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A NUMBER of people in Clare have received a bizarre phishing email, written entirely in the Irish language, offering them $4.1 million dollars to take part in a business venture in Africa.

The emails, which are addressed from a Mr Ignacio Nwaku, are understood to be the first phishing emails of their kind written as Gaeilge.

A number of Clare people have reported receiving the email since they first appeared last week but there is no indication as yet that the emails are targeting Irish people because of the proximity to St Patrick’s Day.

The email professes to be from Ignacio Nwako – a barrister from the Togo Republic. Mr Nwako claims to be acting on behalf of his late client “Mr David” whose $4.1 million fortune has been lodged in a “coded deceased account”.

Phishing email work by enticing people to reveal important personal details like their online usernames, passwords and even their bank account details.

A spokesperson for Údarás na Gaeltachta, who examined the email for The Clare People , said it contained “jumbled up, nonsensical Irish” and was most likely made using automatic translation software.

The spokesperson also confirmed that this was the first phishing email in Irish that Údarás na Gaeltachta had ever come upon.

“I didn’t notice it at first [that is was written in Irish]. I saw that $4.1 million dollars and I knew straight away it was a scam. I was about to delete it and then I noticed that it was in Irish. I couldn’t believe it,” said one Ennis recipient who asked not to be identified.

The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources have asked members of the public to delete the email straight away.

The email reads: Tá mé Barrister. Ignacio Nwaku ó Phoblacht Tóga, chuaigh mé i dteagmháil leat ar feadh méid togra gnó i gceist é US $ 4.1 milliún dollar mbaineann le mo chliant go déanach Mr David agus tá sé sábháilte sa chuntas códaithe éagaigh. Beidh níos mó sonraí a relayed do duit ach má f haighim do freagra dearfach. Go raibh maith agat. Mr Ignacio Nwaku.

THE Minister for Health James Reilly has said that there will be a new Maternity Hospital on the grounds of the University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle, in four years.

The Minister for Health said the relocation is earmarked for completion in 2018.

The first public meeting of the new mid-west hospitals group board, outlined that one of its key objective was to secure capital for a new maternity unit on the Dooradoyle campus.

There was no confirmation as to the timing of the project forthcoming at the meeting last month.

The minister has given a four-year projection for the hospital and Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) believes that is a realistic and feasible timeline.

“The Minister for Health has confirmed the co-location plan is underway and that the hope is for it to be completed by 2018,” he said.

“It has been accepted and recognised by the HSE and Government that the University Maternity Hospital in Limerick, needs to move to a modern purpose-built unit on the grounds of the University Hospital, Limerick.

“Co-location of maternity hospitals with adult acute services is the optimal solution for the provision of hospital-based maternity services, as it can provide access to the full range of medical and surgical specialties and clinical support services in sufficient volume and complexity to provide added value,” he said.

“I am pleased that work is on-going to develop a brief for the co-location of both facilities and would hope this will progress swiftly and efficiently.”

THE first wave energy farm in Eu- rope is being planned for waters off Killard near Doonbeg. It could begin operating as early as 2018 according to the ESB. The energy company confirmed last week that its West Wave project will go ahead off the West Clare coast, and that five wave energy de- vices will initially be deployed to help “prove” that the technology can work on a commercial scale. The project is expected to cost between € 40 million and € 50 million. The company has secured a foreshore licence, and a number of environmental studies are currently under way that will take up to 18 months to complete. Planning permission will also have to be secured before the project goes ahead. According to reports, the ESB hopes to prove that the fledgling technology is durable and can produce power on an ongoing basis, which will help drive the wave industry forward. West Wave has been described as a critical project for the whole ocean energy business. The ambitious plans are being supported by Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), which is providing € 1.3m in funding to help complete feasibility studies. Five firms have been shortlisted to supply the technology, and the successful bidder will be chosen by the middle of 2016. The successful bidder will supply five devices, which will be moored in an area of one square kilometre. The ESB aims to produce 26 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2050.

THE main road to the Loop Head Peninsula, which was closed for almost six weeks following severe storms, reopened on Friday afternoon.

Clare County Council completed extensive works to rebuild and repair over 100 metres of the regional road and coastal wall along Kilbaha Bay.

The reopening of the road was welcomed by the Mayor of Clare, Councillor Joe Arkins, who said, “The temporary reconstruction works were necessary to re-establish connectivity in Kilbaha and the wider Loop Head Peninsula, and are a timely boost for the upcoming tourist season. Recent weeks have already seen the launch of the Wild Atlantic Way with a number of Discovery points along that route situated in the greater Loop Head area.”

Works undertaken by council staff include the positioning of over 3,000 tonnes of rock armour along the sea- front, 1,200 square meters of surfacing works, and the pouring of over 200 cubic metres of concrete.

