Category: News

A FATHER figure for councillors, a wonderful ambassador for his native county and a gentleman were just some of the words used to describe Clare County Council’s longest ever serving member who was laid to rest on Saturday.

PJ Burke, also known as Pa Joe, represented the Miltown Malbay Electoral Area from the 1940s up to the end of the 1990s, spending a record 45 years an Independent member of Clare County Council.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) who gave the oration at the late West Clare man’s large funeral said Mr Burke would say he was “a councillor in the 1940s when council expenses were a penny ha-penny a mile”.

Describing him as an iconic figure Cllr Curtin said, “He gave good description of what a democratic representative should be. He was honest in all of his dealing and was an example to any public representative on how to deal with the public.”

The late councillor began his political career as a member of Sinn Fein but later declared as an Independent councillor. Coming from a long local political lineage, PJ Burke was first elected to Clare County Council in 1941. He held the position for only one year before Minister Sean McEntee announced the abolition of the local authority and the appointment in its place of a commissioner.

PJ successfully ran for election again in 1945 when the council was reconstituted. He lost his seat in the 1950 Local Election but regained his Council position in 1960. He retained his seat in the Miltown Electoral Area in five subsequent elections until 1999.

His father Tom was also a County Councillor from 1924 until his death, at the age of 65, in 1941. His grandfather, Garret Burke, was elected a Sinn Féin Rural District councillor in 1905 and later became a County Councillor.

Mayor Cllr Joe Arkins said, “PJ was very genuine. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was always seen as a father figure for colleagues. He was very much involved in the campaign for the development of health services at Ennis General Hospital and vehemently opposed any downgrading of the facility.”

Tom Coughlan, Clare County Manager, added, “He was a gentlemen and a pleasure to work with.”

Labour TD Michael McNamara said Pa Joe was a man who represented the best values and traditions of rural Ireland. He is survived by his wife Mary and family.

SURFING could soon become Clare’s most valuable tourism product as a study on the impact of the sport in the Lahinch area has put its annual local payout at a whooping € 33 million. The study, which was completed by professional town planner Neil Cooney, records the financial impact of surfing on the coastal towns from Doolin down as far as Doonbeg. As well as the direct impact on surf towns such as Lahinch, the report also looks at the impact on satellite towns close to surfing areas like Miltown Malbay and Liscannor. The reports is based on similar monitory analysis of surfing in Spain and includes extensive interviews of Ireland’s estimated 60,000 surfers. It tracks the direct employment of businesses such as surf schools as well as many indirect effects such as accommodation. “Surfing has brought international attention to Lahinch as a surf location and to Clare as a place for activity-based tourism. It has had a massive impact but really the possibilities of where it could go are endless; the Burren is brilliant place and adventure tourism is a major contributor to the Irish economy,” said Neil. Despite financial benefits of surfing, Neil is of the opinion that not enough is being done by the powers that be to promote and develop surfing. “I like surfing in Australia now and the difference between there and here is massive. The infrastructure there is better, there are grants to encourage new businesses to start up, there are lots of supports and I just don’t see that happening in Clare. “Some simple things could go a long long way. Things like changing room, warm public showers in surfing areas, how difficult would that be? Some simple things would really boost the product and that benefit the businesses in the area. “In addition to infrastructure, the sponsorship and promotion of the surfing clubs and events would be a great benefit which would be enjoyed by not only the surf community but also the many businesses in the area that thrive on the activity.”

TRADITIONAL Irish music could have a marked benefit for the children and adults who have been institutionalised as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Ennistymon based charity, the Burren Chernobyl Projects (BCP) is looking for traditional musicians, singers and dancers to travel to Belarus later this year. The musicians will firstly play alongside some local musicians before visiting the organisations orphanages and playing for people in the children and adults.

“We are looking for a group to travel to Belarus for a week in the middle or the end of November. Firstly there will be a series of workshops with Belorussian musicians and then the most important element is to get them in the orphanages to play,” said Brian O’Sullivan of the Burren Chernobyl Project.

