Category: News

THE family of a Kilfenora man Brian McMahon, who tragically lost his life in California over the weekend, flew out to America yesterday to be with his wife and children.

Father of two Brian McMahon was killed in a car accident in the Californian city of San Rafael on Friday morning last. Mr McMahon, who is 46 years old and has been living in America for a number of years, was out walking close to his home just before 8am, local time, when the ac- cident took place.

The exact details of the accident are not yet clear but it appears that Mr McMahon was struck by a single vehicle on the street close to his home at 7.45am. Emergency first aid was given to Mr McMahon at the scene at he was rushed by ambulance to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.

“San Rafael police officers and San Rafael paramedics located an unconscious 46-year-old man lying in the roadway. Life saving measures were immediately initiated. The male sub- ject was transported to Kaiser Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival,” said a spokesperson from the local police department.

“The driver of the involved vehicle remained on scene and called 911 to report the collision. Numerous bystanders were interviewed at the scene.

“The driver fully cooperated with the investigation. At this time, it appears neither alcohol nor any other impairment was present or a factor in this collision. The involved vehicle was taken for a thorough inspection.”

Police are reportedly investigating the possibility that the driver may have been blinded by the bright morning sun and did not see see Mr McMahon out walking. Mr McMahon was home in Clare in August and was due to return with his sons for the All-Ireland hurling final but was unable to do so because of work.

Mr McMahon is survived by his Tipperary born wife and his his two children aged 13 and 11 years old. He is also survived by his father Murty McMahon, his American-based brother John and a number of siblings based in the North Clare area.

GARDAÍ remain extremely concerned that tensions between two Traveller families in Ennis could result in more violence as it emerged that witnesses are wearing protective vests to court.

The fear was expressed ahead of the expected sentencing in Ennis today of four people involved in a violent public order disturbance at the Maid of Erin roundabout last October.

A Circuit Court judge was told last week that the relationship between the families has not improved and that “tensions remain very high”.

“There are garda concerns for the potential for violent incidents,” said Detective Garda John Casey at a sitting of Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday. The court was told that the two families previously lived as neighbours and friends in the Ashline area of Ennis.

THE search for a 42-year-old man who was washed into the sea off North Clare will resume this morning. Naval divers are due to resume their search for the Latvian national around 10am this morning, October 8, after bad weather brought an end to last nights search effort.

With more settled weather expected this morning, it is hoped that the mans’ body can be located close to Ballyreen, where he entered the water in Sunday evening.

The man had been fishing with a number of friends at a spot known as Fisherman’s Climb in the popular fishing location between Doolin and Fanore on Sunday evening when he was washed into the ocean by a freak wave. A friend raised the alarm and then attempted to swim out to reach the stranded man.

However, while the friend was swimming to rescue the man, the victim – who has not yet been named – was washed under the water. Despite an intensive search led by a number of rescue agencies, including the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard, the man has not been sighted since. The man’s friend, who dived into the water to save the 42-yearold man, was assisted by emergency services and treated on site for the effects of cold. “The search has been stood down for the night because of poor weather conditions and the hope is now that the divers to be able to enter the water tomorrow morning,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard last night. “We are hopeful that the divers will be able to come up with something tomorrow. It is a very exposed spot and if something is not discovered soon it could be very difficult to locate.” It’s understood that man was not wearing a lifejacket and may have been dragged beneath the waves by his heavy clothing. The area has been the scene of a number of tragedies in recent years including the death of a two men in separate fishing accident in Ballyreen in 2009.

“THE RECESSION can go to hell.”

Those were Davy Fitzgerald’s words at the Clare hurlers homecoming in Ennis the night after our historic All-Ireland victory and already his words are proving prophetic. Early estimates suggest those memorable celebrations were worth € 1m to the local economy alone.

Planning for the team has now turned to the holiday, the details of which will be finalised in the coming weeks.

As part of the fundraising for the holiday there will shortly be an official team photograph going on general sale, along with an official team calendar.

These are not on sale yet and the Clare Hurling Supporters Club have asked members of the public to be wary of pirated versions of pictures or calendars on sale, as none of the proceeds of this merchandise will be going to the hurlers holiday fund.

Chairman of the Clare Hurling Supporters Club PJ Kelly told The Clare People on Monday that the fundraising for the player’s holiday fund will be stepped up in the coming weeks:

“Of course the players and management deserve a holiday for all their incredible achievements and the sacrifices they made this year. We would ask the Clare public to get behind the team as we try to raise money for that trip.