Siobhan Garvey, Marketing and Development Officer for West Clare said, “There is no doubt that visitors planning a trip to Loop Head Lighthouse and the Bridges of Ross on the Loop Head Peninsula will appreciate the improved coastal protection works, car parking facilities and increased safety infrastructure that has now been put in place at these locations.”

“The improvement works completed today add to a number of tourism infrastructural projects that were completed at both these locations along with the West End in Kilkee late in 2013. The speed at which these works were completed and the continued investments made in the Loop Head area reflects the Council’s commitment to tourism and to continually building the tourism product in the rural parts of County Clare,” she added.

A BALLYVAUGHAN grandmother, who was given a symphysiotomy without her knowledge or consent while giving birth to her first son in September of 1965, says the “stonewalling” of the Irish state has forced her to take her case before the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

Details of the life and medical history of Ellen Moore were last week presented to the UN court in Vienna and Mrs Moore says the attitude taken by the current government and Minister for Health, James Reilly (FG) have forced this latest action.

After meeting with Mrs Moore and other members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group last October, the health minister agreed to lift the statute of limitation involving symphysiotomy and allow sufferers to gain compensation through the courts.

The minister also agreed to release the second half of the Walsh Report, which probed the use of symphysiotomy’s in Irish hospitals, public. Neither of these promises have, to date, been kept.

“They have been stonewalling us and neglecting us. We worked so hard for the statute of limitations to be lifted and now it looks as if that that will not now happen. We were told in a meeting with Minister O’Reilly back in October that that we would receive the second half of the Walsh Report in two weeks – that still hasn’t happened,” said Mrs Moore.

“They [the Government] say one thing in public and they do the complete opposite in private. They are hoping that we will just go away. There are a lot of older women in the group and many of them have already died without receiving compensation.

“This isn’t just for us, this is for the next group of people who have something done to them without their consent. The state is not owning up to anything.”

This symphysiotomy procedure, which involved breaking a woman’s pelvic bone during labour, was carried out on an estimated 1,500 Irish women in the 1960 and ‘70s but fewer than 200 of these women are still alive.

THE € 200,000 repair works to the main road to Loop Head are to be completed later this week.

The main Kilbaha road has been closed since February 1, when high tides and a storm eroded two parts of the regional road previously made vulnerable by December and January storms.

Local businessman and farmer Bernie Keating said that the local people are delighted with the temporary works, but there was a lot of frustration locally getting to this point.

“The ESB brought in crews from England and Northern Ireland when we had a storm three weeks ago, and within a week everything was back up and running. There are shortterm contractors and tradesmen in every parish in the county crying out for work. Why weren’t they brought in to help out the council workers? Considering the scale of the damage in the county it would have been impossible for the county council workers to handle it,” he said.

“It is ten weeks this weekend since the first storm and the road has been closed for seven of those ten weeks by the council for health and safety reasons,” he added.

“One other concern, after storm Darwin only one county was declared a national disaster and that was Kilkenny. Isn’t it amazing that the minister is from Kilkenny?”

Local senior engineer Cyril Feeney said that the road should be open by the end of the week.

While a small amount of water came in and beach shingle was forced up on to the road with the tide last Monday, no significant damage was done.

The council has already begun € 200,000 worth or interim repair work on the road which included the installation of rock armour along the coastline, and are now completing a small retainer concrete wall between the rock armour and the road.

The engineer said that it will take months before a more permanent work can begin as the council have to go through tender, procurement and planning process.

“Some might say the € 200,000 interim work is a waste of money given that we have to do a million permanent job, but what is that against the local economy, agriculture and tourism,” said Mr Feeney.

THE M18 will remain closed northbound between Barefield (Junction 14) and Crusheen (Junction 15) until Friday to allow the National Roads Association (NRA) to carry out a safety assessment following a spate of recent accidents.

The northbound carriageway of the motorway between Barefield (Junction 14) and Crusheen (Junction 15) closed yesterday morning and will remain closed until Friday, March 14, to allow for “drainage assessment and improvement works” to take place.

This closure follows months of pressure from Clare County Council, Clare Gardaí and the local media, following a spate of accidents on the road over the Christmas period. The NRA had previously rejected calls for a safety audit to be conducted and speed restrictions to be introduced, but had a change of heart last week, confirming that a safety “engineering assessment” would take place in the coming months.

The move was welcomed yesterday by Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).

“I’m happy that the NRA are finally seeing some sense about this and I hope that the assessment will lead to the problem on the road being rectified,” he said.

The closure will commence at 9am on Monday and run until approximately 2pm on Friday. Traffic will be diverted from the existing M18 Northbound onto the R458 (the old N18) at Junction 14 Barefield and then returning to M18 Northbound at Junction 15.

“During the period June to September 2013, the NRA assumed responsibility for maintenance on the M18. Since this time, routine maintenance works have been undertaken including road sweeping and cleaning of gullies, slot drains and outfalls in addition to other general maintenance activities which assist with rapid drainage of water from the road sur- face,” said an NRA spokesperson.

