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CLARE will receive less money from central government than any other county in Ireland in 2014, it was confirmed at last week’s budget meeting of Clare County Council.

Clare County Council will receive just € 2.647 million under the Local Government Fund (LGF) for 2014, a reduction of almost € 10 million on the € 12.3 million received by the county in 2013.

This represents a 78.48 per cent de- crease in the amount paid to Clare in just 12 months and also means that Clare County Council will receive less funding than any other local authority in Ireland under the Local Government Fund.

Much of this reduction is due to the transfer of water services from Clare County Council to the newly-formed Irish Water company.

Speaking at last week’s budget meeting, a number of councillors said that they felt they had been betrayed by the allocation from central government, especially considering that Clare recorded one of the highest compliance rates in the country for the Local Property Tax.

Commenting during the debate, Major of Clare, Joe Arkins (FG), said that he made contact with the Minster for Environment, Phil Hogan, to highlight the amount of LGF which has been allocated to Clare this year.

According to Cllr Arkins, the spokesperson for the Minister for the Environment said that the low level of funding for Clare County Council was a result of the establishment of Irish Water and the transfer of responsibilities from Clare County Council to this new group.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) also accused the new Irish Water company of taking “the cream” from this year’s budget.

Speaking about the budget a a whole, county manager Tom Coughlan said the Clare County Council would continue to work hard to provide services in a fast changing environment.

“Change is happening very quickly. Every day I am informed with some- thing different about the way that we work. Despite the fact that all that change is driving at us and challenging us we must ensure there is a structure in place to meet the needs of the people of Clare,” he said.

“If you look at the pay rates between 2009 and 2014, there has been a reduction of more than € 10 million.”

Mr Coughlan also confirmed that the budget was drafted before the recent storm damage along the western coast and that there was no funds in the budget for remedial works.

A ROADWAY used by more than a million tourists each year to travel between the Cliffs of Moher and Lahinch will not survive a month, if urgent work is not carried out.

The road, which is located on the Lahinch side of Liscannor village, was badly undermined during last week’s storm and, according to Patrick Blake of the Liscannor Har- bour Committee, will not survive another large swell.

With large sea swells expected in February and March, the road will be lucky to make it to the summer of work is not carried out soon.

“We have a very serious problem with the road which has been completely undermined and the Cliffs of Moher road is in danger of being closed. A stone wall that was protecting the road has been totally wiped out. If I was driving on that road, and a lorry was coming in the other direction, I would not keep going. It is that dangerous. All that is left there is mud holding the road together and it is a drop of 30 or 40 feet. We have a high tide coming in February and a couple in March and that could be the end of it.

“The pier [in Liscannor] itself, which is over 200 years old, has also been badly damaged. The power of the tide also created a couple of very large craters, which will have to be repaired.

“The Clathane Road is also very badly damaged. Farm land is not even flooded, it is covered with stones. The storm came like a Tsunami and wiped everything before it.”

More than 200 people turned out in Liscannor last Saturday to help restore the local pier and harbour following the devastation brought by Storm Catherine.

“It was like a group of locusts moving across the place. They swept across the place going unreal hard work all the way. We have five tractors there and they removed tonnes and tonnes of seaweed out of the way,” continued Patrick.

“The work done was amazing. We had people from the Surf Club in Lahinch and people coming from all over the country to help. It shows how people come together in a crisis. It was an amazing day, the atmosphere was so positive and everyone coming together to help.”

THOMAS Burke is fighting for his livelihood and facing the stark possibility that it may no longer sustain him following the storm and sea swells of early January.

The Kilrush farmer is one of just many dependent on the lands of West Clare for survival, now in serious trouble.

The suckler farmer is facing the real possibility of selling a portion of his herd as three quarters of a mile of his land along the coast at Shannakyle in now covered in gravel. More than 100 metres more has been washed into the sea.

Each day more and more land is eroded away as the sea walls he built to protect his land were also victim of the storm and high waves.

Mr Burke’s land is in the form of a mini peninsula that juts out into the sea, across from Scattery Island. As a result his 80-acre farm has been damaged on all sides.

During the height of the bad weather at least 30 acres, more than one third of his land was under water. This land will now have to be reclaimed from the damage of the seawater and all the debris that has been washed up.

He has also suffered thousands of euros of damage at three other points on his farm, including the loss of the sea wall he built.

“A half of mile of fencing was also destroyed and about 100 metres of land sucked out to the sea,” he told The Clare People . “The days that followed the storm caused more problems as the sea continued to erode the land that was no longer protected,” he said. “It will take three weeks with a digger to clean up,” he added explaining that the repair work will then begin. Even when the repair work is complete there will still be under-lying damage that will take years to rectify itself. “I am looking at the possibility of selling stock this year because the land won’t be recovered,” said the worried farmer. “There is no help coming as of now.”

