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GARDAÍ in Shannon say they have not received any reports of bank accounts being illegally accessed following the discovery of a skimming device at a town centre ATM last month.

Gardaí were alerted after the insertion of the skimming device set off an internal alarm in the machine.

Gardaí have not received any reports of bank accounts being hit as the device may have been discov- ered before it was put to use.

It comes as a man in Ennis saw almost € 300 illegally removed from his account at the start of the month.

The man was informed by two banks – AIB and Bank of Ireland – that money from his accounts was used for a series of online transactions. Not all of the transactions were successful.

The amounts, which varied from € 10 to € 30, were used to purchase products from Apple’s iTunes website and Hostelworld.

The banks detected the series of “unusual transactions” which took place on a Sunday morning. The man was waiting to hear from the bank last night to know if his debit card accounts had been illegally accessed online or through other means. The man’s sister, who also lives in Ennis, also was also the victim of a recent similar fraud.

“It was from two separate accounts. The bank got in touch with me to say they had noticed a few unusual transactions on my account. They’ve said I’m going to be re- funded so I’m going to be talking to them,” he explained.

Cash machines in Limerick and Galway have recently been targeted in an ATM scam.

Gardaí in Shannon discovered a skimming device at a town centre cash point on October 11 but have received no reports so far of accounts being affected.

In August, the Irish Payment Services Organisation reported that almost € 30,000 had been stolen through an ATM scam in a single week.

A CLARE senator has suggested a register of SIM cardholders should be established to help prevent cyberbullying.

Fine Gael senator Martin Conway’s comments came at a public meeting in Ennis on Friday that heard schools in Clare are struggling to deal with the spread of bullying through social networking sites such as Facebook and Ask.fm.

Jim Harding, director of the antibullying service, Bully 4 U, told the meeting a recent survey carried out by the service found that 85 per cent of respondents using Facebook are under 13.

He said all the complaints received by his company “are directed towards Facebook.

“Primary school teachers are dealing with Facebook issues on a daily basis. They are tearing their hair out,” added Mr Harding.

He also warned that new forms of social media such as Snapchat are being used to bully. He said vulnerable teenagers are receiving threatening images of ropes and knives.

He said there is a growing concern that online Chat Roulette rooms are being used by pedophiles to make contact with primary school children.

“These are mainly middle aged, naked men who are encouraging them [children] to take their clothes off so they can video and record them,” he explained.

“Mobile phones are the cause of most [online] bullying, the vast amount,” added Mr Harding. Senator Martin Conway told the meeting that the sale of SIM cards – a form of data storage for mobile devices – should be subject to tighter control. “Nobody should be able to walk into a shop and buy a SIM card for a tenner. You should have to produce your passport and there should be a register,” he explained. Dr Patricia Mannix McNamara of the University of Limerick’s Depart- ment of Education and Professional Studies, told the meeting cyber bullying is a major issue in Irish schools. “Schools are in crisis and they are struggling,” she said. Dr Mannix McNamara explained the relationships that foster cyber bullying are often happening in the schools. “Our schools are in crisis. We need our guidance counsellors to be talking to our children but we have so few guidance counsellors,” she said. Researcher Sharon Moynihan said a recent study of children in four counties found that 36 per cent of students admitted to posting hurtful comments or images on social networking sites. Ireland South MEP Sean Kelly hosted the a Cyber-Bullying Forum in the Temple Gate Hotel, in order to raise awareness and inspire action to prevent online bullying. “Cyber bullying, or bullying by social media, is a problem of epidemic proportions affecting mostly young people. It is a very serious challenge for parents, teachers, mental health and youth/community workers. It has fuelled a national and Europewide debate on how to best to tackle the issue,” he said.

CHARITIES and businesses in Ennis are set to benefit from a novel initiative aimed at encouraging people to shop local this Christmas.

The Charity Voucher Booklet is the brainchild of Ennis-based osteopath David Ghilardi.

The booklet features offers from almost 70 Ennis-based businesses and will be on sale in six charity outlets in the town: Clarecare, Caring for Carers (Carmody Street), Cahercalla Community Hospital, The Disabled People of Clare (Clon Road business park), Paw Pourri (Market) and the Irish Cancer Society (Woodquay, Ennis).

Half of the proceeds from the sale of the € 30 booklet will go towards the charities and organisations.

The vounchers can then be used at any of the local businesses that have offers in the booklet. David hopes the scheme can benefit both charities and businesses.

