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ARE the services for people affected by domestic abuse in County Clare serving people’s need or are there gaps in the system. That is the question being put to those that know best, the people that have used the services.

The HSE has said this week that domestic abuse and sexual violence is an alarming problem in our country. As a result the Speak Up Café initiative has been organised to involve individuals who have been affected by domestic abuse and/or sexual violence to come and tell organisations how services can be improved.

The Speak Up Café event in Clare will take place in the Temple Gate Hotel, 11am to 2pm, and is part of a wide range of initiatives undertaken by the Mid West Regional Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women and local agencies during the 16 Days of Action Campaign.

The 16 Days of Action Campaign is an international campaign to raise awareness of the reality of domestic abuse and violence and to push for positive change to increase women’s safety.

The café is open to individuals who have experienced domestic abuse and/or sexual violence either currently or in the past. It is open to family members and close friends who may be living with or supporting survivors. It is also aimed at those who may not have accessed a service but could have potentially benefited from doing so.

“The Speak Up Café model is built on the assumption that people already have within them the wisdom and expertise to advise organisations as to what’s important when dealing with a crisis or on-going problems related to domestic abuse and /or sexual violence. The organisers believe that by listening to what the public and service users say is essential if organisations wish to improve services. The changes will make services more relevant, of a higher quality and which staff are proud to provide,” a spokesperson said.

Anyone who would like to voice their opinion at any of these events in the mid west region, just drop in to the café and meet informally with a representative of an organisation and chat with others with similar experiences. Those that cannot attend on the day, can also phone in with comments on the free phone number 1800 311 511 or complete the on-line survey. For further details see www. midwestvaw.ie.

FIANNA Fáil will hold its first convention for next year’s Local Elections on Friday night in Shannon.

The delegates will be asked to select their candidates from the nominees that will go before convention.

A directive from head office will have to be issued as to how many candidates will be selected to contest the six-seat constituency.

What is expected to be a hotly-contested Ennis convention will take place in the Auburn Lodge Hotel on December 2, with an estimated 10 people expected to be nominated in this eight-seat constituency.

Nominations for each area close up to a week before convention, so an exact figure is not yet known.

The convention for the Killaloe area is on in the Old Courthouse in Tulla on December 6, while the West Clare area convention will take place on December 9 in the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point.

The West Clare area is the only convention likely to be divided into two district conventions as it is made up of the old Kilrush and Ennistymon electoral areas.

A WEST Clare farmer was ordered to sell all his livestock and sentenced to 10 months in prison after a district court judge heard “horrific evidence” of animal cruelty.

Judge Patrick Durcan said Patrick Shannon (60) of Carnaculla, Kilrush, had caused “great cruelty” to the cattle on his farm and the reputation of the agricultural industry.

He ordered that Mr Shannon’s herd of 75 cattle be disposed of within 28 days as he “did not want to cause and further suffering to these animals”.

The court heard that the married father of three had used an extreme form of strip grazing that left animals gnawing with the hunger.

Despite the intervention of the Department of Agriculture for more than a decade, the West Clare farmer could not see the error of his ways, the court was told.

Vincent Lambert, Veterinary surgeon and veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture gave examples of cows and calves held in “paddock” areas surrounded by electric fences with no feed, water, shelter, or comfortable place to lie, during a visit to the farm on November 1, 2012. He said the paddocks were bare and it was obvious that the animals had reached under the fence to access grass outside.

He also gave an example of nine weanlings in a cubical shed with no feed or water and the animals were very thin.

“Mr Shannon arrived and provided three bags of weathered grass mainly rushes. It has a very poor nutritional value,” said Mr Lambert. The vet said he had explained that he had seen animal cruelty and Mr Shannon agreed that it was as he described but saw nothing wrong with it. There were 122 bales of silage on the farm on that date. He returned the following day and found the fences extended slightly in some fields and feed for some animals but no water. “One animal was on its knees trying to reach outside of the fence and receiving electric shock from the fence,” he said. When Mr Lambert and his colleagues returned to the farm again in December 11, 2012, they found scenes of thin animals gnawing with the hunger, with some animals so undernourished that their growth was stunted. He told the court the “Mr Shannon does not accept animals should walk on what they eat and should eat under the fence. “Since 2003 we have dealt with Mr Shannon and this is the way he farms. Mr Shannon doesn’t see anything wrong with this.” Solicitor for the defence John Casey said that his client “genuinely cares about these animals but it is misguided”. He said that Mr Shannon has a fear of the animals grazing on grass on which they walk. “He believes if they eat wet grass it will make them cold from the inside out,” he said. “The worst penalty that could happen to him would be to have these animals taken from him. Yes it is his livelihood and income, but I feel the loss of these animals would have a severe impact on him.” Judge Durcan suspended the jail term for two years and set recognisance in case of appeal.

THERE was a double boost for Shannon Airport yesterday with the news that traffic volume continued to grow in the Clare airport in October and the announcement by Aer Lingus of a number of new routes for 2014.