A CLARE man who owes almost € 1.8 million is the largest debtor to come before the Personal Insolvency Court so far, the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) has confirmed.

The first sitting at Ennis District Court of the Personal Insolvency Court for the South Western Circuit took place on Thursday.

The case before Judge Patrick Meaghan concerned a Clare man with total qualifying liabilities of € 1.77 million. The man was seeking a protection certificate from the court to allow time to enter into negotiations with his creditors.

Figures shown to the court revealed the man had total assets of € 394,900, a monthly income of € 5,687 and monthly expenses of € 5,994.

The man is a married father of one. The court heard he is an engineer currently working in Finland. His debts concern money owed to financial institutions for commercial premises in Limerick and Dublin along with two buy-to-let properties. In total, the man has 14 creditors.

The man was not present in court but was represented by Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) John Hogan. The ISI were also represented in court.

Judge Patrick Meaghan said the debtor was obviously insolvent. He said he was satisfied to grant the protection certificate. He wished the man all the best. The man now has 70 days to strike a deal with creditors. Judge Patrick Meaghan said he was pleased to see members of the press attending the court sitting. He said the Personal Insolvency Court is a new jurisdiction in which there is a lot of public interest. He said that press coverage had so far been “very fair and balanced”.

He said behind every case are people with difficulties. He asked the media to refrain from identifying the debtor and his creditors. Judge Meaghan added, “It is a matter that is very topical, but hopefully with sensitivity things can be progressed.”

According to it’s website, “The mission of the ISI is to help restore people who are insolvent to solvency in a fair, transparent and equitable way.”

The ISI is an independent statutory body. It was established by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter, TD on March 1, 2013.

Speaking after the hearing, PIP John Hogan said he thought the ISI was “doing a fantastic job”.

“The only problem with the legislation is that it should have happened four years ago. It might have saved a few marriages,” he added.

Mr Hogan said half of the people who have engaged his services as a PIP (8 or 9) come from Clare.

Mr Hogan, an Ennis-based accountant, is one of two PIPs registered in Clare. The other is another Ennis based accountant, John Carmody.

AMAZING film from CCTV cameras at the playground in Lahinch during the early hours of Monday, January 6, shows massive waves sweep away recycling bins weighing half a ton as the playground disappears under water.

Clare County Council’s Paul Moroney, who monitored the footage explained that no human could have survived the ferocity of the waves and a car would have been crushed with the impact.

The senior engineer with the council’s water department showed the film to county councillors at a special meeting on Friday last in an at- tempt to depict the terrifying weather conditions the people living along the county’s coast were exposed to during the end of December and early January.

Shortly after 3am on the fateful morning a wave dislodged the bottle and can banks weighing 250kg each.

Three minutes before 5am all of the bottle banks were dislodged and moving at speed with the force of a wave across the playground.

Half an hour later the film captured the playground now under water and the final bank – the half tonne back containing wet clothes, being swept across the screen.

Just 20 minutes later, at 5.50am, the playground was full of water with none of the play equipment visible.

Mr Moroney explained that in flood hazard terms the area was calculated to be “extremely hazardous”, “making it hazardous to life”.

Just seconds later a wave took out the streetlights, and even though the cameras kept running the screen was black and the only sound came from an angry sea.

LAST year was a record year for trgan transplants in Ireland, with at least six transplant recipients from Clare. One third of the Clare transplants were from living donors.

Four Clare people received kidney transplants last year while another was the recipient of a kidney and pancreas transplant.

There was at least one lung transplant recipient in the county.

Among the success stories were two living kidney transplant recipients in Clare both of whom received their transplants from family members.

Both transplants were carried out at Beaumount Hospital Dublin and both the donors and recipients have recovered well.

“The gift they have received has given these people a second chance at life as they now have a life free of dialysis. It’s the gift the recipients are so grateful for, as prior to been transplanted they were depending on machines to survive,” said Peggy Eustace of the Clare branch of the Irish Kidney Association.

“Sadly there have also been many donor families in Clare. We thank them for the generosity they have shown in donating their loved ones organs at a very difficult time for themselves.”

In 2013 as many as 293 organs were transplanted in Ireland compared to the previous record of 275 in 2011.

The highlight achievement was the growth in lung transplantation in the Mater Hospital from a record 14 in 2012 to a staggering 32 in 2013.

This is more than the equivalent of the previous four years of lung transplantation from 2009 to 2012, which totalled 31.

The second highlight is the consistently record-breaking living donor kidney transplant programme in Beaumont Hospital, which had 38 living donors and resulting transplants.