He explains, “I started working on this in July. I went around to the shops one by one. I might have missed a few charities but hopefully, if it goes well this year, we can extend it out next year. A lot of charities would already have campaigns and other projects specifically for Christmas.

“I think all the charities represented do fabulous work and I am proud to be working with them. There are 68 shops in the booklet, with over 100 vouchers. I would hope it would encourage people to shop in the town and spent money locally this Christmas. Businesses give something to help charities and the charities sell the booklets to support the shops. It’s a circle,” David adds.

The booklets are on sale in the six charities from November 12 to December 31. The vouchers can be used up until October 31, 2014.

David said the idea for supporting local good causes was sparked by the upcoming 10th anniversary of the opening of his osteopath clinic.

“I’ve been in Ennis for 10 years and I thought this might be a way of giving something back. The town has been very good to me and my family”, explains David who is originally from France.

The former Avenue United soccer player is hoping the booklet will bring a boost to charities and businesses this year.

A GOVERNMENT agency has been accused of intimidating Clare County Council staff in their own homes at night prior to bringing charges against the local authority.

The claim was made by county solicitor John Shaw in a report relating to two cases taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the local authority in the Circuit Criminal Court.

Mr Shaw said the charges arose out of an incident where it was considered necessary to continue supplying water to the town of Ennis, despite there being a problem with treating the water.

He said the problem was notified to the environmental watchdog, the EPA, as well as a proposal to rectify the issue.

“Notwithstanding the notification to the EPA, charges were subsequently brought in a manner which was to say the least, untypical of a state body.

“Council staff were approached late in the evening in their homes and intimidated into giving statements,” he said.

The county solicitor was then notified of this behaviour and arrangements made that all other statements would be made in the presence of the county solicitor.

Soon after charges were brought by the EPA under the European Communities (Drinking Water) No.2 Regulations 2007.

“The approach of the EPA in relation to this prosecution was, to say the least, high handed,” pointed out the solicitor from Michael Houlihan and Partners.

The council’s defence team mounted a defence against the case, which was adjourned three times in the circuit court.

“During the course of adjournment, the Circuit Court judge commented with regard to one public authority prosecuting another and questioned the value to the public in proceeding in this way,” explained Mr Shaw.

The DPP, and by extension the EPA, entered a “nolle prosequi” on September 24, meaning no case was to be answered.

Mr Shaw argued this should have been done much sooner or a case not brought at all as “a valid defence” would have been raised by the council.

Clare county manager Tom Coughlan was also vocal on the cost of this case, and another similar case, to the public purse.

The second case in Mr Shaw’s report referred to 20 indictable charges brought by the EPA against Clare County Council relating to the odour from Ballyduff beg Landfill site in Inagh.

Mr Coughlan explained, “Of the 20 indictable charges, 19 were ultimately struck out.

“The maximum penalty on each of these counts was € 15 million per charge.

“The council was fined € 5,000 in respect of one charge on which it pleaded guilty.

“The EPA sought costs and the council agreed to make an ex-gratis payment of € 3,700 towards the EPA’s cost.

“The council has expended considerable financial and human resources in preparing a defence against 20 indictable charges.

“Those scarce resources could have been expended on delivering and improving services for the people of the county,” said the county manager.

He added while he was satisfied with the council’s defence in relation to Ballyduff beg, he was acutely aware of the significant additional costs, which would be incurred in the event of the 20 charges going to a full hearing.

“In the circumstances, and mindful of the potential waste of public money, the council pleaded guilty to one charge in relation to Ballyduffbeg,” he said.

Mr Coughlan said he was also aware that both the EPA and the DPP must also have incurred huge costs and had agreement been reached at an early stage the cost to the taxpayer would have been significantly less.

Mr Coughlan was also critical of the EPA’s treatment of his staff while investigating the Ennis Water issue, claiming that as well as sending an investigation team to their homes at night, the agency also “commandeered an office in Áras an Contae to conduct interrogations of council staff ”.

“This had a serious impact on staff, particularly having regard to the fact that the EPA were seeking to identify individuals to possibly pursue criminal proceedings,” he said.

Concluding his report, Mr Shaw said the prosecution was particularly annoying as it was without merit and the investigations that were conducted were in a manner that was utterly unacceptable.

“Assurances have been received from the EPA to the effect that such conduct would not be repeated.”

As the report reached The Clare People late last night, the paper was unable to contact the EPA for comment at this time.

