Author: admin

THERE is potential for the creation of 800 jobs in the Ennis/Shannon corridor over the next four years, a local developer has said.

Padraig Howard, a director of the Barefield based Drumquin Construction, told a meeting in Ennis that the National Housing Agency has identified the requirement for 534 dwellings in Ennis and 290 houses in Shannon.

“That minimum demand creates about 800 jobs over the next four years. If everyone was to announce there was going to be 800 jobs in the town, the carpets would be rolled out. The TDs would all be here from every party and the Ministers and the Civil Service,” he said.

Mr Howard was citing figures contained in a report issued by the National Housing Agency in April.

He said, “They predicted that as an absolute minimum, excluding any pent-up demand from the last four or five years, that there is a requirement for 534 new dwellings in Ennis town between now and 2018. Shannon came out quite well in that they assessed that similar demand for 290 houses. In the Ennis / Shannon corridor there is a minimum demand, excluding pent up demand, for 800 dwellings in the next four years.

Mr Howard was speaking on the ‘recovery of jobs in the construction sector’ at a public meeting in Ennis on Thursday.

He said there is now a “massive labour shortage” in the construction industry.

“We’re now into a situation where there is no plasterers, no block-layers, no chippies and for very good reason. The last six years have seen the young qualified trades people emigrating. They’ve gone to Australia, Canada, Germany; they’ve gone all over. The older ones who weren’t destroyed by businesses going bust haven’t the heart to go back into it or their age profile is such they can’t go back into it. There are no new apprentices being trained,” he explained.

Mr Howard called for changes in the payment of development contributions and for more development finance to be made available.

“Development contributions are correctly levied and should be paid but the method of paying them needs to be flexible to allow the construction industry get back on its feet.”

Mr Howard is also behind plans to develop Ireland’s largest wind-farm near Mount Callan. He said Ennis should position itself as a hub to serve the emerging renewable energy industry.

“Within one hour’s drive of this town there is going to be € 20 billion invested in the next 10 years in renewable energy. I think Ennis could and should position itself to be a hub to service that industry, the downstream service and maintenance of that industry, the planning of the. Other areas are doing this. Tralee have attracted a service centre for a major German turbine manufacturer. I believe that’s an area Ennis could capitalise on. That German manufacturer will hire 50 in Tralee and plans to increase that to 200,” he explained.

PEOPLE charged with criminal offences who are released on bail are now facing more regular inspection under a new regime of bail enforcement.

Gardaí in Clare have taken what has been described as “systematic approach” to the enforcement of bail conditions set down by the court.

The number of applications to the District Court from the State seeking to revoke the bail of persons accused of breaching conditions has markedly increased in recent weeks.

A senior garda last week told Ennis District Court there has been a “seachange” in the monitoring of people released on bail.

Insp Tom Kennedy was speaking after a man accused of burglary told the court that gardaí are calling to his home on a daily basis.

Judge Patrick Durcan asked Insp Kennedy if a daily level of vigilance was not counterproductive in terms of ensuring people on bail abide by conditions.

Insp Kennedy said it is unlikely inspections are carried out on a daily basis. But he said gardaí in Clare are maintaining a high level of vigilance.

“It wasn’t too long ago that we were being abused for not enforcing bail conditions but you can see there has been a sea-change,” he added.

His comments come in a week when a local Fine Gael councillor said more restrictive bail conditions could help address the issue of antisocial behaviour in the town.

“Really as a community we should be looking at very restrictive conditions put on every bail for offences on public order, theft or anything that is a threat to the quality of life in our community,” said Johnny Flynn.

Cllr Flynn added, “In our business we have 11 people employed and one day a seven year-old took out a knife demanding quicker service. That was about two years ago.”

He was speaking at a public meeting in Ennis on Thursday night. Ana Bella Alvarez, the Director of the upcoming Ennis Street Festival, said anti-social behaviour by teenagers is affecting tourism.

“When tourists come to the town and they see all this messing in the town, their experience is not positive, it’s negative,” she said.

Chairman of Promote Ennis, Brian O’Neill told the meeting “it is a statistical fact that Ennis has a very low rate of crime in comparison to other towns of its size and population in the country.

“It does superbly well. I think the gardai need to be applauded for the fantastic work they are doing. I suppose we also note that we would like to see an additional presence on the streets and additional community gardaí to assist in the reduction of anti-social behaviour,” he added.

