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A SENIOR official has re-iterated Ennis Town’s Council’s “significant concern” at having to foot a near € 500,000 legal bill in respect of cases taken against it in relation to national legislation.

The council was forced to defend two separate legal challenges taken in the High Court concerning the deregulation of the taxi industry and new casual trading byelaws.

Ennis Town Manager and Director of Service Gerard Dollard said it remains the local authority’s view that it should not bear the costs alone.

Mr Dollard’s comments are contained in the statutory audit of the Ennis Town Council’s financial accounts for the year ended December 31, 2012.

He states, “The cases referred to relate to challenges to national legislation and are cases that have been taken against the council. The council has no choice but to defend cases taken against it. Both cases have involved extensive High Court hearings. The council has had detailed discussions with the relevant government departments and also made every effort to operate the cases on the most cost effective basis possible. It remains the council’s view that costs relating to cases such as these should not be funded solely by the council.”

The auditor states the council was involved in two cases as a defendant in regard to challenges taken on matters relating to national legislation. One case related to the Ennis Casual Trading Byelaws 2011, which represented a challenge to the Casual Trading Act 1995 and in particular the status of casual trading on market rights.

The auditor states the council incurred legal costs of € 147,000 in respect to that matter. The council is also involved in a High Court case regarding the deregulation of the taxi industry some years ago.

The report states that a number of sample cases are being heard including one involving the town council.

The legal costs in this case are estimated to be in the region of € 300,000 and € 450,000.

In January, Mr Dollard said the council would receive € 200,000 from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Department of Transport towards the cost of the court hearings.

Mary GUERIN (née Harrington)
, Drewsboro Road,Tuamgraney. Funeral mass today (Tuesday), at 11.30amat St Joseph’s Church, Tuamgraney, with burial afterwards in St Cronin’s Cemetery. Family flowers only please, Donation if desired to Raheen Community Hospital. May she rest in peace.

Susan BANNON (née Keane)
, Loughville, Lahinch Road, Ennis. Formerly of Connolly and London. Laid to rest in Mullagh Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Berna LYONS
, Sunset House, Strand Line, Kilkee. Peacefully at The Galway Clinic. Reposing onTuesday evening 15th April at Lillis’ Funeral Home in Kilkee from5.30pmwith removal at 7pmto Kilkee Parish Church. RequiemMass on Wednesday at 11.30amfollowed by burial in Lisdeen Cemetery, Kilkee. Family flowers only please, donations in lieu toThe Clare 250 mile cycle. May she rest in peace.

Seamus WALSH
, Broadford/Shannon. Peacefully at Milford Care Centre after a short illness. Being laid to rest onTuesday. May he rest in peace.

Michael HICKEY
, Bridge Street, Scariff. Laid to rest in the NewCemetery, Moynoe. May he rest in peace.

Kathleen BARRY (née Benson)
, Bridgetown. Peacefully at Milbane Lodge Nursing Home Newport. Laid to rest in Bridgetown. May she rest in peace.

Mary CORRY (née Grace)
, Coolin, Coolmeen. Laid to rest in Kilfiddane Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Mary CUDDIHY
, Birmingham, England, and formerly of Bouladuff, Inagh. Laid to rest in Moohana Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Kathleen GEANEY (née Gissane)
, Knockanpierce, Nenagh/Killaloe. Formerly of Cross Roads, Killaloe. In the loving care of the staff of Nenagh Manor Nursing Home. Laid to rest in Old Abbey Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Michael James KELLY
, London and 18 St Patrick’sTerrace, Kilkee. Laid to rest in Lisdeen Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Kieran MULKERE
, Drumsallagh, Crusheen. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. Donations, if desired, to Cancer Campaign. May he rest in peace.

Ann (Nan) GOONAN
,Whitegate. In the gentle care of the Staff of Portumna Retirement Village, Portumna, Co Galway. Laid to rest in Clonrush Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Teresa HYNES
, Mullagh Road, Miltown Malbay, Laid to rest in Ballard Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Karen RYAN (née Mc Cormack)
,The Hill, Loughrea/Inagh, Boston, Massachusetts. Laid to rest in Mount-Pleasant Cemetery. Donations, if so desired, to Galway Hospice Foundation. May she rest in peace.