THE Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark and Loop Head Peninsula finished as runners up to the Brazilian region of Benito in the ‘Best Destination for Responsible Tourism’ category of the 10th annual 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards.

The Clare destinations were shortlisted alongside six other sustainable tourism destinations and organisations including Bhutan, Lithuania, Bonito (Brazil) Nature Park and Glacier Region Kaunertal (Austria), Mara Naboisho Conservancy (Kenya) and Valleys Regional Park (Wales).

The final result was announced on Wednesday at an awards ceremony, hosted by World Travel Market at the ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Representatives from both Clare destinations used the awards event as an opportunity to actively promote County Clare and the recently an- nounced Ryanair services at Shannon Airport. Loop Head Tourism and Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark hosted an information stand at the event, in conjunction with Tourism Ireland.

CLARE County Council has access to more than 3,000 tonnes of rock salt to treat the county’s roads this winter.

The big freeze during the winter of 2010-2011 saw the local authority under pressure as it gritted the county’s main thoroughfares.

This year preparations are in place early with one third of the available salt stock currently in storage.

The 1,000 tonnes of salt in storage has been held over from last winter, which was one of the mildest in recent years.

The additional 2,000 tonnes of salt is available to the council to draw down when required from the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Department of Transport (DTTAS).

Council staff have already participated in their first road treatment operation of the winter. The surface temperature dropped low enough last weekend for a number of trucks to be dispatched from the local authority’s depot/maintenance facility at Beechpark, near Ennis.

According to senior engineer Tom Tiernan;

“These stocks will be used to treat strategic national (excluding the mo- torway network) and non-national routes around the county during the coming weeks and months.

“For the first time the county’s motorway and dual carriageways will be treated directly by the NRA, which assumed responsibility for the national motorway network earlier this year.”

CLARE County Council intends to carry out work to upgrade a section of the Rocky Road to allow for greater pedestrian access to the Ballybeg area of Ennis.

Yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis East Electoral Area heard the council is looking to repave the road from the Rocky Road roundabout to Ballybeg.

Senior executive Engineer Eamon O’Dea told the meeting the council intends to improve of pedestrian access along the walking route.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said the route would be used if work was carried out to repair it.

Cllr Johnny Flynn said the route could also be popular with cyclists.

Mr O’Dea made the announcement of the council’s plans to upgrade the Rocky Road following discussion on a motion tabled by Cllr Paul Murphy (FG). The Clarecastle councillor requested the council “prioritise completing the footpath from Rockmount Cross to where it currently ends on the Kilrush Road and to also provide a pedestrian crossing”.

Cllr Murphy told the meeting he received a petition containing the signatures of 300 people living in the area.

“There are a lot of kids walking to school (new Ennis National School) in the area and a lot of residents are very concerned about how busy the road is,” he added.

Cllr Pat Daly (FF) said the area is a “fierce busy road”. “It is important the NRA provide the money for the footpaths,” he added.

Mr O’Dea said funding would have to be sought from the National Roads Authority (NRA) as the section of footpath is on a national secondary road.

He continued, “The cost of providing a footpath and public lighting would be in excess of € 80,000. There is uncontrolled pedestrian crossing at the Kilrush Road roundabout on the N68. There is an alternate pedestrian access in daylight hours to Ballybeg by using the Rocky Road and the pedestrian pelican crossing at the Rocky Road roundabout on the N85.”

Earlier, town manager and director of Service, Gerard Dollard told a meeting of councillors in the Ennis West Electoral Area, that discussions are ongoing with Airtricity on the provision of public lighting in the Beechpark housing estate.

Mr Dollard said the works could cost up to € 25,000 and the council would have to decide on how to fund it.

TWO County Clare hotels owned by West Clare hotelier John Burke received the highest accreditation available under the Green Hospitality Awards (GHA) programme.

As a result of the award this week, Clare is now the leading county for the Green Hospitality Awards programme, with almost half the country’s ‘green hotels’ in the county.

The Armada Hotel in Spanishpoint and Hotel Doolin successfully reduced their energy consumption by almost a third and reduced the amount of waste going to landfill by more than 60 per cent.

The Clare hotels join an elite group of just seven Irish hotels who possess Platinum accreditation under the hospitality sector’s only environmental accreditation programme, which is supported by the EPA through the National Waste Prevention programme.

The programme inspectors who judged both businesses noted that jointly they reduced water consumption by 38 per cent per guest, cut the amount of waste going to landfill by 62 per cent, and reduce electricity per guest by 28 per cent since joining the programme two years ago.