“Music is something that we feel is important to our work with in the orphanages. There is always music on in the background and we are hoping that getting the musicians in the orphanages, engaging with the residents, would be very beneficial for the residents.

“The Burren Chernobyl Project is involved in a lot of settings at the moment and the hope would be to get the group to visit as many of these places as is possible.”

The BCP is hoping to put together a group including traditional musicians, singers and dancers to travel to Belarus.

“We are keen to keep it as varied as possible, we would prefer it wasn’t all musicians or all dancers. Of course, being from Clare, we would be very keen to have some Clare musicians travelling with us,” continued Brian.

“The musicians would be brought over on the same terms as any of our normal volunteers – the only difference is that they would have a slightly different focus during their week in Belarus. I think this is definitely something that we could come back to again and again and maybe this could develop into an ongoing musical volunteer trip to Belarus.”

Anyone musicians, dancers or singers who would like to volunteer can email medical@burrenchernobyl.ie or call 087 7874609.

THE organisers behind the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop are examining the possibility of adding a number of mid-day sailings to the trial service which gets underway next Monday, September 2.

The service was officially launched on the Ballyvaughan Pier on Sunday with a family fun day presided over by the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Arkins (FG).

The launch also saw the first journey undertaken across Galway Bay by the fast ferry – with passengers making it to Galway City is 28 minutes before and returning to Ballyvaughan in just 25 minutes.

“It was a really great day. Most of the village was out at the pier for the opening ceremony and the entertainment and the atmosphere was really good,” said Gwen Ryan of the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop.

“We took a number of people out on the boat around the bay before we made the journey across to Galway. Professor Kevin Leyden of the the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway and Carol Gleeson from the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark travelled on the first crossing along with a number of local politicians.

“I think everyone was surprised at how quickly we made it across to Galway and back again. It shows that it really will be a big benefit for people commuting to and from work each day.

“We are now looking at the possibility of adding a few extra sailings for the trial – maybe during the afternoon. These sailings would be aimed at tourists but also at people who might look at using the service to commute to work but are not in a position to try out the service at other times.”

The trial is being supported by the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark under the TransTourism Project. The trial will be used to measure the potential social, environmental and economic impacts a marine passenger service would have on Ballyvaughan and the Burren.

The aim of Ballyvaughan Bay Hop is to establish a rural commuter fast ferry service from North Clare to Galway. Commuting on the ferry twice a day would reduce the average travel time between Ballyvaughan and Galway by more than two hours.

For more information or to buy tickets call www.ballyvaughanbayhop.com or visit www.facebook. com/ballyvaughanbayhop.

CLARE had its best day on the jobs front for a long, long time yesterday when landmark Shannon company EI Electronics announced the creation of 70 new jobs.

The company, which has just celebrated it 50th anniversary in Shannon, announced that it would be swelling its local workforce from 430 to 500. This represents the largest single jobs announcement in Clare since the start of the recession in 2008.

The company, which is one of the real success stories of the Shannon Free Zone, is 100 per cent Irishowned and has become a world leader in the field of fire safety.

It already contributes an estimated € 30 million to the local economy each year and the new expansion is lightly to increase that figure by more than € 3 million.

In addition to it’s Shannon staff, the company also employs more than 50 people on mainland Europe – mostly in Germany and France. All of its high-skilled work, including research and manufacturing, takes place at it 12,000 square metre facility in Shannon.

The company is already one of Clare’s leading exporters – with more than 95 per cent of the good manufactured on site destined for the European market.

“I am delighted that EI Electronics has decided to expand its operation in Shannon with the creation of 70 jobs. This will have a direct benefit on a large number of individuals and their families. It is also a real vote of confidence in Clare and the wider region, as a place to do business,” said Clare Senator Martin Conway (FG).

“This expansion will make a significant difference to the wider region, and will undoubtedly lead to additional jobs being created in connected industries. The success of the workforce in EI Electronics is also proof that our indigenous companies can prosper and thrive.”

The company will host an open day for current and former staff members in Shannon later this week.