David OWENS
, Dal Geish, Scarriff Road, Killaloe. Suddenly. Funeral Mass held in Killaloe. May he rest in peace.

Peter GUY
, Formerly of Ard na Greine, Ennis/ Clifden. Laid to rest in Banogues Cemetery, Galway. May he rest in peace.

PJ MURPHY
, McHughVillas, Ennis. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Peggy MCDONAGH (née McMahon)
, Knockdromagh, Ennistymon. Peacefully at The Galway Clinic. Laid to rest in the Old Cemetery, Ennistymon. May she rest in peace.

Stephen MALONE JNR
, 6 Dalcassian Drive, Ennis. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. Donations, if desired, to the Irish Kidney Association. May he rest in peace.

SHANNON businesses are ideally placed to avail of a new € 500,000 fund that has been established by the Government for businesses involved in the aviation and manufacturing sectors.

That’s the message this week from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, after he launched the Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund that is open for applications from now until the end of the month.

This fund provides for up to € 500,000 in equity support for each successful applicant, with Minister Bruton revealing that fund for aviation-related business being inspired by a task force report on Shannon.

“The aviation focus follows on from the Government’s publication of the ‘Shannon Aviation Business Development Task Force Final Report’ and the need to encourage and support entrepreneurship in the aviation sector,” said Minister Bruton.

“The focus on the manufacturing sector is a direct response to one of the recommendations of our manufacturing plan. The announcement will make a real contribution to supporting more businesses and ultimately more jobs in these important areas,” he added. The priority of the funding is to provide young companies in these sectors with the critical early stage funding for the key commercial and technical milestones that will ensure delivery of their product or service, and help them get their project to a key funding milestone.

The fund is open to applications from the aviation sector including financial services associated with the sector, aircraft and engine leasing, aviation software and IT, training, travel related software and related services, small aircraft assembly, aircraft dismantle, maintenance repair operations airframe and components, composite repair, rarts manufacture, aviation services, and other engineering and technical activities,” the minister added.

THERE is “disquiet” in Clare and other jurisdictions over the operation of the Go Safe speed van system, a Judge has said.

Judge Patrick Durcan said concern exists nationwide at prosecutions taken by Go Safe for speeding offences.

The privately-run Go Safe has operated speed camera vans in Ireland since winning the Garda contract in 2009. The cameras operate on sections of road, which have a history of collisions occurring where speed was a contributory factor.

In recent months, Judge Durcan has been critical of Go Safe and has struck out a number of speeding charges brought against motorists in Clare.

Last month, he adjourned eight cases to May 2 after requesting the State look at the legislation underpinning the prosecutions brought by Go Safe.

After hearing evidence in one alleged speeding case, Judge Durcan raised concerns over the evidential basis of photographs taken by the vans’ cameras of alleged speeding motorists.

Ennis solicitor Daragh Hassett represents one of the people whose case has been adjourned to May. His client is contesting the charge.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Mr Hassett told Judge Durcan he would be making submissions to him on May 2 about Go Safe.

Mr Hassett said his client is “troubled” as to how Go Safe cases are being prosecuted.

Judge Durcan said Mr Hassett’s case would be treated as the lead case and he would hear submissions on May 2.

Judge Durcan said there is “disquiet throughout the county” and many areas of the country over Go Safe prosecutions.

Judge Durcan said he was also aware of what he called “startling admissions” made by a director of Go Safe in a Dublin court recently.

Go Safe was recently the focus of an RTÉ ‘Prime Time’ investigation, which uncovered allegations that motorists may have been wrongly fined for speeding offences.

THE area around Doora, just outside of Ennis, has weathered the recession better than any other part of Clare, according to a new study of Central Statistics Office (CSO) data compiled by the farm research agency Teagasc.

Doora was granted ‘blue’ status in the report, meaning that is one of the towns or places in Ireland least effected by the recession. Doora performed particularly well in main- taining employment levels between 2006 and 2011 but was slightly less successful in minimising emigration, where it was the third best performing in Clare.

