Category: News

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.

AS THE countdown begins to the Clare hurlers’ date with destiny in Croke Park there are growing calls for the All-Ireland final to be shown on a big screen in Ennis.

Local authorities in Ennis are considering the suggestion to erect a big screen in the town centre, a proposal that could be done in conjunction with local businesses and Clare GAA.

Council officials met yesterday to discuss possible plans to mark Clare’s meeting with Cork in the All-Ireland final on September 8.

Abbey Street car park is the most likely venue for any pubic screening of the big match.

The area previously hosted celebrations to mark the ‘homecoming’ of sports legend Muhammad Ali to Ennis in 2009 and the recent Love Live music events.

Local community activist and member of the Disabled People of Clare support group Dermot Hayes proposed the big screen idea last week. He says the final is a great opportunity for communities across Clare to celebrate and come together.

He explains, “When Ennis hosted Muhammad Ali some years ago, a big screen was put up in the Abbey Street car park. It was just brilliant. I was there and still remember the buzz. In Limerick in 2006 when Munster played in the Heineken Cup, thousands came out on the streets of Limerick to enjoy the event. These memories are appreciated. So why not do it for the big match. Not everyone will be able to get a ticket and people who are living alone will want to share the joy of Clare playing in an All-Ireland final.”

Dermot is promoting the proposal as the ‘Big Idea’ through YouTube and Facebook.

Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn has called for Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council to “actively consider the installation, in partnership with others, of a large screen in Abbey Street car park, Ennis, or the All Ireland hurling final”.

Cllr Flynn says that subject to public demand, there may even be a need to site the screen in Cusack Park.

The Ennis councillor says the event would allow families unable to get tickets be part of the Banner County’s big day. Cllr Flynn added that a big public event would also be a good “tourism marketing opportunity” for the town.

CLARE families in mortgage difficulty could face a double blow should a a family member pass away unexpectedly. Spancilhill financial aid charity Dealing With Debt (DWD) says that hundreds of Clare families could face eviction from should a wage earning family member pass away – as the insurance will not cover the full cost of mortgages in arrears.

With more than 2,000 Clare families in arrears or in interest-only payment schemes, research from DWD indicated that the vast majority of these are under insured.

The insurance difficulty comes about when a mortgage goes into arrears as the life insurance cover associated with the mortgage is tied to the additional payment schedule.

Should a mortgage holder who is in arrears pass away, the insurer would only pay out the portion of the mortgage which is scheduled to be out- standing – according to the original mortgage timeline.

“If you had a € 400,000 mortgage lets say, and you run into financial difficulty and have to pay a reduced rate – maybe even interest only. After a while you would find yourself in a situation where you owe € 400,000 of a mortgage, but you only covered for € 300,000,” said Joe Corbett of Dealing With Debt.

“So you have situation of a family who is already struggling, gets hit with tragic death, and then they also face maybe € 100,000 in debt that they didn’t know they would have.

“We are seeing more and more of this. People are taking the risk that nothing will happen to them – and hopefully nothing will. People don’t take the insurance into account when they are in difficulty.

“When families are struggling to pay a mortgage then the insurance can be the last thing on their mind. It is a worrying situation and something that is becoming more and more common in Clare.”

AN ENNIS postman turned film composer says he is delighted after scoring another big screen success.

Kerry Whitehouse has been asked to provide music for upcoming gangster movie ‘The Street’.

The film, which is slated for a 2014 release, is being produced by the Galway-based One Shot Productions. ‘The Street’ is due to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

The company asked Whitehouse to score the film after being impressed with his work on previous film and TV productions. The 38 year-old turned his hand to music after meeting the Oscar winning composer behind the ‘Lord of the Rings’ soundtrack, Howard Shore.

Whitehouse completed his first soundtrack in 2011 and has since worked on a string of Irish, American and English short films. Whitehouse’s scores are a blend of atmospheric horror and gothic electronica. He says he was delighted to be working on ‘The Street’.

“Yeah, its really been going great over the past 12 months. I’m enjoying it. I’ve got a few more jobs in the past few months and I’m really enjoying it. It’s going good now so hopefully it will take off,” adds Kerry.

He is currently working on music for the television series ‘Darker Days’. Kerry has also scored the Irish short film, ‘Banshee’, which is due to be shown on Irish television screens at Halloween.

Kerry is now listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the world’s leading online source of movie information and statistics. In October he will attend the Film Music Awards in Ghent, Belgium, the Oscars of the film score industry.

