renovate it.

The Courts Service has said at all times that the aim was to secure a permanent venue for the East Clare court sittings. Court sittings in Tulla and Scarriff are a thing of the past after a decision was taken to move all east Clare cases to Killaloe, a few years ago. Both members of the legal profession and gardaí have said that it would be a bad move to have the east Clare sittings in Ennis in the long-term and say that a permanent move to Ennis isn’t something that should be contemplated.

The decision on the venue for Killaloe comes amid widespread changes to court sittings across the county, which will come into effect in the New Year.

As revealed in The Clare People last month, there are proposals to centralise the service.

Under the changes, there will be specific dates for crime hearings, separate dates for civil hearings and other listed dates for hearings related to traffic offences. Criminal cases will be heard on Wednesdays, while traffic and civil cases will go before the presiding judge on Fridays.

Also, most of the hearings will be centralised to Ennis. While Kilrush cases will continue to be heard in the West Clare town, cases from North Clare are to be moved to Ennis. Shannon cases are already heard in Ennis.

A NORTH Clare developer who had a € 10.5 million judgement order by Anglo Irish Bank secured against him in October has said he is in advanced negotiations with NAMA to work out a business plan. Airtricity applied to a court for committal for failing to comply with an instalment order imposed on John Flanagan, of Ballyvarragh House, Doolin.

Sean Costello, a business development manager with Airtricity, told Ennistymon District Court on Wednesday that € 16,784 was due. He said that no payments were made on foot of an instalment order. Payments of € 1,000 a month were to have been paid, but none had been made, he said. Solicitor Jim Finnegan, for Airtricity, said he was seeking an order for committal.

Mr Flanagan told the court that he had been a developer during the boom. He told Judge Aeneas McCarthy that Anglo Irish Bank secured a judgment of € 10.5 million against him in October. He said that he has not had income since September 2008 and has outgoings including a mortgage, rent, housekeeping and food.

He said that his wife is working part-time and earns € 166 a week, which, along with carer’s allowance for a child and children’s allowance, pays the bills.

“My wife deals with it. She keeps the house going,” Mr Flanagan told the court.

The solicitor told the court that a private investigator was hired by Airtricity. He asked Mr Flanagan was he in talks with NAMA. Mr Flanagan replied, “Yes, advanced negotiations. We are trying to advance a business plan.” He said he is not receiving a salary at the moment but expects to in the future. He said he anticipates that the negotiations will be finalised in January or February.

He told Mr Finnegan that he does not have any assets to sell. Asked did he propose to pay the money due to Airtricity, he said, “There was a judgement order secured against me but I wasn’t in a position to meet that.” He said that he was in regular contact with Airtricity in relation to the money due and said he has made nominal payments of € 18 per month.

He told the court that he has two girls employed part-time in an office in Liscannor for a company that manages property. “I don’t get any income from that company,” he said.“I receive no income from any company whatsoever,” said Mr Flanagan.

On hearing that Mr Flanagan hopes to have a business plan finalised early in 2012, the judge said he would adjourn the case until February.

FIRST it stood at 9.43 per cent among general staff and was held up as the worst in Ireland – now it’s worse again as the percentage stands at 12 per cent among key frontline nursing staff.

These are the absenteeism rates at Ennis General Hospital, which have come under sharp focus again in the last week following the publication of the Health Services Executive ‘Heathstat Report’ for September.

“The issue is receiving maximum attention,” a HSE statement released to the The Clare People this Monday says. “The assistance of the Human Resources department has now been sought to assist the hospital in any additional actions required,” it adds.

According to the Healthstat figures, absenteeism rates among its 133 nurses during September were running at 12 per cent, a figure that is 8.5 per cent ahead of the target national absenteeism rate of 3.5 per cent.

These alarming figures come only three months after Minister for Health, James Reilly, pledged to put measures in place to tackle the problem at the hospital when it was revealed that absenteeism levels were running at 9.43 per cent, almost double the average for HSE hospitals around the country that stood at 4.85 per cent.

“We are putting in place a new initiative around this,” vowed Minister Reilly. “I’m not at liberty to say what it is just yet. In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be able to announce it,” he added.

In September, it was revealed in Ennis that every day an average of 22 staff were missing from the hospital’s daily workforce of 238, a rate of absenteeism that impacts on the day-to-day operation of the facility, resulting in the HSE having to employ temporary outside staff to cover for sick workers.

And a breakdown of these figures has revealed that the rate of absenteeism is worst among general support staff when it’s running at a staggering 18 per cent.