Sixmilebridge has given ‘turquoise’ status in the report, meaning that it was only moderately effected by the recession. The rate of unemployment in the town was comparatively low, coming in as the third best in Clare, but the town saw very little emigration between 2006 and 2011, when it the least effected town in Clare and indeed one of the least effected areas in the country.

There were also good showing for Killaloe and Clonlara in East Clare with both places being granted ‘light blue’ status – to signify that they were only somewhat effected by the recession.

Despite having one of the worst comparative records for unemployment, Killaloe managed to gain largely on the back of its low level of emigration, the second lowest in Clare.

In contrast, Clonlara was the second best performing in Clare for lev- els of employment, but suffered more than most when it came to the level of emigration.

Both Newmarket on Fergus and Miltown Malbay were given ‘yellow’ status in the report – to signify that they were town badly effected by the recession. Miltown was comparatively badly hit be unemployment – but has managed to retain its level of population well compared to other towns in Clare. Newmarket was consistent in term of both unemployment and emigration – and was the mid-ranked town in Ireland in both areas.

Ennistymon has suffered worst than any other town in Clare in terms of unemployment levels between 2006 and 2011. The town was given an ‘orange’ ranking to signify that it has been badly effected by the recession.

Shannon, Ennis and Kilrush all received ‘red’ status in the report to signify that the were very badly hit by the recession. Shannon recording the worst comparative level of emigration while Kilrush was the worst effected overall.

MEMBERS of a children’s choir sang a new verse in Clare music history last week when they became the first group from the Banner County to perform at a U2-funded Music Generation event.

The newly-formed Burren Children’s Choir joined 400 young people from around Ireland to perform at the inaugural Big Sing event in Dublin’s Mansion House.

The event was led by acclaimed US choral conductor Dr Doreen Rao.

This was the first time that Music Generation participants from across Ireland performed together on a national stage and marks the culmination of the Choral Music Education Programme, run in association with Association of Irish Choirs and the Choral Music Experience Institute.

Clare was represented by 10 members of the Burren Children’s Choir. The choir first performed together at Christmas. Parent Diane Hayes says the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience of singing in Dublin.

“It was absolutely lovely. It was a brilliant experience for them. You had about 400 other children performing. It was amazing,” she said.

Music Generation National Director Rosaleen Molloy said, “The Big Sing is the very first time that we have been able to bring so many young people involved in Music Generation together to perform and we are very lucky to have had Dr Doreen Rao here lead us on this momentous occasion.”

The Big Sing was organised by Music Generation, a national music education programme supported by Irish rockers U2 and the Ireland Fund. It was set up in 2009 to increase access to music education.

In January Clare secured € 400,000 in funding from Music Generation.

It is anticipated the programme will see music teachers employed to work in school and out of school settings, teaching music to children and young adults around the county. The overall aim is to provide the first countywide music education service in Clare.

Clare Music Education Partnership will receive close to € 435,000 in seed funding which will enable high quality, accessible music education programmes to be provided for children and young people in their local communities. Clare / Limerick Education and Training Board (formerly Clare VEC) is the lead statutory agency for the programme.

Among the aims for the programme are the establishment of a Clare County Orchestra and Clare Children’s Choir.

It is hoped the funding will create employment opportunities for Clare singers and musicians. It is expected that the programme will start to roll out towards the latter half of 2014.

GREEN shoots of economic recovery are being seen in Kilrush, despite the town being ranked as the place worst hit by the recession in Clare.

According to the Kilrush Chamber of Commerce, the introduction of large international supermarkets has had a negative effect on businesses in the town in recent years but a upturn in the tourism sector over the past 12 months is breathing new life into West Clare.

Kilrush was ranked as the Clare town worst hit by the recession in a new study of both employment levels and emigration carried out by Teagasc. The study, which compares figures from the Central Statistic Office from 2006 and 2011, found that Kilrush was the worst effected Clare town overall even though it did not rank worst in either changes to unemployment or emigration.