Music has been part of the former CBS student’s life since he first started playing with local bands aged 16. Whitehouse’s grandfather Christy McAllister is a founder member of the Ennis Brass Band. His other grandfather, Lloyd Whitehouse was a professional piano player in England. The Ennis-based postman is currently working on a number of film and tv projects.

LISDOONVARNA is set to become a “landmark” location in the ongoing struggle for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) Irish people.

Days before the first “Outing” gay matchmaking festival comes to Lisdoonvarna, organiser Eddie McGuinness says that the people of North Clare deserve massive credit for the role they are playing in the social development of Ireland.

“This is a landmark event in the journey to full equality. You just have to look at what is happening in Russia right now [where homosexuality is illegal] to understand what a big event this is for the gay community in Ireland,” he told The Clare People .

“The people of Lisdoonvarna have really opened their arms to this festival. For such an ancient festival to welcome the LGBT community is a major event in a lot of people’s minds.

“I was down in Lisdoonvarna a few weeks ago and the reception I got was brilliant.

“I went around to all the local businesses were so enthusiastic about the whole thing.”

Eddie also confirmed that The Out- ing now looks like becoming an annual event in North Clare.

“We have been getting interested people from all over – just today we were getting bookings from Switzerland and America.

“There is a lot of Irish support this but we really have been surprised how far this is going internationally,” he continued.

“I feel in my gut that this will be a really big party in the years to come. This is something we plan to make into a yearly event and I think a lot of credit for this has to go to the people of Lisdoonvarna.”

The festival will also include a number of special community events such as a most glamorous shop-front competition and an official attempt to break the record for the largest number of dancing drag-queens dancing in a single line.

“London has the record at the moment with 156 people in drag dancing in a single line.

“So we want to go one better and bring this world record to Lisdoonvarna,” said Ed.

“We want everyone to take part – men and women. We want men wearing women’s cloths and women wearing men’s cloths.

“We are really hoping that the local community will get involved in this event which should be some fun around the town.”

The world record attempt is also a fundraiser for a number of charities including the Irish Cancer Society. For more information visit www.theouting.ie.

THE foster mother of a man found dead in Ennis last week has encouraged young people experiencing mental health difficulties to talk about their problems.

Tina Whelan, whose foster son Seamus Higgins went missing in Ennis earlier this month, says there needs to be a more open discussion on the issue of mental health among teenagers and young people.

Seamus was last seen jumping a wall at the rear of the Dun Na hInse housing estate on Saturday, August 10. His disappearance sparked a huge four-day search of rivers and other areas of Ennis. Seamus’ body was discovered by Civil Defence divers in the Claureen River on the afternoon of Thursday, August 15.

He had recently travelled from Southampton to Ennis for a holiday. Speaking yesterday, Ms Whelan said, “My plea to anyone who might be experiencing problems, would be to talk about it, just come out with the words ‘help me’. People don’t see the red flags until it’s too late. Young people just need to say the words help me. It’s only two words but it’s very powerful.”

Ms Whelan, who has been involved in fostering children for almost a decade, says there is a need in Ennis for a form of transitional housing for foster children when they turn 18.

She explained, “Kids end up in foster care through no fault of their own. They go through a stable fostering and then they have to go out on their own. Many of them go into apartments. They are vulnerable and they can’t really cope. I have seen it happen.

“Clarecare have an aftercare service and they do fantastic work. They really do. But I think there is a need for some sort of transitional housing. You have them in cities where they [kids] rent the rooms, pay for electricity, television. They have to budg- et. I think there are definitely places in Ennis that could be used. There is a project in Cork called Foyer that is really good.”

Tributes to the late Seamus Higgins have poured into a special Facebook page. Ms Whelan described him as a “beautiful true soul”.

She wrote, “I think this is the first day I’ve had time to think, I’m not sure where to start thanking people, but thank you to every single person who sent messages, cards, called to the house, made sandwiches, cooked food, sent flowers, stopped me on the street. I always knew I had the best family and friends and I will never be able to thank them enough.”

THE world’s first ever gay matchmaking festival is set to bring more than half a million pink euro flowing into North Clare this weekend.

The Outing, which begins in Lisdoonvarna on August 30, will kick start this year’s Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival and is expected to be a major financial boost for Lisdoonvarna and the surrounding towns.