Now the Healthstat figures show that, of Ennis General Hospital’s 133 nurses, 16 were absent from work on each day in the month of September.

“The hospital accepts that the absenteeism rate is high but all elements of the HSE’s Managing Attendance Policy are being carried out,” the HSE statement says. “These include referrals to occupational health, return-to-work interviews, certification of absences etc. While the hospital’s percentages appear high currently, the amount of ‘uncertified’ sick leave is very low.

“Where uncertified sick leave is low, the hospital is viewed to have achieved an improved performance in managing attendance as the majority of sick leave is certified by medical practitioners. A recent review by management shows that a number of people are absent with long-term serious illness,” the statement adds.

THE Vandeleur Garden in Kilrush has the potential to be transformed into the new flagship tourist product for west Clare and become the county’s rival to Muckross House in Kil- larney. This new vision for Kilrush’s historic visitor attraction was unveiled at a meeting of Kilrush Town Council that took place in the Vandeleur demesne on Thursday night as county architect, Ruth Hurley, revealed plans to develop a major museum on the site. The interpretative centre-type project is set to be developed over the next two years as agencies such as Coillte, Shannon Development, Clare County Council, Kilrush Town Council, Kilrush Amenity Trust and the West Clare Economic Task Force throw their weight behind ambitious plans for the old landlord estate. The ruin of Kilrush House, the seat of the Vandeleur famil that was responsible for building Kilrush, was knocked by Clare County Council in 1973, but now the authority is to spearhead new development in the courtyard area of the estate on the back on a successful application for Leader funding. “There is an opportunity for something new here,” said Ms Hurley. “We want open up the courtyard into the centre and into a museum, so there is element of enticing people into the Vandeleur facilities. “The whole idea behind this is to get funding from Leader, with a view construction beginning in 2013. It’s about taking baby steps towards a bigger picture. A lot of places started like that. Muckross House started like that, so it’s about taking smalls steps. “The built environment is there. The heritage is there. It’s about giv- ing it a new freshness and enticing people in. With the support of everyone around the table and with the support of the people of Kilrush, hopefully we can push this forward,” Ms Hurley added.

“An initial meeting was held with Leader, just to see what their reaction was to the whole concept,” revealed Kilrush Town Manager, Nora Kaye. “Leader were very receptive to the whole visitor experience.

“There is a matching funding requirement should we be successful with Leader.

We will keep this project on a priority list, to ensure that we have a place in the queue for applications,” she added.

“I don’t see why it can’t become a reality,” said Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF). “There is massive potential here and I don’t think we have realised the true potential of the Vandeleur Walled Garden – from the historical perspective as well as modifying and adapted to modern demands,” he said. “The Vandeleur Garden is a gem,” said Cllr Liam Williams (FG), who is also a member of Kilrush Amenity Trust. “This is huge for west Clare,” he added.

A BAN on the sale of smoky coal and the growth of unregulated doorto-door operators is “crippling” the coal trade in Ennis, a meeting has heard.

Local fuel merchant and independent councillor, Frankie Neylon says businesses are struggling because of the legislation, which he described as “flawed”.

In June, the Minister for the En- vironment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan TD, announced that – with effect from August 1 – Ennis would be added to the list of towns and cities covered by the ‘Smoky Coal Ban’, under which it is illegal to market, sell or distribute bituminous or ‘smoky’ coal.

Under the Air Pollution Act, sellers found in breach of the ban could face fines of up to € 5,000.

Cllr Neylon told the December meeting of Ennis Town Council that traders in the town are encountering “huge problems” with the ban. He said the restrictions in place on local fuel merchants are “crippling the trade”.

He said the legislation was intended for cities and not towns of Ennis’ size.

He said there is no ban in place to prevent sellers from bringing smoky coal into Ennis, a practice he said was common.

Cllr Neylon said that if the gov- ernment are serious about banning smoky coal, “they should ban it at source”.

“Every night of the week there are people coming into town selling smoky coal,” he added.

Cllr Neylon said his own sales are down 53 per cent on last year.

A report released in September by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that the burning of bituminous or so-called smoky coal has had an impact on air quality in Ennis.

Cllr Neylon said that if unregulated coal sellers are allowed to operate in Ennis then “emissions are going to go through the roof ”.

Town Manager Ger Dollard said the whole purpose of the ban is to improve air quality in Ennis.

He said Clare County Council, the body responsible for enforcing the ban, is willing to meet with local fuel merchants in order to discuss and resolve any difficulties.