According to the Teagasc figures, Ennistymon and Killaloe were the worst hit by unemployment, with Kilrush coming in third. Shannon and Ennis saw the biggest change in emigration, with Kilrush the third worst effected town.

Kilrush, Shannon town and Ennis were given “red” status by Teagasc, indicating that they were among the towns worst hit when both unemployment and emigration.

According to the Kilrush Chamber of Commerce, the arrival of a number of large supermarkets in recent years have had a effect on a number of businesses in the town.

“Retail has suffered everywhere and people have less money in their pockets to spend but the arrival of two international supermarkets has had an effect on a lot of businesses in the town,” said Jack Kelly of the Kilrush Chamber.

“It is very difficult to compete with the scale of the international retailers. This has hit every small business in the town. Initially we though ti would just be the food businesses but these large shops now sell electrical goods, clothes, children goods, book – nearly every business in the town is effected in some way. “The Gathering was a great benefit to us last year. There was a great boost in tourism number because of that and the success of tourism in Loop Head and that has spin offs for all of West Clare. “There are some green shoots emerging, especially in the tourism sectors, and we can grow on that it would be a great step forward. We are hopeful that things like the Wild Atlantic Way and the Ryanair flight in Shannon will help. If number can grow like they did when Ryanair expanded in Shannon in 2003 and 2004 then if will be very positive.”

The Cla re People has learned.

The service, which has been closed

since February 2 as a result of seri

ous flooding in the Ballycar area, a

spokesperson from Iarnród Eireann

confirmed yesterday that the service will not be reopened until the middle of May at the earliest. The track was originally closed in early February of this year following severe flooding in the wake of ongoing wet conditions last winter. This flooding increased water levels on nearby Ballycar Lough dramatically and resulted in the rail line becoming severally submerged. At the time, it was estimated that the rail service would be up and running again in the middle of last month. However, a spokesperson from the national road company revealed yesterday that the Ennis to Limerick section of the Western Rail Corridor will not reopen again until the middle of next month. “It will now be mid May at least. It is just a matter of waiting for the levels to subside,” said a spokesperson from Iarnród Eireann. “The landscape is know as Karst and it feature porous rock that takes a long time for the water to get through.” The train station at Sixmilebridge has been closed since February with bus transfers taking commuters back and forth between Ennis and Limerick. This latest flooding comes despite the railway company raising the track levels in the Ballycar area by 60 centimetres in 2003, in an effort to avoid flooding. The level of flooding taking place this year was so severe that the water levels were recorded more than half a metre above the raised track. The existing rail timetable on the Ennis to Limerick section of the Western Rail Corridor will continue to be honoured by Iarnród Eireann, with busses taking the place of trains on these routes.

PAYMENT of close to € 1 million will be made to farmers involved in conservation farming in the Burren this week, but these payments could be just the tip of the iceberg.

The 157 farmers involved in the Burren Farming for Conservation Project (BFCP) will share € 986,000 in funding from the Department of Agriculture. The funding is in payments for monitored works carried out on their farms over the last 12 months, which have resulted in environmental benefits for the region.

Head of the Carron BFCP, Brendan Dunford, said yesterday that his group are pushing strongly for a ma- jor expansion of the programme for 2015, which would see level of farmers involved in the programme quadruple and the funding just around € 4 million per year.

“We’re hopeful that we can secure funding for an expansion of the BFCP across the Burren under the new Rural Development Programme 2015 to 2020,” he said yesterday.

“Our target is for a four-fold expansion which would enable any Burren farmer who wants to farm for conservation access to gain access to the required support. This would be an enormous investment in the local economy, community and heritage of this wonderful place.”

The programme, which is one of the first of its kind in Europe, pays farm- ers to manage their land in a way that promotes biodiversity and sustainability. One of the major successes of the programme to date is the better management of the encroachment of scrub, which had been taking over in many areas of limestone pavement in the Burren in recent decades.

The project works through a meticulous list of on-farm criteria, with each section of land on a farm being assessed for its environmental benefits and farmers receiving payments based on the status of the land and the works carried out.