“With this in mind we will be making an official team photograph with the Liam McCarthy Cup available for sale shortly. It will sit perfectly beside the pictures of the 1995 and 1997 All-Ireland winning squads,” said PJ.

THE Banner feel-good factor is spreading. Just days after the county hurlers gave everyone in Clare a reason to be cheerful, new results from the CSO have confirmed that the number of unemployed people in the county has reached a five-year low.

The number of people signing on the live register in Clare fell to its lowest level since February of 2009 last month.

In what is being seen as a big step forward for the county, this is the first time in almost five years that the number of people signing on dropped below the 9,000 mark.

September is traditionally a good month for the live register in Clare – with a large number of third level student returning to full time education and coming off the live register.

Between August and September of this year the number of people signing on dropped off dramatically from 9,613 to 8,983 – a drop of 6.5 per cent.

However, this drop is not just a seasonal drop as it also represents a year on year drop of 691 people – representing a drop of 7.1 per cent compared to 2012.

The drop in the number of people signing on was led by Ennis where the live register number dropped from 5, 528 in September of 2012 to 5,094 – a drop of 8 per cent.

While there is no concrete figures for job creation in Clare, it is understood that the tourism sector has had a good season to date, prompted in some way by the reduced VAT rate and the positive effects of the Gathering.

It is understood that the Government are likely to increase the VAT for the hospitality back up from its current two-year low of 9 per cent – a move which could threaten employment in the county’s tourism sector.

This news come hot on the heels of a survey from Hotels.com which reported that room prices in hotels were actually increasing.

These claims were strongly rejected by Lahinch hotelier and and president of the Irish Hotel Federation, Michael Vaughan, who described it as “outrageous” and said that the survey used too few hotel room prices to be accurate.

THE odds on Clare having a representative in the European Parliament have lengthened following the redrawing of the constituency boundaries last week.

Clare has been removed from the now defunct Ireland North West constituency and has instead been placed in a new South constituency – which includes all of Munster as well as Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Wexford.

Current Labour TD, Michael Mc Namara was Clare’s leading vote getter in the last EU election – claiming 12,700 first preference votes. However, depending on the turnout and voting patterns, a candidate in the new constituency will need to win in the region of 100,000 votes even be in the running for a seat.

In fact, it is difficult to see how a Clare candidate could even get on the ticket for any of the major parties, who will likely contest the seats. Current polls suggest that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael would claim a seat each in the constituency if elections were held today, with Sinn Fein, Labour and second candidates from the main two parties likely to battle it our for the remaining seats.

With Fianna Fáil’s Liam Aylward (Kilkenny) and Brian Crowley (Cork) both elected at a canter last time out, it is difficult to see the party putting forward a Clare candidate. Similarly, with Sean Kelly’s location in Limerick, Fine Gael are unlikely to pick a candidate from his back yard who might draw suport away from Kelly.

Sinn Fein are likely to put their weight being one main candidate with Toireasa Ferris, who claimed 64,000 votes last time out, currently in the driving seat. Tipperary’s Phil Prendergast is likely to get the nod from Labour – even if she can’t spell Clare [she last week welcomed “Claire’s” inclusion in the new South constituency].

Despite the current political lay-ofthe-land, Clare TD Michael McNamara believes that the new boundary will help Clare candidates in the future. “The larger constituents will make it more difficult for new candidates, unless they’re already well known or have a party organisation,” he said. “If anything, the prospect of a Clare-based candidate would be improved. It seems to me that as a county we have a stronger link to Munster than Connaught. Just look at the Clare [hurling] team, more of them go to college in Limerick, Cork or Waterford than in Galway.”

ONE of Ireland’s most experienced planners has raised serious concerns about the role that politicians play in planning process in Ireland.

Brendan McGrath, who is a consultant planner with Clare County Council, believes that clientelism has become endemic in the Irish plan- ning system and has come to supersede the public good as a planning consideration.

In his new book, ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, Mr McGrath concedes that “something has gone wrong” in the Irish planning system, which he argues does not serve the common good.

“The political system functions to support individual landowners. Cli- entelism gets in the way of consideration that are more supportive of the broader community. It [political interference in planning] is an obstacles to the common good, which is what the planning system should be about,” he says.

“Even at a very local level clientelism is not helpful. The decisions are not made with the landscape in mind, instead decision are made be- cause of who owns what land. That is not about the wider best interests.

McGrath argues that it is not individual politician who are to blame for this process but rather the planning system which allows for rampant clientelism.

“It’s not as though politicians are looking to make lots of money on these things [planning decisions], but it is putting personal interests before decisions that effect more people,” he said.

