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GARDAÍ in Clare are advising road users to take care on the roads amid dangerous driving conditions over the weekend.

A drop in temperatures led to a number of accidents late on Sunday night and early yesterday, Monday.

The Galway-bound carriageway of the motorway near Crusheen was closed for a number of hours after a number of cars were involved in an accident at around 7 o’clock yesterday morning. No-one was seriously injured in the accident.

In another accident on Thursday, a car collided with a concrete fence on the main Ennis/Corofin Road, after it skidded. The driver did not sustain serious injuries in the accident.

“People need to be more aware. Road conditions have deteriorated. They need to be more careful on the road and leave more space between the car in front in case they have to brake suddenly. Drive at a speed that is appropriate to the road conditions prevailing and allow extra time to reach destinations and make sure vehicles are roadworthy,” advised Sgt Joe Downey.

Pedestrians are being urged to wear high visibility clothing when out walking to ensure they are easily seen, while cyclists are advised to ensure bicycles are in good working order and they should wear appropriate safety gear at all times.

A STAND-OFF between Cahercalla Community Hospital in Ennis and the promoters of a Diocese of Killaloe-backed project has already cost € 2.1m and this figure that could rise as high as € 3.6m or scupper the development of elderly care services on the hospital grounds altogether.

These fears has been sounded out by the Cuan An Chláir group that has been accused of embarking an ambitious € 3.5m project to develop a daycare centre and sheltered housing for the elderly “without consultation with Cahercalla Hospital despite its very execution being dependent on our support”.

The board of Cahercalla Hospital has refused to sanction the use of the access road to its facilities as the entry point to the new development, a row that has already seen the project promoters lose out on a € 2.1m grant from the Department of the Environment.

And in counting the cost of this lost government aid, Cuan An Chláir have claimed that it could cost up to € 1.5m to build an alternative access point to their development.

In 2008, the then Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, donated 15.5 acres of land – then valued at € 10m – adjacent to Cahercalla Community Hospital to the Cuan an Chláir Committee for free.

Up until September of this year € 392,874 had bee raised for the € 3.5m project that’s set to be built in two phases. The first phase involving the development of a daycare centre to cater for 65 people daily and the construction of 12 individual houses the will cost € 2m, while the second phase will see the conversion of the old farm yard buildings, adjacent to Cahercalla Hospital to provide a café, meeting rooms, a garden and other appropriate facilities has been costed at € 1.5m.

However, the whole project is now hanging in the balance over a row on access to the site, with Cuan An Chláir spokesperson Pauline McNamara saying that “a tremendous asset will be lost to Ennis” if the project can’t proceed.

The stand-off between the two groups has gathered momentum following the release of a statement by the Cahercalla Hospital, which has accused Cuan An Chláir promoters of failing to address a number of key concerns relating to the project.

“At no point during the many discussions were any of the concerns we raised about the management of the project, including links with Cahercalla, addressed,” the strongly worded statement says.

“Having explored every possible option and following discussions which have been ongoing for over three years, the Board of Cahercalla Community Hospital & Hospice regret that they have, to date, been unable to reach an agreement with Cuan an Chláir with regard to granting permanent access to the site adjacent to the hospital and hospice.

“The project we tried to facilitate was presented to us as a development of housing for active retired elderly. However, as soon as detailed discussions began we discovered that the project was significantly different from what was originally outlined to us. In particular the development now included a daycare centre and permanent access was being sought, both of which would significantly increase the amount of traffic on our driveway impacting on the safety of our residents.

“Despite making every effort through our discussions and allocating a large amount of executive time to considering the proposal we have, to date, been unable to gain sufficient assurances that the project would not negatively impact on Cahercalla’s residents and staff.”

“There is no way that we can afford an alternative access,” says Cuan An Chláir spokesperson Pauline McNamara.

AN ENNIS business has been recognized for its innovative approach to the promotion of the Irish language. Last week the Rowan Tree Hostel and Restaurant were named the winners of the 2011 Gradam Gaeilge an Chláir award.

