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“BUT generally I think it is to do with the place that that we are living, the expectations that we have for life and how things – like the recession – are affecting that,” said ACCORD counselling manager Stephen Cummins.

“Things like the recession have put people under a lot of pressure – not just financial pressure but also time pressure if someone is out there trying to make ends meet or save a business.

“A lot of times, couples who had been working hard through the good years have found that they have been thrown back together, with one or both losing their job. If people are in each other’s faces more often than they had been before, that can be a very awkward situation for them – something that can take a bit of getting used to.”

A total of 12 local relationship counsellors are employed at the ACCORD office on Harmony Row in Ennis. The service is open to all couples – both married and unmarried – who feel that their relationship would benefit from some professional help.

Besides the effects of the recession, distrust brought about by one partner’s activities online is the fastest growing cause of marital instability, according to ACCORD. With many people unemployed and finding themselves with spare time and the widespread availiblity of broadband enabling people to browse online, the temptations here can cause unrest, says Stephen.

“People can be attracted into it quite innocently but the danger is that it can take over your life. It can be very innocent – people going online to buy things without really realising that they cannot afford it, for example.

“The problem is when this becomes a secret compulsion, and a wife or husband is not aware that their spouse is going online and spending money,” continued Stephen.

Recent reports nationally suggest that online gambling and addictions to internet pornography are having detrimental effects on marriages – most likely, says Stephen, because couples do not discuss their problems.

“Communication is the real key. Real communication can help a couple to deal with an awful lot of other difficulties. But if you can’t communicate properly together, how can you deal with other issues? People can take each other for granted – but they just need to realise that no one has the perfect marriage and everybody needs to work at it,” he added.

ACCORD is the largest relationship counselling agency in Ireland. Their Ennis offices can be contacted on 065 6824297.

CLARE is one of eight counties in the State to have experienced a drop in unemployment figures over the past year, a new statistic report on employment has revealed.

However, the drop of just 86 people who are claiming some sort of unemployment benefit has been attributed to an increase in those turning to emigration when finding themselves out of work.

The Central Statistics Office has confirmed that the numbers of people claiming unemployment benefit in the county has dropped from 10,796 in July last year to 10,708 12 months later.

But behind these figures, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of people who are unemployed in the county over the past month – with the figure of 10,708 for the end of July representing an increase of 223 within a four-week period.

And the unemployment figures for the end of July represent the highest in the county since February of this year when the Live Register numbers in the county stood at 10,814.

Figures released by the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) show that for the first from February to May this year there was a progressive drop in the numbers of people on the Live Register.

Figures for January 2011 were 10,833, a jump of 264 on the previous month, but by May this had dropped by 547 to 10,286.

For the months of February, March, April and May, Live Register figures had decreased by 69, 191, 204 and 133 – a slide which represented an overall drop of five per cent.

The biggest drop experienced in the county over the past 12 months was experienced in September 2010, when Live Register numbers decreased by 681 from 10,720 to 10,117.

The INOU figures for the county show that there are nearly double the amount of men out of work when compared to women.

The figures, taken from Live Reg ister figures up until June of this year, have revealed that there are 6, 598 men without work, while the figure for women stands at 3887.

Clare is one of three west of Ireland counties to have experienced a drop in unemployment numbers in the last 12 months – the others are Galway (down 183) and Limerick (down 791).

MORE than two decades after the beginning of bitter fight to construct an interpretive centre at Mullaghmore in the South Burren, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has established its first tourism base to serve the world famous national park.

Up until last month the Burren was the only one of Ireland’s six national park’s not to be served by either a information point or an interpretive centre operated by the NPWS. That all changed two week ago when three Burren guides were employed by the NPWS to offer tourism advice and free walking tours from a base in Corofin.

Plans to construct a controvertial interpretive centre at Mullaghmore, which was to be built the Office of Public Works (OPW) and managed by the NPWS, were abandoned in 2000, after a nine-year legal battle to decide planning permission for the site. The new NPWS facility is currently operating from a section of the Clare Heritage and Genealogy Centre in Corofin and poses none of the environmental threats which prompted the campaign against the Mullaghmore Centre.