A MEETING for parents of children affected by autism will this week be addressed by one of Ireland’s most experienced physical therapists.

Maria Miniter, a CranioSacral therapist, will be the guest speaker at the meeting hosted by Ennis Voices for Autism on Thursday.

Ms Miniter is a full time CranioSacral Therapist (CST). She is also a qualified nurse with a post-grad in disability nursing. Maria worked for 11 years with the Brothers of Charity in Limerick and Clare.

She brought her son to CranioSacral therapist in 2004, and was so impressed with the results she went on to study the therapy – and qualified in 2011. CranioSacral therapy is a gentle hands-on treatment, which helps the body to rid itself of any stresses or strains which may have a negative impact either on a physical or emotional level on the body.

It is non invasive and has been scientifically proven to work. Maria’s talk is free and open to all.

The meeting takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday, June 5, at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, followed by tea and coffee at 9pm.

Ennis Voices for Autism is a support group for parents of children with Autism and related disorders on the ‘Autism Spectrum’.

With the help of the Clare Local Development Company, EVA was set up as a support and information forum for parents of children whose children are experiencing severe difficulties accessing appropriate services and information to deal with this difficult and complex condition.

For more details contact Gearoid at 086 8120055.

AS THE time has past to remove all election posters and plaquards from the county’s streets and roads, some candidates have complained that discarded posters are miraculously appearing again.

During the run up to the local and European elections there were the usual complaints that posters were removed from where they were positioned by campaign teams.

Now as the last votes have been counted “silly season” is setting in again as once disappeared posters are reappearing.

Forgotten election posters still on posts and polls will cost candidates € 150 per poster from now on.

Such fines are issued by Clare County Council’s Environment Department.

In a bid to avoid such fines some candidates have taken to social media asking people to report any sighting of posters.

Ennis Labour candidate Seamus Ryan was particularly disturbed that a poster he removed from Abbey Street a week ago was back again a day later.

“I found one that had been put up on a pole in Abbey Street car park by someone other than a member of my campaign team.

“I know it was put up by someone other than us for two reasons.

“Firstly I personally removed the poster from that very pole on Monday last.

“Secondly no candidate puts the cable ties to the front of the poster, it blocks the name,” he said, publishing a photo of the offending poster on Facebook.

“This is a level of pathetic vindictiveness we really don’t need in local politics.

“Somebody really wants me to get a € 150 fine (that’s per poster), if you see any more up please let me know,” he appealed.

Election poll topper in Shannon Cathal Crowe (FF) was equally concerned about his posters remaining up the poll.

He was among a number of local election candidates using the new communication of social media to remove the more traditional form of communication.

A CLARE TD has recalled the day he had to “bite the bullet” and let go a childhood friend from his job as parliamentary assistant.

Michael McNamara told an employment appeals tribunal in Ennis on Thursday that he decided to dismiss Conor Daly after a second period of probation ended in March 2012.

Mr McNamara said he made the decision because he was unhappy with Mr Daly’s performance in some aspects of the job.

He said he received complaints that constituent’s queries were not being treated sympathetically.

Mr McNamara said he also received complaints from Government departments about the manner in which Mr Daly made queries.

Mr Daly, who previously worked as a golf caddy in Doonbeg Golf Club, claims he was unfairly dismissed from the job. The tribunal heard Mr Daly was an on annual salary of approximately € 40,000.

The tribunal heard Mr Daly worked as a driver for Mr McNamara in the general election before being hired as a parliamentary assistant for the Labour deputy.

Mr McNamara said he extended Mr Daly’s initial period of probation for six months in 2011 because he was unhappy with his performance.

Mr McNamara said he advised Mr Daly to take constituent’s queries more seriously and be “clear and concise” when requesting information from government departments.

The tribunal heard the men have been friends since childhood in Scariff and Tuamgraney.

“I wanted to believe he could improve,” he said.

But Mr McNamara said he realised in March 2012 that he had to “bite the bullet” and let Mr Daly go.

He described the meeting with Mr Daly as “very hard”. He said he had never let anyone go from a job before.

Mr McNamara said Mr Daly started crying after being told he would not keep his job beyond the period of probation.

“He was emotional. He really needed the job,” he added.

Solicitor for Mr Daly, Kate McInerney, said that her client will say in evidence he did not get any clear guidance from the TD and was not given an opportunity to improve. She said the decision to dismiss Mr Daly was “disproportionate”.