At an awards ceremony in Glór on Thursday evening, proprietor Brian O’Neill was presented with a specially commissioned plaque by Seán Ó Ceallaigh, Cathaoirleach of An Clár as Gaeilge Teo, the language promotion group who organise the award scheme. The scheme, now in its fifth year, is specifically directed at companies and organisations in the commercial sector who do most to promote the use of Irish both internally and externally.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, An tUas, Ó Ceallaigh praised the Rowan Tree for the innovative way they had increased the visibility of Irish, not alone on the outside of the premises, but extensively inside throughout the bar and restaurant. Furthermore, the menus were all available bi-lingually and there was, according to the adjudicators, an Irish ethos permeating the entire premises.

“We are delighted with the way the link between the Irish language and the tourist business has been achieved. This gives a complete cultural experience to the visitor and more importantly to tourists from overseas, particularly through the weekly classes on an introduction to Irish Culture which were held weekly during the Summer season.” he said.

“This is a prime example of what can be achieved with good will and imagination, and the result is to be highly complimented.”

Accepting the award, Brian O’Neill said that he was honoured that the Rowan Tree had been selected for the award. “Irish culture has always been at the heart of our business and we aim to develop it further. Chomh maith le sin anois, beidh an Ghaeilge le feiceáil agus le chloisteáil sa Bhrú Chrann Chaorthainn,” he said.

SPORTING and musical ent husiasts who shone during the past year were last night honoured by Shannon Town Counci l, through thei r annual Liosta na Laochra scheme.

Ever y year, t he council awards people who have represented t he town with distinction during the previous 12 months and a wide variety of personalities were represented this year.

Ciara O’Loughl in, of Shannon Flyers Special Olympics club, who won silver medals in the shot putt and relay at t he World Special Olympic Games in Athens dur ing the summer, was awarded.

Gearóid McMahon, of Shannon Athletics Club, was honoured for his achievements during t he past year. He won a gold medal with Clare in the national cross count r y championships (under 11) and silver in the national communit y games finals (under 13 wal k).

Declan O’Rourke of Wolfe Tones, who was a member of the Clare team t hat won the All-Ireland intermediate hurling championship earlier this year, was also on the list of recipients.

Cara Ní Chai rba, who won t he under 12 har p competition at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉi reann, was awarded, as was John Cawley, who won t he Irish Open Masters singles title in handball. Another handball player, John Ki rby, who won the All-Ireland r ugby Masters single and double titles, was awarded.

Three members of the Shannon Kickboxing Club, were awarded, having excelled during the past year. They were Josh Vincent, David Ryan and Leona O’Shea. Josh won an Irish light heavyweight championship, at the age of 17; David won both senior and junior Irish feather weight championships, while Leona won a double under 17 national junior championship title.

Members of the t rampoline club were also among those honoured. Shannen Miniter, Alex Russell, Dar ragh Moane, Louise Ryan and Callum Miniter were all rewarded for thei r heroics during the year.

Shannon came first in Midlands, Dublin, South and Munster Opens and is the cur rent All-Ireland gi rls inter mediate champion. Alex won silver at t he Al l-Ireland champions, while Dar ragh took home gold from the same event. Louise won a silver medal at the All-Irelands, while Callum came four th in his section of t he All-Irelands and was par t of the sout h-west region team which came t hi rd in the Grand Pri x final.

The other groups honoured last night i ncluded the Shannon Musical Societ y front of house commit tee, which won a national award this year; Rachel McIntyre of the musical society and Jayme O’Sullivan, a medal wi nner in t he world Ir ish dancing championships.

TWO Clare men, who killed 26year-old school teacher Brian Casey after an unprovoked attack on St Stephen’s night two years, ago are facing further time in prison following a successful appeal by the State.

Harry Dinan (31), of Waterpark Heights, Ennis, and his nephew Kevin Dinan (24), of Clarehill, Clarecastle, were jailed for five and four years respectively having pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Brian Casey on O’Connell Square, Ennis, on December 26, 2009.