“As a major employer for 50 years, many thousands of people have worked at EI, covering three generations. This EI diaspora is spread over the counties of Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Galway and Mayo,” said managing director Michael Guinee.

“The Open Day gives these past employees the opportunity to come back to their alma mater, see the factory and possibly meet up with old colleagues.”

AN INVESTMENT of less than € 800,000 would be enough to secure homes for 55 Clare families, many of whom have been on the waiting list for a number of years.

According the figures obtained from Clare County Council, there are currently 55 local authority houses out of commission in Clare – and in need of only minor works to being them back into circulation.

A needs assessment carried out by the council earlier this year revealed that there are currently 1,671 peo- ple in need of social housing in the county. While the cash-strapped local authority has had some success securing funding for housing in recent weeks, it is unclear when they will have finding available to bring all of these houses back into their housing stock.

Clare County Council was granted € 500,000 last week for the provision of six houses for people with special needs, while it also secured sizable funding for house retrofitting – which will upgrade the insulation on 250 social houses – earlier this month.

“As at mid-year a total of 55 social housing units are vacant but this fig- ure is subject to change on a weekly basis as vacant units are returned to stock and units become newly vacated. The estimated cost of returning 55 units to stock is € 775,000, or approximately € 14,000 per unit,” said Bernadette Kinsella, Director of Services with Clare County Council.

Meanwhile, the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) have shortlisted Glensheen Court, developed by Banner Housing Association for the 2013 Social Housing Awards.

Glensheen Court is a housing project for people with disabilities located within 1km of Ennis town. Each apartment in the development apartment includes two bedrooms, two accessible bathrooms, along with a kitchen/living area with each apartment having a private open space area to the rear.

A number of special safety features have also been incorporated into the scheme to enhance tenant safety and security including front door keypad, visual telecom along with alarms in each bathroom. The Banner Housing Association is a non-profit charitable organisation based in Ennis.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner held at the ICSH National Social Housing Conference which takes place on September 18.

GARDAÍ are investigating the circumstances of the latest fire at a € 2.2 million Traveller accommodation site in Ennis.

Three housing units were damaged following an incident of alleged criminal damage at the Beechpark halting site last week. Gardaí say an accelerant was used to douse the buildings but it did not ignite for some reason. However considerable smoke damage was caused to the building’s interiors. No one was hurt in the incident as the Beechpark site is currently vacant. Clare County Council was in the process of a € 15,000 refurbishment of the property when it was damaged

In a statement, a council spokesman said the costs the damage had yet to be ascertained. He explained, “The site was vacant at the time. The council was in process of refurbishing the property when it was damaged. The contract value was € 15,865 excluding VAT.

The contractor had just commenced on site therefore the actual cost of works undertaken will be substan- tially less than the contract value. The cost of the damage has yet to be ascertained. However, the roof and parts of the interior ceiling were badly damaged by fire.”

The Beechpark development was completed in 2004 at a cost of € 2.2 million.

In February, Clare County Council revealed that it had no plans to refurbish or rebuild Beechpark following a series of arson attacks on Traveller accommodation.

The council had been forced to install CCTV cameras to prevent against further attacks.

The latest incident at Beechpark comes just days after a separate suspicious fire at another vacant Traveller accommodation site in Ennis.

The incident occurred at around 1.50am on Saturday, August 17, when a vacant house at the Ashline site on Kilrush Road caught fire in what Gardaí described as “suspicious circumstances”.

The fire service attended the scene and the Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the circumstances of the fire. This is the second time this year that fire has broken out at the Ashline site, which cost € 1.7 million to build.

FAMILY, friends and former colleagues gathered to pay tribute to retired Garda Superintendent, Frank Doris, who passed away in Ennis last week. A native of Longford, Mr Doris worked in Kilrush and Ennis during the seventies and eighties. The 89-year-old father of three retired from the force in 1986.