Lisdoonvarna normally has a popu- lation of 1,000 people but during the five weeks of the matchmaking festival more than 60,000 people visit the village from all over Ireland and Europe. The entire festival generates an estimated € 3 million for the local area with The Outing itself expected to contribute more then € 500,000 to the local economy.

“Whilst there is no shortage of gold at the end of this rainbow, the main focus has always been on allowing all people a safe place to express who they are and not have to feel alone in being alone,” said a spokesperson for the Hydro Hotel – where many of the events will be staged.

“In a year that has been extremely topical for the gay community, Lisdoonvarna, a town filled with warmth and history, have decided to incorporate a gay weekend in order to allow the LGBT community to celebrate their pride and not have to defend it.

“The weekend promises to be explosive with entertainment ranging from well-known performers such as Niamh Kavanagh, Jonny Woo, Panti and Bunny, to tea dancing, a tease club with numerous well known DJs.”

Following The Outing, the remainder of the Matchmaking Festival will include the usual schedule of music and dancing. This year’s festival will also include a country weekend featuring the likes of Derek Ryan, Crystal Swing and Philomena Begley, while Louisiana soul star Buck Taylor, will join the festival team this year – performing every Saturday night throughout September.

FIFTY years of second level education will be celebrated in Kildysart on Saturday, August 31.

The golden anniversary celebration will pay special tribute to the Salesian Education brought to the area five decades ago and its remaining influence.

In 1963 two second-level schools opened in the area, which have since merged to create St John Bosco Community College.

An all-girls secondary school was opened at Cahercon and at the same time the long-awaited vocational school opened its doors for the first time in Kildysart Village.

Prior to this, only students whose parents could afford to send them to secondary schools in Ennis or Kilrush received a second level education.

In 1970, seven years after opening, it was decided that the school in Cahercon would go co-educational.

This saw the arrival of five boys across the threshold of this hitherto all female establishment. In the years that followed, the school went from strength to strength reaching an attendance of 250 pupils, 50 of whom were boarders. In 1979 a new school was even built in Cahercon.

In the early nineties a sports hall was added to the facility.

In 2000 more changes came about as the school merged with the vocational school in the village.

By then most of the teaching staff were lay teachers as the numbers of Salesian Sisters had diminished.

A new school was built on the grounds of the original vocational school in Kildysart Village called St John Bosco’s Community College.

The property that was the Salesian Convent and Secondary School was sold marking the end of an era and the reign of the Salesian Sisters in the area.

Many of the current teachers at St John Bosco Community College, including principal Marian CoughlanFlynn, taught at Cahercon or are past pupils of the school.

On August 31 an invitation is being extended to all past pupils, parents, teachers and friends to join in the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Salesian Education in County Clare.

A Mass will be celebrated at St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, at 7pm by Father Michael Casey Provincial of Salesians in Ireland from Labasheeda and a past pupil of Cahercon.

THE Clare public’s need for information and assistance on legal matters continues to rise across the county, according to Clare Citizens Information Service’s annual report for 2012.

As many as 769 people attended the free legal advice clinics at the citizen’s information centres in County Clare last year.

While the report showed a slight decrease in the number of people requiring free legal assistance with financial matters, it also pointed not just a fundamental need in Irish society for accessible legal information and advice for individuals, but also for fairer systems that allow people to access their rights across a wide range of issues.

The Legal Advice Clinic’s statistics indicate that family issues, employment problems and money worries continue to dominate the agenda, constituting about half of all of its enquiries.

However, some areas of law have seen increased queries, such as housing/landlord and tenant law.

“The phenomenon of the ‘accidental landlord’ has been noted by FLAC – people who have had to rent out their homes to meet rising mortgage payments or invested as pension provision. They do not have the same resources as ‘professional’ landlords nor the funds to get necessary legal information and advice,” pointed out Paul Woulfe, Manager with the Clare Citizens information Service.

The report also recognises the work of volunteer lawyers in offering legal advice in free and confidential centres in Clare, in partnership with Citizens Information Centres.

Mr Woulfe said the centres provide an essential service for people who require legal advice to address a problem that they are facing, but who do not have the resources to pay for a consultation with a private solicitor

He said that most people only become aware of the law when they are in trouble but at that time, they need to be able to use it.

“For many, the law is confusing and intimidating. Alongside the dedicated management and staff of the Citizens Information Service in Clare, local volunteers solicitors provide a bridge between people and the law, so that they can understand their own situations better and can address the problems that they are facing, with dignity.