According to head guide Sheila Murphy, visitor numbers to the facility have been good throughout its first two weeks in operation, with an encouraging number of visitors and local people using the service.

“We have six national parks in Ireland and the Burren National Park is the only one that hasn’t has an information point or an interpretive centre and this is the first year that we have an information point available to the public,” she said. “It is nice to have a place that both locals and tourist can come in and get information and have that service available to them. A lot of the shops in the village and the locality are often asked for information about the Burren and the National Park and they have nowhere really to direct them to.

“I think that this is a complementary development to the Burren Centre in Kilfenora. At the moment we are just an information point but there are plans to have more interpretation in the centre in the future. The Burren is a big area and everyone want to work together to promote it.

“We have three guides in the centre and we can organise free walks on demand if people come in and ask for that and we will also host a free walk every Sunday, which is more aimed at families. It’s a free service and open to anyone who want to use it.”

The new NPWS information point will continue, seven days a week, until the end of September but plans are already in place to run the service for the entire summer season in 2012.

The information point is open from Monday to Friday from 9.30 to 6pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm.

CLARE marriages are bending under the strain of the economic recession with a record number of Clare couples seeking marriage counselling in 2010. Abuse of the internet is also being highlighted as a recent cause of marital disharmony.

Figures obtained by The Clare People reveal that the number of counselling hours providing by the ACCORD agency in Ennis skyrocketed last year – growing by more than 85 per cent compared to the previous year. Counselling hours provided by the Catholic Marriage Counselling Agency grew dramatically faster in Clare than in any other county in 2010 – with the national average growth in hours provided standing at just 8 per cent.

A total of 517 hours for 100 couples were provided at the ACCORD offices in Ennis in 2010, compared to 278 hours for 68 cases on 2009.

The increase in counselling hours is being blamed on the effects of the recession on couples as well as a number of difficulties being caused by the internet.

According to the agency, the number of relationship difficulties brought about by addictions to internet pornography, online gambling and the abuse of social networking sites increased dramatically in 2010.

“I’m not surprised by these figures for Clare, we have been hearing this from the counsellors in Ennis for a number of months and we had expecting this sort of dramatic rise,” said ACCORD counselling manager Stephen Cummins.

“I think this is a combination of many different factors [which have brought about the increase]. I think trouble in a relationship is rarely brought about by just one factor except maybe in a case of someone having a drink or drug problem perhaps.

THE people of Turnpike are preparing to celebrate the homecoming two years ago of their most famous son, Muhammad Ali.

The former three time world champion boxer and one of the most charismatic and brilliant sportsmen made a famous visit to Ennis in September 2009. At the time Ali was named the first Honorary Freeman of Ennis in recognition of his career achievements and his ancestral links with the Clare county capital.

Over 15,000 people watched ‘The Greatest’ receive a Civic Reception before embarking on a drive through the streets of Ennis and a personal visit to the ancestral home of his great grandfather Abe Grady.

Though issues surrounding the rights to the Ali name and trademark mean the celebration will not be an official event, Turnpike residents and businesspeople are aiming to organize a community fun day to mark the day when Ali took an unplanned walk around the area two years ago.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind), who is helping to organize the event on August 28, says local groups and performers including the Ennis Brass Band will take part on the day.

Roads in the area are expected to be closed off to facilitate the celebration, which is being held on the same day a vintage car rally organized by Ennis man Peadar White is expected to pass through the town.

Ennis Town Council proposes closing a section of the Limerick Road and the Turnpike Road (from its junction with Dalcassian Drive L4530 to the St Clare’s Close entrance) on Sunday, August 28, from 3pm to 6pm.

Last year, Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan planted a tree in an area of ground close to sculpture commemorating the first anniversary of Ali’s visit to Ennis.

The former world featherweight champion later took part in a public interview conducted by broadcaster Caimin Jones at Glór.