It brings the total living donor kidney transplants to 155 since the start of the service seven years ago.

The generosity of the 86 deceased donors and their families in 2013 dramatically altered and saved the lives of 245 people, 10 of whom received two organs.

There were 55 liver transplants performed in St Vincent’s Hospital and 11 heart transplants also conducted in the Mater Hospital.

In Beaumont Hospital a total of 195 transplant operations took place. 185 kidney operations, of which 38 were from living donors and 147 from deceased donors, 10 of the 147 also had simultaneous pancreas transplants.

THE last ever singular budget for the town of Kilrush was passed on Thursday night last, with councillors voting on an expenditure of more than € 1.34 million.

Unlike other years, the budget took account that the councillors would become redundant in May with the dissolution of all town councils, and as a result funding for councillors’ wages and expenses is to cover just the first half of the year.

The € 1,342,548 budget for 2014 increased from € 1,327,958 in 2013. Income, excluding rates and pension levy, was estimated at € 576,183 in 2014 compared to € 631,133 in 2013.

Town manager Anne Haugh ex- plained, “It has been a particularly difficult exercise to balance the Budget for 2014. Kilrush Town Council are proposing no increase in commercial rates for 2014 being mindful of the current difficult economic climate and the difficulties that same pose for local businesses. It should be noted however, that with the proposed abolition of Kilrush Town Council a harmonisation of rates across the county over a ten year period is proposed.”

The Draft Budget been prepared with no income from the Local Government Fund.

“However we are still proposing to maintain the existing level of services in 2014,” said Ms Haugh.

Council payroll costs for this year are to remain the same at € 425,000

A 2005 loan for the upgrading of Henry Street and the Vandeleur Walled Garden project will cost the council € 66,154 this year.

Income from rents is expected to be up this year as refurbishment work to Kilrush Town Council’s Housing Stock means there are more houses available to rent.

An income from rents of local authority dwellings is estimated at € 320,000 with just over one tenth of the income ear marked for maintenance and refurbishment works.

Pay parking, which has proven a hot potato for the council in the past, is expected to bring in € 45, 500 to the council coffers.

Planning applications are also expected to be up. Due to the increase in the number of planning applica- tions received in 2013, an increase to € 3,000 has been provided for in Planning Application Fees for 2014.

Also included in this programme group is a provision of € 13,000 for tourism development and promotion, to fund the marketing and development of Kilrush as a significant tourist attraction.

“As in previous years, support for various projects have been included as it is felt that in these recessionary times, assistance to community projects is even more important than ever,” said Ms Haugh, aware that support for such projects in the future will fall to a larger local authority. Therefore it has been decided to again provide the Community and Development Projects Grants of € 5,500, the Community and Art Grants of € 2,000 and the Contribution to Graveyards of € 800. It is also proposed to increase the contribution to the Chamber of Commerce for the Christmas lights to € 10,500 to assist in the repayment of the balance of a loan taken out by the Chamber to buy the lights.

A further provision of € 5,000 has been provided for the Shop Front Initiative due to its success in 2013. It is also proposed that an increased provision of € 3,500 be made available for twinning for a delegation from Kilrush Town Council to travel to Plouzane in 2014 due to the proposed abolition of town councils in 2014.

One off capital projects are also to receive the full support of the town council before it comes to an end in four months time.

ENNIS’ effor ts to become Ireland’s tidiest town have been boosted by a € 4,000 increase in funding from Ennis Town Council.

At the council’s annual budget meeting last week, members unanimously voted in favour of a motion to allocate extra funds to the Ennis Tidy Town’s Committee.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) proposed cutting by half money allo- cated for the mayor’s allowance in 2014.

The Ennis councillor told the meeting the money could instead be given to Tidy Towns as Ennis would only have a mayor for another six months.

It is expected that the town council will be replaced by a municipal authority after this year’s local elections.

Cll r Brennan’s proposal came in response to a suggestion put forward by Cll r Brian Meaney (GP).

A Fianna Fáí l candidate in the 2014 local elections, Cll r Meaney called on the council to increase the increase the cost of using the town’s automated public toilets from 25 cents to 50 cents.

The meeting heard the proposal would generate additional income of € 2, 000.

The council estimates it will cost € 70, 000 to maintain and service the two ‘superloos’ in 2014.

Cllr Meaney’s proposal was supported by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) who said some of the extra income should go towards tackling the “graffiti epidemic” in the town.

However it was strongly opposed by other councillors. Cllr Brennan said, “For anyone even to suggest it is disgraceful.”

The council will give a contribution of € 16, 000 to Ennis Tidy Towns. Cllr Brennan said an extra € 4,000 could be found by cutting the mayor’s annual allowance. Cll r Brennan’s motion was unanimously voted through by all nine members. Cllr Meaney’s motion was defeated by five votes to four.