“In addition, the NRA monitors and assesses the network under its direct control with a view to carrying out any maintenance or remedial works which might be required to improve road drainage and maintain the design capacity of the drainage system. However, the possibility of the occurrence of surface water due to extreme weather events cannot be fully eliminated.”

THE people of Gort are in a state of shock following the tragic death of two local people in a house fire n the town last Thursday morning. The victims, who have been named locally as 38-year-old Ben Whiteman and 65-year-old Nuala Sweeney, died after a blaze broke out at 2.50am at Tom O’Donnell’s Flats on the Rail- way Road.

Numerous tributes have been paid locally to mother-of-four Nuala Sweeney and to Ben Whiteman, who worked as a mechanic. The pair have lived locally in Gort for more than a decade but had previously lived in the Caher area of East Clare. Four units of the fire brigade from Gort and Loughrea attended the scene and spent more than three hours bringing the blaze under control.

While the incident is not being treated as suspicious, questions have been raised after the first unit of the fire brigade to arrive on the scene had to delay entering the building for 25 minutes until a back-up unit arrived.

The normal complement of firefighters in Gort is nine, but for several months the station been reduced to just four. The four-man crew had to observe the protocol of having a back-up crew to support them before they could enter the building.

Galway County Council, which administers the service, has been attempting to recruit additional personnel, but has had difficulty in securing appropriate candidates for the positions.

“Would lives have been saved, or would the building have been as badly damaged – and there is a shopping centre nearby – if Gort was fully resourced?” said local Cllr Gerry Finnerty (FF).

“I know the council have been trying to recruit firefighters; I’ve seen the flyers, but we just don’t have too many people who are willing to work in our town. We have lost one-sixth of our working population since 2006.

“I’m very concerned at the impact of the under-resourcing of the fire service is having in the town and in south Galway, which is a large rural area.”

A VOLUNTARY housing association has submitted plans to the HSE and the Department of Health showing it can give round the clock care to older people in a community setting, for one fifth of the cost of long-stay nursing home care.

The innovative proposal put forward by the Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Association outlines how for € 250,000 per annum from the Government, the voluntary organisation could provide 24-hour care and security to older people in its 24 housing units.

This would also move the service in Kilmaley from independent living to assisted living as the current residents get older and require more help.

The housing complex, which was set up in 2000, will open 12 more units next month bringing the number of homes in the community up to 24.

The latest plan sent to the HSE, Department of Health and the Fair Deal Review Committee proposes to increase support for residents of Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Com plex so that they can remain in their homes as long as possible.

Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Association director Tom McNamara said that the complex would then be able to provide around the clock security; assistance and care to the residents as long as they can are mobile.

The business plan shows this can be achieved if each residence pays € 75 in rent every week, which will cover all electricity, heating and other costs, and the HSE pays the required staff. The extra staffing cost would come to € 250, 579, along with the € 150,000 costs already covered for the day-care centre.

The business plan claims that a similar service at Cahercalla Nursing Home would cost € 1.2 million, € 1.3 million at St Joseph’s Hospital, and € 1.1 million in Páirc Na Coille Nursing Home.

The benefits would not just be monetary, said Mr McNamara who is also a member of Clare County Council, but would allow older people to have their own home while also having security and assistance as required.

“All we are looking for is the staff costs. We have the infrastructure and we have the expertise to run it on a voluntary capacity,” he said. “We want people to grow old in as normal a way as possible and to be secure and safe as they do,” he added.

CLARE County Council has begun an independent investigation into why asbestos material was illegally deposited at nine locations in West Clare and not disposed of properly.

A council spokesperson said there is “no evidence to suggest there are anymore sites”.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Safety Authority has been informed that the council now plans to remove the hazardous waste from the locations in Kil rush and Kilkee.

“All of the asbestos material investigated to date consists of broken pieces of Asbestos Cement Water main. It is considered that all of this material originated on Clare County Council water services mains replacement and mains repai r works. The material appears to have been deposited over an undetermined number of years up to June 2013,” the spokesperson confirmed.

Asbestos waste material disposal is governed by legal requirements and the requi rements of the HSA and the EPA.

“A specialist asbestos consultant has been engaged by the council to advise the authority on the removal of the materials,” he added.

The removal of the material is to be undertaken in three phases.

Phase one, which is done in accordance with the advice of a specialist asbestos removal consultant involves the removal of pieces of broken asbestos pipe on the surface at all sites.

“This work will commence shortly and will take approximately three to four weeks,” said the spokesperson.

Phase two involves the appointment of a specialist asbestos consultant to develop and car ry out soil testing on the sites to establish the extent of asbestos material which is buried at the sites.

“Phase three will involve the removal of any asbestos material at any of the sites which is buried. The timeline for phase two and three is not known in detail as yet because it is subject to estimating the amount of material in each site,” he explained. The costs associated with car rying out these works are not yet known.