According to figures from Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), the numbers of commercial planes using Shannon Airport in October was 1, 582 – or 51 per day. This represents a 1.5 per cent increase on the same period in 2012 and draws Shannon Airport closer to passing out Cork Airport and reclaiming its position of Ireland’s second most used airport.

There was a further boost for Shannon yesterday as Aer Lingus announcing a new service between Shannon Airport and Malaga in 2014 and an increase infrequency on a number of other routes. A twiceweekly service between Shannon and Malaga will begin from March 30, at a cost of € 66.99.

Aer Lingus will increase frequencies on transatlantic routes from Shannon to New York and Boston, almost doubling its schedule between the two US hubs and upgrading the flights to a year-round service.

Flights between Shannon and New York will be increased three to six return flights per week while flights to Boston will be increase from three flight per week to a daily service.

Meanwhile, there was more good news for Shannon Airport chairperson and North Clare businesswoman, Rose Hynes, who won the President’s Award at the annual Limerick Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Awards held last Friday.

“We are making lots of progress. But we must do an awful lot more, and we will.

“People have to use Shannon, and to see Shannon as their airport. This is my message – the one way to get more flights and more routes, is to fill the ones we have,” she said while accepting the award.

AN ENNIS woman admits she still fears for her family’s safety following the super typhoon that has devastated her native Philippines.

The family of café worker Vicky Garcia escaped harm when Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines on November 4.

Vicky says her village of Camburnan Tapaz, near the city of Roxas, was spared the effects of flooding but suffered destruction from the 300km an hour winds.

The village is home to 600 people and most of the buildings have been completely flattened. Four of Vicky’s sisters still live in the Philippines.

“They are all okay. No one died or was injured but they are very lucky. I was talking to them this morning and they still have no electricity and it is very hard to get food. You have to travel almost three hours to the nearest city for food,” explains Vicky,

Authorities estimate more than 3,900 people were killed when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the largest ever recorded made landfall in the central Philippines and the sea surged ashore.

Officials have estimated that up to 10,000 people have died in Tacloban city. More than nine million people have been affected with many struggling to survive without access to food, shelter and clean drinking water.

Vicky says, “We are lucky where we live, it is on higher ground, so we didn’t get the flooding. In our village nobody died but in the next village there were some people who died. We were just lucky. All of the buildings have been damaged. My school was destroyed. Two of my sister’s houses were damaged.”

Vicky lives in Ennis and has worked at the Snack Shack café in the town centre since moving to Ireland in 2004. One of her sisters lives in Ennis, two sisters live in Shannon and another lives in Cork.

Vicky has been in constant contact with her family and friends by phone and social media.

Amid fears that further storms could cause further destruction, Vicky says she is concerned about her family’s safety.

“There might be more storms. It is bad over there and we are still very worried for them,” she added.

A food drive for victims of the storm is underway in Shannon. People in and around the town are being asked to leave non-perisahable food and non-prescription medication to the collection point at the Skycourt Shopping Centre.

THE Cliffs of Moher is on target to record its largest even number of visitors in 2013, with a prospect of breaking the one million barrier now a realistic possibility.

A surge in individual visitors in late summer has seen the North Clare tourist site surpass all predictions made for tourism numbers this year. The Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience had already recorded a sizable year-on-year increase in the number of tour groups visiting in 2013, and the recent surge of individual tourists has pushed the visitors numbers into record territory.

According to Katherine Webster of the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience, the increase has been largely driven by tourists from America and mainland Europe.

“At this stage I can confirm that the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience is on target to exceed our record figure of 940,000 visitors which was reached in 2007, the year the new visitor centre opened,” she told The Clare People yesterday.

“Visitor numbers to the end of October are up by 9 percent on the same period last year. Group tours are ahead by 14 per cent and individual visitors by 4 percent.

“We’ve seen strong growth out of the North American and German markets with other continental European markets also performing well. The impact of the Gathering has definitely been noticeable.

“Our Family Names of County Clare project has been very popular with local visitors from Clare and has also evoked a great response from overseas visitors. The Clare Family Names exhibit will be retained and further names will be added in 2014.”

The increase in individual tourist numbers in particular is a welcome boost for the Clare tourism industry. The Cliffs of Moher are seen as a barometer to the overall health of tourism in Clare, with the the individual visitor number being key as group tours are more likely to base their holiday in Dublin and Galway, rather than in Burren itself.

A HOAX emergency call that sparked a major search operation around Ennis last week is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

The River Fergus was the focus of the two-hour search after a call was received of a person entering the water in the Woodquay area of the town.

A number of services including the Gardaí, Kilkee Coast Guard, Doolin Coast Guard, Clare Fire Services and the Health Services Executive (HSE) attended the search while Clare Civil Defence were on standby.

No one was recovered from the water and there were no definite sightings of a person in the river. Gardaí had not received any report of a missing person.

Emergency services were already stretched having earlier attended the scene of an accident in Ennis where a van crashed through the front entrance of a shop.