Town manager Gerard Dollard told the meeting the council would also look favourably on any application from the Ennis Defibrillator Committee for community grant funding. This was after a request from Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind).

Going down on his knees as Tuesday’s meeting neared conclusion, Cllr O’Shea urged the council to provide financial support to the committee.

THERE is a ‘huge problem’ with theft in Clare, a Judge has warned.

Judge Patrick Durcan made his comments at Ennis District Court on Wednesday as he imposed a 12month prison sentence on a Romanian man convicted for his role in a number of theft offences.

Emil Brasoveanu (27), with an address at Dun Leinn, Monivea, Galway, was part of a three strong gang who targeted small businesses in West and North Clare in a crime spree on December 17 (2013).

In December, a husband and wife Anton Makula (26) and Anca Grancea (23) of Cluain Rocaird, Headford Road, Galway city, received prison sentences for their role in the offences.

All three had pleaded guilty to various theft charges on three businesses in West Clare.

In December, defence solicitor Fiona Hehir said the couple had “stupidly got involved in the operation” because they needed money for their children’s Christmas presents.

The court heard Mr Brasoveanu wore a ladies swimsuit during the commission of the thefts.

Last month, Sgt Ronan O’Hara of Kilrush Garda Station, told the court the accused wore the swimsuit back to front.

“By wearing it back to front, you can conceal more down the back of it”, explained Sgt O’Hara.

“It’s a new one on me”, said Sgt O’Hara when asked if he had come across this type of theft before.

The businesses targeted were McGrotty’s Medical Hall, Ennistymon, William’s Pharmacy, Kilkee and Miltown Malbay Post Office. All property was recovered, the court heard.

“These people (businesses) were very specifically targeted by these people in a deliberate and organised fashion”, said Judge Durcan at the time.

Praising the actions of local gardaí and the bravery of a post office worker who helped foil the theft of a charity box, Judge Durcan said of the accused;

“Their actions are putting jobs on the line, businesses in jeopardy and leads to a situation where a commu nity could’ve been deprived of essential services.”

On Wednesday, defence solicitor Fiona Hehir said Mr Brasoveanu was an unemployed father of two who committed the offences to get money for Christmas. Judge Durcan said, “I do not believe a single word of what your client has instructed you”.

He said Mr Brasoveanu was part of a gang that had engaged in the “commercial tyranny” of small businesses in West Clare.

“The court has to look on these type of offences with the greatest severity and it does”, he added.

The court heard the accused is currently serving a prison sentence, activated by a Cork court last month.

Judge Durcan imposed a 12-month prison sentence, noting that there is “huge problem with theft in Clare.”

“You can’t have people perpetrating this type of crime against the retail sector which is on it’s knees”, he added.

A MOTHER has spoken of the terror felt by her family when their home was the target of a suspected gun attack in Ennis last week.

Shots were fired at a family home in the Cloughleigh area of the town in the early hours of New Year’s morning. No one was injured in the attack but windows and the front door of the house were damaged.

A husband and wife and seven children including a one-year-old girl were in the house at the time. A 46-year-old man was questioned and subsequently released without charge.

Gardaí in Ennis yesterday issued a renewed appeal for information.

They are interested in a grey saloon type car that was seen leaving the area at the time with two occupants on board. A garda spokesman said that investigations into the matter are ongoing. A large downstairs window and door remained boarded over at the house yesterday.

In her sitting room, the mother of eight, who was present in the house on the night, relived the horror of the attack.

The couple were upstairs watching television having just returned from a New Year’s Eve party when they heard the sound of windows breaking, according to the woman.

“We looked out and saw three men well known to us driving a silver private car. We shouted down at them,” she said.

The woman, who did not want her name to be published, said shots were then fired at the front door and at the upstairs bedroom window where her husband was standing while “rocks came through the sitting room win- dow”.

The couple’s daughters (ages eight, three and 16) and one-year-old grandchild were asleep upstairs at the time. Their three sons were asleep in a downstairs bedroom.

“We were terrified but the kids were probably more terrified,” the woman said.

The incident may be linked to a recent court case in Ennis, which the family had no direct involvement in.

The woman says the family’s car has previously been damaged while she says her son was the victim of a serious assault in Ennis last June.

She said, “We feel like our lives have been taken away from us. We are afraid for our children.

“We know nothing about any feuding that’d be going on in this town. We have nothing to do with anything like that. My husband has never been in trouble in his life. All we want is justice for this.”

Members of Ennis Town Council will meet in private today to discuss the incident in Cloughleigh.

Independent councillor Paul O’Shea yesterday warned that lives will be lost if violent incidents in Ennis do not stop.