“The green programme has led to a consequential reduction in operating costs at both hotels and in doing so has enabled us to offer the best possible value to locals and tourists, which is critical in order to compete in the current marketplace,” explained Mr Burke.

“Furthermore this programme has a rigorous way of inspecting our approach to greater environmental issues such as reducing our carbon footprint and landfill waste levels, to our social responsibility approach to more local issues like how we contribute to local charitable and voluntary causes, and the support we show for local food suppliers. Our efforts over the past 12 months have seen us significantly improve on our Silver accreditations in 2012 for the Armada and Hotel Doolin.”

Clare is currently the leading county for the Green Hospitality Awards programme, with Dromoland hav- ing also achieved Platinum status in 2011. Three of the seven Irish hotels now in receipt of the GHA Platinum accreditation are Clare-based.

CONCERN has been expressed that the designation of buildings as protected structures is killing off some of the oldest businesses in the town.

A special meeting of Ennis Town Council will take place later this month after councillors yesterday chose not to adopt the town manager’s recommendation that 183 buildings in Ennis be retained on the record of protected structures.

Councillors have sought a meeting with the county conservation officer to highlight concerns they have over aspects of the policy.

Cllr Brian Meaney (FF) told the meeting the high cost of renovating properties that are protected structures is unfair to owners.

Cllr Meaney said the policy also runs contrary to the council’s aim of encouraging more people to live in the town centre.

He said the council could adopt a policy that protects the built character and heritage of the town while at the same time affording property owners the flexibility to renovate their businesses using modern building methods and materials.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said protected structure status had prevented the owners of Keane’s on O’Connell Street from extending their business.

Highlighting the example of one of the town’s oldest shops, Pyne’s on Abbey Street, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said it was a small family-run business that could not afford the cost of maintaining and renovating the building due to the high cost of carrying out work to a protected structure.

“It’s a one of a kind, a dying kind and are we going to kill it further?” he added.

Town Manager Gerard Dollard said that while he agreed there should be some State support to cover the cost of such works, “If members wish to change this they better have very good and valid reasons for doing so.”

He told the meeting the council is statutorily obliged to make a decision on the protected structures list before the end of the month.

A special meeting to discuss the matter will take place on Tuesday, November 19, at 5pm in Waterpark House.

A LIMITED policy of pedestrianisation will be in effect in Ennis during December after a meeting heard a lack of support exists among businesses for a longer period of pedestrianisation.

The council had previously proposed pedestrianising O’Connell Street on December 7 (Saturday), December 14 (Saturday), December 21 (Saturday), December 22 (Sunday), December 23 (Monday) and December 24 (Tuesday).

At yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Town Clerk Leonard Cleary said the council had sought the views of business people, rate payers and property owners in the town.

He said Ennis Chamber had proposed closing O’Connell Street to traffic on the final two Saturdays and the days leading up Christmas Day.

“A larger December pedestrianisation policy does not seem to be gaining currency at the moment,” explained Mr Cleary.

Under the 2013 policy, O’Connell Street will be pedestrianised from December 21 to 24. Town manager Gerard Dollard told the meeting the on / off nature of pedestrianisation had created difficulties around it.

He said until such time as the council makes a decision on whether proceed with a longer trial of pedestrianisation, the council would have to manage the existing approach.

Cllr Peter Considine said he was “disappointed” with the shorter period but agreed to support the proposal.

Welcoming the decision, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) expressed concern “organised begging” could undermine the council’s attempts to create a festive atmosphere in the town centre in December.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) called for the council to take action against so called ‘chuggers’ who have set up in front of Dunnes Stores.

Cllr Guilfoyle said pedestrians are being forced out onto the street by people collecting money for charity. He told the meeting it was only a matter of time before someone is hurt.

Councillors agreed to a limited pedestrianisation as the council announced details of a free car-parking initiative for Christmas.

Town clerk Leonard Cleary stated, “Following the success in recent years, Ennis Town Council has developed and researched a Christmas Parking Initiative 2013. A recent consultation was held between representatives of Ennis business com- munity and Ennis Town Council with the key task of promoting shopping in Ennis over the Christmas and New Year period.”

Free parking will be in place up to 12 noon daily during December to January 6 both on street and off street. Parking will be free in Cloughleigh car park until January 6. The council is also encouraging staff of shops and business owners to free up spaces close to the town centre by using alternative spaces.

Mr Cleary said the council will promote the initiative online and through media. “The business community is also taking an active involvement promoting the initiative.”