Following an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday [Monday] determined that the sentences imposed by Judge Carroll Moran at Ennis Circuit Court 13 months ago were unduly lenient.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said that the appeal court wished to extend its deep sympathy to the family of Mr Casey, who was a “totally and utterly innocent” bystander attacked in a “cowardly and reprehensible” manner.

However, the three-judge court deferred imposing new sentences so as to allow each of the accused men time to collate evidence on their conduct in prison.

Ennis Circuit Court heard last year that Harry Dinan, who has 64 previous convictions, was on temporary release from prison at the time of the unlawful killing, while Kevin Dinan, who has 17 previous convictions, was on bail and awaiting sentence having pleaded guilty to a burglary charge.

Mr Casey was looking on at a scuffle with his hands in his pockets when he was caught off guard by a single severe “haymaker” punch inflicted by Harry Dinan at about midnight on St Stephen’s night on O’Connell Square.

The blow from Harry Dinan broke Mr Casey’s jaw in two places and the Lissycasey man hit the ground with the back of his head. He never regained consciousness and died two days later.

Mr Casey fractured his skull on impact with the ground and the court heard that Kevin Dinan then punched Mr Casey repeatedly to the face and head while he lay prostrate on the ground.

Counsel for the State, Deirdre Murphy SC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal that Judge Moran had erred in principle by placing excessive weight on the contention that the attack perpetrated by Harry Dinan was essentially a “one punch case”.

She said that this was not a classic “one punch case”, where a victim dies following some event after the infliction of a single punch or blow, but rather an unprovoked attack on an innocent bystander who was entirely unprotected.

Ms Murphy said that, having regard to concept of a one punch case, Judge Moran correctly identified an appropriate sentence of 10 years for each man, but then proceeded to err and effect a “double counting” exercise by further reducing the sentences imposed on account of this factor.

She said that Judge Moran also erred in law by failing to give his reasons for the differentiation in sentence imposed on each of the ac- cused.

Counsel for Harry Dinan, Isobel Kennedy SC, said that the case was indeed a classic manslaughter case involving one blow, as the medical evidence before the court was that Mr Casey was struck in the face, fell backwards, struck the back of his head and sustained a serious head injury.

She said that rather than beginning with a 10-year sentence, Judge Moran identified a sentence of seven years as an appropriate starting point and was perfectly entitled to reduce this down by a further two years having regard to additional mitigating factors in her client’s favour.

David Sutton SC, for Kevin Dinan, adopted Ms Kennedy’s submission and added that Judge Moran correctly identified his client’s lack of violent history and his youth as differentiating factors between the two accused men when imposing sentence.

Mr Justice McKechnie said the court found that the State’s assertion was correct and that Judge Moran must have considered the concept of a “one punch case” to be a “vital ingredient” when deciding that the appropriate starting point for sentence was 10 years.

He said that, having already considered this factor, it was therefore not permissible to further reduce the sentence from this point and to do so was an exercise of “double counting”.

A CLAREMAN has risen through the ranks of Irish education to become chairman of the umbrella body that governs the country’s Institutes of Technology – not once but on three occasions.

Inagh man and former Mayor of Clare Flan Garvey was unanimously elected as chairman at a meeting in Dublin on Wednesday and in graduating to this prestigious position has pledged to play his part in spearheading the campaign for university status within the 14 institutes of technology around the country.

“It’s a great honour to be elected to this position,” Mr Garvey told The Clare People this week, “and to be the unanimous choice having being proposed by chairman of Limerick IT, John Clifford and seconded by chairman of Sligo IT and former European Commissioner, Ray McSharry is great.”

Mr Garvey, a former school principal of Gortbofarna and Inagh national schools, is the first person to have been appointed to the chair of the governing body on three consecutive occasions.

He is also a former chairman of Clare Vocational Education Committee, was a member of Clare County Council from 1985 until his retirement from politics at the 2009 local elections, serving as Mayor of Clare in 2006/07.