Gardaí are now investigating the call after receiving a complaint from the Clare Fire Services.

Inspector Tom Kennedy confirmed Gardaí are looking into the matter. “Hoax calls can sometimes be about chimney fires or things like that but it is very unusual to get one to say that a person has jumped into the river. This involved all the emergency services. The Civil Defence were on standby. It was very dangerous.”

A coast guard helicopter was on the scene within 20 minutes. The search was coordinated by gardaí and involved up to 30 coast guard officers, 14 fire services personnel, paramedics and advanced paramedics.

Coast guard helicopter call outs cost an estimated € 5,000 an hour while the estimated cost of fire services involvement on the night runs to almost € 2,000.

The coast guard were tasked with the call at 9.10pm and the search was stood down following extensive consultation at 11pm.

Chief fire officer for Clare, Adrian Kelly described the hoax call as “madness”.

“The cost is one thing but the more important thing is safety,” he added.

Head of Clare Civil Defence Liam Griffin said the presence of so many people around the river on a night when weather conditions were poor made the situation more dangerous.

“It’s unheard of that you’d have that many people in the town on a Wednesday night. There is an inherent danger in having that many people around water.

“We have no issue responding to any emergency call but situations like this put severe strain on the emergency services,” explained Martony Vaughan, Officer in Charge of Kilkee Coast Guard.

THERE are almost half the number of dogs entering the pound now as there was five years ago, and significantly less being put down thanks to voluntary re-homing schemes, an organised dog spaying system in the county and the use of social media.

That is according to Clare dog warden Frankie Coote, who said that approximately 1,200 dogs went through the pound last year compared to more than 2,000 half a decade ago.

He said Ennis dog pound gets a lot of help from a number of animal charities such as Rover Rescue in Ennis and Mandy Ellis in Kilkee who have taken hundreds of dogs between them to be re-housed abroad, usually Britain.

Shena Twist from North Clare has also taken dogs and re-housed them at home and abroad as well as providing the ISPAC with advice on donkeys and horses.

“If we lose their help we would go back to the bad old times,” he said.

He added that the local ISPCA have also re-housed dogs through a Facebook drive.

“It is very important to realise that not every dog that comes into Ennis Dog Pound is re-houseable,” he said.

He said that some dogs that come to the pound do so because they are very old and their owners have no way of disposing of them.

“There are approximately 100 dogs every year that are dangerous. They would have attacked livestock or people.

“We also find dogs on a regular basis that we have no history for so it would be very hard to put them in homes when we don’t know how they react with children for example.”

Mr Coote said that the ISPCA does not deal with horses and the control of horses is overseen by Clare County Council and the Gardaí.

THE Environmental Agency (EPA), Clare County Council, and the Health Service Executive (HSE) are to meet later today (Tuesday) to discuss the issue of a noxious smell in Shannon.

Residents say that the smell appears to be abating slightly, but understand that it is the type of smell you get use to and therefore is still an issue.

The underlying cause of the odour is also worrying concerned locals.

The foul fetor has been investigated by the (EPA) and the environmental watchdog has advised that investigations to date indicate that the source of the odour appears to be the sewer network in Shannon.

The EPA and Clare County Council, with the assistance of the HSE, have also put in place an action programme for further monitoring and investigation.

Continuing investigative efforts are being focused on the sewer collection network including all discharges to the network.

The government bodies continue to monitor the smell as well as any unusual patterns of illness in the local population.

Air quality monitored by the EPA in the Shannon area between March 2012 and June 2013 showed pollutant levels were found to be below EU limit values.

REGULAR mass will be celebrated outside of the main chapel in Crusheen for the first time ever this morning as a new trial scheme to save money and protect elderly mass goes from the cold begins.

Today’s early morning mass, No vember 19, will be celebrated in a small meeting room at the back of the church building and not in the main chapel.

Parish priest Father Ger Nash con- firmed yesterday that weekday masses will be moved out of the main chapel for the next few months in an effort to save money on heating. All weekend masses will continue to take place on the main chapel, as will the Friday morning service which is attended by local school children.

The new system will be operated on a trail basis until March or April of 2014, and could become an annual move for the parish if mass goers are in favour. According to Fr Nash, the cost of heating the main chapel for mass is putting a significant strain on the parish coffers.

“At the moment we get between a dozen or two dozen people attending mass during the week so we decided, for economic reasons, to move these masses to a cozy meeting room to wards the back of the church,” he said. “It can take around two hours of heat before the main chapel is warmed up, but this room is nice and cozy in about 15 minutes. We are starting this on a trial basis for Tuesday and Thursday masses and we will see how it goes from there. We have never tried anything like this before.

“The majority of people attending these masses are elderly so the cold is a worry. With the price of oil at the moment this could make a difference. Even just for two days [each week] the cost savings by the end of the year could be substantial.”

According to the latest accounts published by the Diocese of Killaloe, the diocese recorded a surplus of more than € 200,000 in 2011. The diocese also reported cash reserves of € 813,778 and “investments” in excess of € 2 million.