The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), yesterday confirmed € 1 million of funding for the project in 2014 but did not comment on the prospect of rolling it out across the entire Burren area.

Over the past four years, farmers in the Burren have received more then € 3.8 million through the project. Over the same period more than 67,000 metres of stone walls have been repaired while 180 hectares of invasive scrub has been removed – mainly by hand – from rare, species-rich grasslands and ancient monuments.

Almost 100 km of paths have been reopened enabling livestock access to under-grazed grasslands which can then be restored. Hundreds of water supplies have been protected by installing new tanks, troughs and pumps, resulting in improved water quality in this very sensitive karst landscape.

THE legal community has paid tribute to the late Albert O’Dea who served as District Court Judge in Clare for 17 years.

Judge O’Dea passed away in Galway last week.

He was appointed District Court Judge for Clare in October 1983 and served until his retirement in July 2001.

Ennis District Court paused shortly after 3pm last Wednesday to remember Judge Al O’Dea.

Leading tributes, Judge Patrick Durcan said that while he had not known Judge O’Dea, the retired judge was spoken about affectionately.

The judge said words like kindness, flexibility and courtesy were mentioned frequently about Judge O’Dea in conversations he had last week with legal professionals and members of the judiciary.

He said Judge O’Dea was a man who served the people of the Clare “with a myriad of great qualities”. Judge Durcan expressed his deepest sympathy to Judge O’Dea’s family.

President of the Clare Law Society, William Cahir said Judge O’Dea was a “gracious” man and all members of the legal profession in Clare were sad to learn of his death.

State Solicitor for County Clare, Martin Linnane said Judge O’Dea’s family originally hailed from Carron in North Clare.

He said Judge O’Dea loved Clare and was a “gentleman” to appear before.

“I was very saddened to learn of his death. In my mind he was still a very young man,” added Mr Linnane.

Inspector Tom Kennedy appeared before Judge O’Dea as a guard, sargeant and inspector.

Insp Kennedy said he wanted to extend the sympathies of gardaí and particularly retired members of the force to Judge O’Dea’s family.

“He was very compassionate. There was no doubt about that.

“He had a great temperament,” added Insp Kennedy.

Ennis courthouse manager Josephine Tone said staff always spoke with great warmth and affection about Judge O’Dea.

In a statement, President of the Law Society, Clare solicitor John Shaw, said Judge O’Dea was “the epitome of courtesy and a true gentle person”.

THE recession may slowly be releasing its grip from Clare’s county town as live register figures for March show that the number of people signing on in Ennis has reduced to their lowest level in more than five years.

According to figures obtained from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of people signing on the live register in Ennis last month was just 4,975 – the lowest level recorded in the county town for any month since January of 2009.

These figures represent a market reduction of 560 people or 10.1 per cent compared with March of 2013. The number of people currently signing on in Ennis is also 1,064 people, or 17.6 per cent, fewer than in March of 2010 – the worst March on record.

These recent improvement were also replicate in other parts of the county but the overall figures would suggest that the improvement is taking place in Ennis quicker than in the rest of Clare.

According to Ennis Chamber of Commerce, a number of new jobs could be created in Clare right now, if credit was made more easily available to businesses.

“We certainly feel that there are businesses in Ennis who could expand if the situation with credit was normalised. We need to see some sort of connect between the finance aspect and the supports available. While we believe that there is no point in giving credit to businesses that are not viable and would not work even give credit, there needs to be some sort of support there to make credit available to businesses who have a justifiable plan,” said Rita McInerney, CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

“Sometimes there is a bit of a disconnect. You can have a business that, if given the right advice and support, would be in a position to justify receiving credit and moving the business forward. If a business is refused credit from a bank, the question that should be asked is why it was refused. The bank might think that the business is not viable but if might also be the case that the business just need more planning and help to show that they are viable.”

Overall figures for Clare show that 9,023 people signed on the live register last month – a drop of more then 800 people on the same month last year. The number signing on reduced by 200 in Ennis with Ennistymon also performing well, with a drop of 80 people last month.