“It’s been a landmark year,” said Mr Garvey on Thursday after being elected chairman. “In March I published a book on the history of Inagh-Kilnamona and then in the weekend just gone there was the 23rd Clare Tourist Council conference and managing the Inagh camogie team that won the All-Ireland title,” he added.

Earlier in the month, Mr Garvey was honoured in the town of Clare Valley, South Australia, which has been twinned with Clare County Council over the past 25 years. In celebration of Mr Garvey’s role in cultivating that twinning arrangement, a tree was planted and a plaque unveiled in his honour in Clare’s main recreation centre that’s called Ennis Park.

CLARE Labour TD Michael McNamara is to intervene in the ongoing difficulty surrounding Blakes Corner in Ennistymon and force the publication of a report on the controvertial site commissioned by Clare County Council earlier this year.

The Southgate Report was commissioned by Clare County Council earlier this year but, despite the protests of some councillors in the north Clare area, it was decided not to publish the finding of the report earlier this year.

Deputy McNamara yesterday con- firmed that he will make contact with the Minister of the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), and ask him to put pressure on Clare County Council to publish the report.

“Clare County Council has spent € 15,000 on a report on Blakes Corner and have decided not to publish this report. I find that hard to believe,” said Deputy McNamara.

“Clearly these two buildings cannot continue to stand in their current form if Ennistymon and Lahinch are going to continue to prosper. I would call on the local councillors to stop sticking their head in the sand and deal with this situation – that is what they were elected to do.”

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan (FG), last week announced that plans to demolish and rebuild the historic buildings at Blakes Corner was “contrary to the thrust” of the 2000 Planning Act and would “require strong justification” before it could take place.

This announcement was welcomed by the Save Ennistymon’s Heritage group who said that they welcomed the ministers intervention.

“We urge Clare County Council to examine with Save Ennistymon’s Heritage the various options to help the occasional traffic chaos in Ennistymon,” said Denis Vaughan of the Save Ennistymon’s Heritage Group. It is unlikely that the report will be published at the next north Clare area meeting, which takes place in Ennistymon next Monday.

“The report was ready for the last area meeting and it was decided that it wouldn’t be released into the public domain until the planning process commences – we’re working towards this at present but the planning process won’t commence this side of Christmas,” said Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council.

THE possibility of Fracking taking place in west Clare has moved one step closer as the Enegi-oil company, who were granted the license to explore the feasibility of the project, published positive reports from their first round of tests.

The UK-based company confirmed last Thursday that it now plans to undertake a second round of tests in the Clare Basin – an area of lands which covers thousands of acres between Quilty, Kilbaha and Labasheeda.

Fracking is a very controvertial means of extracting natural gas from onshore sources. The process know as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves creating large cracks in the bedrock at the drill sites by pumping large amounts of highly pressurised fluids underground.

A number of information meetings on the subject have already taken place locally and the No Fracking Clare group claim that tremors created as a result of fracking could cause major structural damage so some of Clare’s key tourist attractions – including the Cliffs of Moher and the Doolin Cave.

“A preliminary field trip was undertaken, during which outcrops of interest for further study were identified and initial investigations into the overburden and burial history through geological time were un- dertaken,” said a spokesperson from Enegi-oil.

“Results and observations from that exercise have been analysed and used as a basis for the development of a more detailed prospecting programme for the region. The company has also been in discussions with, and is close to reaching agreements with, various qualified contractors who will undertake the detailed programme of laboratory studies and analysis of the samples that will be required.”

Enegi-oil also confirmed that it is now in a position to move forward with Phase 2 of the project which it hopes to complete before the end of this month. Phase 2 will involved “detailed sampling and stratigraphic logging of outcrops of interest” in the northern part of the Clare Basin while a similar study of the southern part is expected to take place in the early months of 2012.

Earlier this year the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources awarded a license option to UK-based company to search for shale gas deposits in a large section of west Clare.

Much of the research to date has centred around a well drilled in Doonbeg in 1962. An initial analysis of this well identified the presents of a large deposit of shale gas between 800 and 1,100 metres underneath the ground.