Mr McNamara said, “I made it clear to Conor that he had to improve and he failed to do so.”

The hearing was adjourned to September 18 when Mr Daly will give evidence.

CLARE mothers are getting older with more than 100 babies born to women 40 years of age or older in the county last year.

According to figures obtained from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), just under seven per cent of all children in Clare are now born to women over 40, with the average age of a mother in the county now rising to 32 years and six month, well ahead of the national average.

Indeed, the average age of a first time mother in Clare now stands at 30 years and six month, one of the oldest in Ireland.

The vast majority of Clare births are to women in their 30s with 557 children born to women aged between 30 and 34 last year and 407 children born to women aged between 35 and 39.

A total of 776 boys were born in Clare in 2013 with Sean the most common named selected by parents. Sean, which was previously the most common Clare name in 2011 – overtakes Jack which was the most popular name last year.

Emily was the most popular name for the 715 girls who were born to Clare mothers last year.

Emily was the clear favourite name for Clare girls after the four-way tie between Aoife, Lily, Lucy and Sophie in 2012.

Meanwhile, just over 10 per cent of Clare babies were born to single mothers last year.

According to the CSO, 1,025 children were born to married mothers of mothers in civil partnerships in Clare in 2013. Of the 466 who were born to unmarried mothers, 309 reported that they we cohabiting with the father. This mean that a total of 157 babies, or just over 10 per cent of total, were born to single parents in Clare last year.

THE number of Clare people who took their own life showed a marked decline last year, prompting hopes that the county may be turning the corner on the suicide epidemic.

According to official figures obtained from the Central Statistic Office (CSO), 14 Clare people, 12 males and two females, took their own lives in 2013 – giving a suicide rate of 11.9.

This shows is marked decline of the 13.7 suicide rate from the previ- ous year. The news comes on the two year anniversary of the tragic death of West Clare teenager William Winder, who passed away on June 3, 2012.

According to William’s father and founder of the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, Mark Winder, more needs to be done to keep the suicide rate in Clare in decline.

The foundation offers free information and access to councillors for Clare people effected by depression or suffering from other issues.

“It’s great to see the figures declining finally and people speaking about suicide is helping. It is my son’s second year anniversary and we’ve been dealing with that ourselves. But we had a family day last week in Lahinch.

“We see families coming up to us directly all the time and talking about suicide. That wound not have happened five years ago,” said Mark.

“Families are being broken up, people are being forced to emigrate and that has an effect. Families are suffering and the whole community are suffering.

“You can go through places now and it’s like going through a ghost town. But if you have a place to turn to and people are willing to talk, then it helps. There was nothing in Clare [for people who were feeling suicidal].

“You could get in your car and drive to Pieta House but if you are feeling suicidal, the last thing you should do is get behind the wheel. The kids don’t know where to turn.

“It happens, it’s can be a split second decision, and it is destroying people. I think they are seeing that now; they can see from the hurt [felt by the people left behind after a suicide]. I cry openly, my wife cries openly. We talk to kids and to school and we tell them. They can see the devastation in our faces.

“We saw the suicide stats last night and it’s great that they are declining but there is a lot not being taken into account. Like single vehicle accidents are not being classified as suicides even if there is a suicide note. But any decline is going in the right direction. Anything is good news. We’ve seen enough deaths in Clare. We’ve seen the devastation.

“We need to keep talking about it. We need to keep it on the forefront of people’s mind. The [Government] funding for this in non-existent. It hits me in the heart every time I see a suicide and hear of a suicide.

“You live it, you live it every day. Once you have someone in your family that died of suicide you never get away from it.”

For more information on the work of the William Winder Rainbow Foundation visit www.williamwinderrainbowfoundation.ie.

THE Diocese of Killaloe is preparing to welcome a new priest to the area next year following the ordination of Michael Geraghty as a deacon at an ceremony at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth last Sunday.

Reverend Geraghty was one of 15 students who were ordained by the Cardinal of Ireland, Sean Brady, at the ceremony on Sunday, the largest number of deacons ordained in Ireland in recent years.

Reverend Geraghty is the only deacon ordained to the Diocese of Killaloe this year and there was no deacon ordained to Clare’s other diocese, the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.