Prior to coming to Clare, Mr Doris was a highly respected Detective Inspector with the Garda Fraud Squad in Dublin. He worked on a number of high profile cases during his time in Dublin and was one of the lead investigators on the Shanahan Stamp auction case in 1959 when a businessman was arrested for fraud after thousands of investors lost money in a huge scam involving the sale of Irish Free State Stamps. He was well known in legal circles and during his time in Clare, Mr Doris is said to have brought a deep knowledge of criminal law to his role as a Garda prosecutor in court.

Mr Doris, who lived in Roslevan, had a strong interest in sport, fishing and shooting. He played for the Longford senior footballers in the fifties and retained a keen interest in horseracing.

At his funeral mass in St Joseph’s Church in Ennis on Sunday, Mr Doris was recalled as a loving father, good friend and respected colleague. Burial took place in Newtownforbes, Longford. He is survived by his loving wife Rosaleen, daughters Elizabeth and Yvonne, son Thomas, grandchildren, family, extended family and many friends. JUSTAFEWWORDS . . . Colin Ryan is surrounde d by me dia at Clare ’s official p re ss night ahead of t he All-Ire land se nior hurling final in t he Temple Gat e Hot e l last Tue sday.

PILOT inexperience has been identified as one of the possible causes of a plane crash which took place at Shannon Airport in 2011.

According to investigators at the Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), excessive speed as well as pilot inexperience caused a major issue aboard an Aer Arann flight.

There were 21 passengers and four crew on board the Aer Arann Manchester to Shannon service when its nose wheel collapsed, controls jammed and it left the runway on July 17, 2011.

Nobody on board was seriously injured in the incident, which resulted in the plane scraping along the ground for 1,200 metres before coming to a stop on a grass verge.

According to one witnesses, smoke or steam could be seen billowing from the front of the 17-year-old aircraft while its left propeller crashed through and demolished a sign on the runway.

The aircraft was so badly damaged that it has been taken out of service and has not been repaired.

In its report, the AAIU states the plane approached the runway on two occasions in excess of the recommended speeds.

The then newly-promoted pilot was a “relatively inexperienced” captain according to the report, and had little experience handling the aircraft in difficult conditions.

Investigators said this inexperience was a contributory factor in the accident, along with inadequate information being provided to both her and her co-pilot about landing in crosswinds.

The likely cause of the incident was excessive speed and inadequate control of the aircraft during the blustery conditions, it was found.

The AAIU has ordered Aer Arann to review its training of pilots in landing aircraft in crosswinds as a result.

A ROCK climber cheated death in the Burren on Friday afternoon after falling almost 25 feet from a sheer cliff and landing on his back. The climber, who has not been identified, is recovering in hospital after miraculously surviving the fall at a popular climbing spot between Doolin and Fanore.

The man, who is in his thirties, sustained serious injuries to his lower spine and arms in the incident – which took place around 3.15pm at Ailladee, close to the famous Mirror Wall.

The man was wearing a climbing helmet and harness and was saved by his equipment, and by the quick thinking of his friends who immediately contacted the emergency services.

The Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard responded to the incident and administered first aid. The Shannonbased coast guard helicopter arrived at the scene minutes later but was unable to find a secure landing space.

Instead, a paramedic was lowered from the helicopter and spinally immobilised the man and transported him, with the help of the Doolin Coast Guard, to a clear area where he was winched into the helicopter and transported to University College Hospital in Galway.

The extent of the mans’ injuries are unknown but he had complained of severe lower back pain and other injuries.

“We responded to a call and discovered a seriously injured 32-yearold man close to the Mirror Wall between Doolin and Fanore. The climber had fallen between six and seven metres and was was severely injured,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Coast Guard. “He was wearing a climbing harness and a helmet, which probably saved him, but it appears that the ropes may have come away from the wall somehow. He was suffering from severe pain to his lower back and injuries to his shoulders and arms.”

The cliffs at Ailladee and Ballyreen, located on the coast road between Doolin and Fanore, are some of Ireland’s premier climbing cliffs. They are a popular destination for climbing groups and are also used for Irish Army training as well as training for the coast guard and other rescue services.

Earlier this year a man was struck by the falling stone while climbing in the area and was airlifted to hospital for treatment.