A 94-YEAR-OLD woman who lived to be a “great age” died as a result of natural causes, an inquest into her death has found.

Margaret O’Gorman, a retired hotel worker from Newport, Co Tipperary, had been a resident of the Lakes Nursing Home when fire broke out there on August 20 (2010).

County Coroner Isobel O’Dea found that Ms O’Gorman died from natural causes. She said there was nothing to indicate that she had died from smoke inhalation or anything to do with the fire.

Clare Coroners Court heard last week that Ms O’Gorman had been unwell for some time. She received medical attention onsite. The inquest heard that Ms O’Gorman’s niece, Peggy Ryan, later identified the body of her aunt to Gardaí.

Garda Trevor Shannon said that Ms O’Gorman had resided in room 40 which was opposite from room 50 where the fire had inflamed.

Dr Michael Curtis carried out the post mortem. His report was read out in court by State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy.

She said there had been no significant injuries and that Ms O’Gorman was well cared for. Dr Cassidy’s report stated that there was “no evidence that she died from fire”. The report stated that Ms O’Gorman’s death was a “natural death”. He found that death was due to a heart attack.

Ms O’Dea extended her sympathy to Ms O’Gorman’s family. “I hope it is some comfort to you that she died from natural causes.” Ms Ryan said her aunt had lived to a “great age”.

THE death of a 14-month-old baby boy in a car seat in Spanish Point last year was due to sudden unexpected death in infancy, an inquest has heard.

Clare County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said she was satisfied that Nathan Ryan died from natural causes.

Hyperthermia was cited as a risk or contributory factor to the infant’s death at the inquest at Clare Coroner’s Court in Ennis last week.

Nathan had been on holidays with his foster parents Liam and Fiona Doheny at Spanish Point caravan park on July 29 (2010). He had been in the full time care of the couple from Toureen, Ballysimon, Limerick since January 2010.

Miltown Malbay based GP, Dr Billy O’Connell told the inquest that he had been requested to go to Spanish Point to attend to a child that was unable to breath.

The child was then brought to a medical centre on the Spanish Point where adrenaline was administered and de-fibrillation was attempted. Paramedics also attended the centre and Dr O’Connell stated that Nathan was pronounced dead at 16.50pm.

Fiona Doheny told the inquest that she was a Montessori teacher and a foster parent with the Health Services Executive. She said that on July 29, Nathan ate breakfast. She explained that she put him into a car seat in the family car at 1pm. She said she was going to bring Nathan for a drive, as he had been unsettled.

She said Nathan fell asleep as she sat “about 10 feet” away from the car. Ms Doheny said she left a car door open and checked on Nathan “about three times”. She said that when she checked on him again at 4pm, “he wasn’t right”. “I called Liam twice and screamed,” she added. Ms Doheny said they called the emergency services and Martin Downes, a family friend living nearby and first aider for 25 years.

Liam Doheny stated that he got a pint of cold water and tried to pat Nathan down. He said Dr O’Connell and Mr Downes arrived quickly to the scene.

“Martin Downes was a great help and everyone that helped us on the day was brilliant,” he said.

Ms Doheny’s mother, Maureen Burke, described Nathan as a “delicate child”. She said he cried a lot but not because he was not cared for. She said her daughter kept going over to the car to check on Nathan.

“It wasn’t out of neglect. Nathan was well taken care of by my daughter Fiona,” she stated.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy concluded that a young child had been found dead in the back of a car on a warm day.

She told the inquest that Nathan appeared to be well cared for and there was no evidence of any specific disease or trauma.

She said Gardaí had carried out experiments in an attempt to re-create conditions in the car on the day in question. She said the temperature in the car would have risen but not to lethal levels. Dr Cassidy said Nathan had not been exposed to lethal temperatures.

She said death was due to sudden unexpected death in infancy with hyperthermia a contributory or risk factor.

Offering her sympathy to the Nathan’s family, Ms O’Dea said it “is a very sad situation when a young child passes away”. She said “great efforts had been made to revive Nathan”.