This is the final step in Michael’s journey to full priesthood and he will be formally ordained into the priesthood for service in the Killaloe Diocese in the summer of 2015. Michael, who is a native of the Parish of Birr in County Offaly, has spent time working in the parish of Ennis in recent years as part of his on-going training.

“It is with great joy that we celebrate the ordination of 15 men to the diaconate especially today on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. On behalf of all of us here in the formation and learning community which is Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth, I congratulate our 15 ordinands and wish them every happiness and blessing in their forthcoming diaconal ministry,” said Monsignor Hugh Connolly, the President of Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth.

“May each of them experience God’s grace afresh in their hearts so that they will courageously proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed and go out to serve the people of God in their various dioceses with care and compassion.”

CHILDREN attending the region’s only paediatric ward can now attend school in a purpose-built classrooms, without leaving the hospital grounds.

The new purpose-built Children’s Ark School was officially opened in the University Hospital Limerick on Thursday, May 29. The school provides multi-denominational pri- mary- and secondary-level education for students attending the hospital.

The new facility is made up of a large classroom for primary students, a second classroom for secondary students, toilets, office space and an outdoor learning area.

The Department of Education and Skills has approved the installation of 100MB fibre broadband to enable access to the most up to date technology to support the education of the students.

Dr Liam Carroll, founding member and former Chair of the Children’s Ark School Board of Management and Jayden Conway Wood officially opened the new classrooms.

The school, like any other, is managed by a Board of Management and has two teachers. Both teachers, Mary Carr and Margaret McCarthy are members of HOPE, the organisa tion for hospital teachers in Europe.

Speaking at the opening, Ann Doherty, CEO, UL Hospitals, said, “We are very proud of having such a quality school on site and I want to acknowledge and thank the Board of Management and their staff for all the work they have done to make this school a reality.”

The Children’s Ark School was originally the brainchild of Dr Carroll, Consultant Paediatrician, who got sanction from the Department of Education and Skills to establish a school to cater for the ongoing education of children in University Hospital Limerick.

The school commenced in 2006 and originally operated from the dining room of the Sunshine Ward in the Children’s Ark Unit.

Frank Keane, Chair, Board of Management and former manager of Ennis Hospital, added that “the new school is a wonderful new development, encompassing the best available information technology to assist in providing continuity for those young people unlucky enough to be ill and requiring hospital care. Meeting the young person’s educational needs is a vital part of the holistic approach required to put them on the road to recovery.” Mr Keane also wanted to acknowledge the hard work of everyone involved but said that “a huge thank you must go to my predecessor as Chair of the Board of Management, Dr Liam Carroll, who was the true visionary who had the foresight to get the concept of education while in hospital off the ground back in December 2006”.

LAZARUS Investment Limited have lodged a fifth major planning application for the development of construction projects formally proposed by the Atlantis Development Company in North Clare.

The projects, which are all located in the Doolin and Liscannor area, had been granted planning permission before the collapse of the Celtic Tiger but have never been devel- oped.

The latest proposal by the North Clare-based company involves the extension of planning permission for the construction of a four-house development at Coogyulla in Doolin.

This follows similar planning application in recent week which could see the creation of a park and ride facility to the Cliffs of Moher, a major development of Egan’s and McHugh’s in Liscannor and a the construction of a new supermarket development in Doolin, if they get the go ahead.

According to documents obtained from the Company Registration Office (CRO), local businessman John Declan Flanagan, with a company address at ‘The Mermaid’ in Liscannor, is the director of both Lazarus Investment Limited and the Atlantis Development Company.

The company’s application for the construction of a park and ride facility connecting Liscannor with the Cliffs of Moher could be contentious. Lazarus Investments Limited have already lodged an objection to plans by Clare County Council to develop the existing temporary car park at the Cliffs of Moher Experience. A planning decision on this project was due last month but no formal decision has yet been announced by the local authority.

Lazarus are also looking to revive plans to develop two of North Clare’s iconic pubs – Egan’s and McHugh’s in Liscannor.

This plan involves the demolition of a storage area and toilets at the back of Joseph McHugh’s and a storage buildings at the back of Egan’s and the extension of McHugh including a new storage area, lounge, toilets and an open smoking area. The development will also see the construction of a seven bedroom hostel, five apartments and four commercial units.

A separate application involved outline permission for the development a supermarket, crèche, medical centre and a chemist at Killilagh in Doolin, as well as the construction of five houses.