“If things were being run properly, if there was no clientelism, the real planning arguments would hold sway rather than these local influences that get in the way.

“Councillors have a duty to the people that they represent, so if someone comes to them an says they want something zoned X, Y or Z, then the councillor is quite entitled to take that on board.

“When these type of considerations override the way that decisions are made then it is contrary to proper planning and development. That is the order of the day in local government where zoning decisions are made.

“Even with simple planning application, when the decision lies with the county manager. But even in these situations representations are made to managers and to their offices. And on occasion these representations can be given excessive weight.”

Brendan McGrath’s book, ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, will be published this week by Cork University Press.”

THE Burren will soon be dancing to the beat of a brand new song as Gort Local Radio prepares to launch in the coming weeks.

The community radio station has been producing limited broadcasts online for a number of weeks but plans a major roll-out of programmes in the coming weeks.

The station was founded earlier this year by local man Donal Hanlon, who has been running all aspects of the radio station alongside local volunteers Brid McCann, Fidelma Larkin, Fiona O’Driscoll and Sinead Morgan.

A large number of local people attended an open day at the station last week and hope are high that these people will being their own shows on the station in the weeks ahead.

At present, the type of programming on Gort Community Radio in- volves local people coming into the studio and reporting on what is happening in the locality.

A number of new local businesses as well as community groups such as the Gort Youth Café, Gort ICA and the Gort Show have all been profiled on the station.

Donal became involved in radio after completing a media course ran by the South Galway Educational Centre last year.

After completing the course he took to the streets of Gort, microphone in hand, canvassing local about whether they wanted a local Burren radio station.

Donal has been presented all the programmes since the beginning of the station up until recently when a local girl, Lisa Nolan, came on board and is now presenting her own show.

To learn more about becoming involved or in Gort Local Radio, or to listen to streamed braodcasts visit www.gortlocalradio.wordpress.com.

IRELAND has developed a system of planning which is totally at odds with the modern standard of planning across western Europe. That is the opinion of Brendan McGrath, consultant planner with Clare County Council, who believes the Irish planning works to mismanage the landscape of the country.

His his book ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, Mr McGrath argues that an Irish preoccupation on property rights has led to a broken planning system. “There is a good bit of effort in the book to set out how exceptional the cultural landscape and heritage of Ireland is, and the limited advantage that we have taken of this compared to other European countries. I would hope that this is one message [that people will take] from the book. Something has gone wrong,” he said.

“Planning is a very difficult area of Irish life. Ireland has a wonderful landscape heritage but our interaction with that heritage is problematic. All along the balance [in the Irish planning system] is about protecting the rights of private property and the common good and that balance has always been hard to achieve. The system has protected private interests fairly well but the system has fallen far short when it comes to protecting the common good.”

According to Mr McGrath, the problem does not lie in a lack of vision for the planning system but more a lack of will to enforce planning decision. “There has never been any shortage of plans and visions. As a country we are good at producing plans but there is an enormous gap between the plans and what actually happens. That is a really disappointing aspect of planning in Ireland. We have lots of plans about containing urban growth and creating these attractive little cities. But we have ended up with a lots of urban sprawl and we don’t have the national parks they have in other European countries,” he says. “I know where things break down [in the planning system] but it very hard to come up with explanation [on how to fix the problem]. We do lack effective government institutions. We can make plans and policies but we don’t seem to have the capacity to carry through on these.”

CLARE’S most senior local authority has been shortlisted for a national engineer’s award.

Clare County Council is in the running for Engineers Ireland Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Employer of the Year Award.

The council, which has a long and successful record of CPD, has been short listed for its achievements in using in-house expertise, local knowledge and innovation to develop the Clare County Flood Forecasting System (CCFFS).

The unique system has proven highly successful and is being replicated by a number of organisations throughout the country.

Dublin City Council, Dromone Engineering Limited, global healthcare company Abbott Ireland and PM Group are among other lead- ing organisations shortlisted for the awards.

Commenting on the shortlist, Engineers Ireland director general and chartered engineer John Power said, “Every year we are hugely impressed by the quality of entries and the organisations’ commitment to CPD, this year is no different. The shortlist reflects companies that have demonstrated how the strategic use of CPD enables tangible business transformation, helping to establish Ireland as a centre of excellence for engineering.

“I would like to congratulate Clare County Council for reaching the shortlist and encourage them to continue investing in professional development.”

The winners will be announced this Wednesday, October 2, at the Engineers Ireland CPD Symposium and Awards in the Clyde Court Hotel in Dublin.