Category: News

A SEARCH is expected to resume today for a man missing from his home in Ennis since Saturday. Seamus Higgins (22) was last seen jumping a wall after leaving his house at Dun Na hInse on the Lahinch Road at around 3pm on Sat- urday. He was wearing jeans, new navy and white, laceless, Nike runners and a grey jumper. Members of Clare Civil Defence have carried out searches of the nearby Claureen river and riverbank area. Extensive searches have also taken place in Lees Road and in vacant houses and abandoned buildings in the town. That search is expected to be expanded around Ennis today (Tuesday). Gardaí in Ennis were notified within five hours of Mr Higgins’ disappearance on Saturday. They have asked for the public’s assistance in finding Mr Higgins. An appeal for information has also been issued through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Gardaí have expressed concern for Mr Higgins. He left the house without his phone, wallet and passport. Mr Higgins’ foster mother, Tina Whelan, said she is concerned for Seamus’ well being. She said, “He just got up and left the house without saying a word which isn’t like Seamus. He would always say where he is going. One of the neighbours saw him hopping over a wall. His friends are very upset. I am upset. We just hope that he turns up.” Anyone who may have seen Seamus Higgins or who may have information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact Ennis Garda Station on 065 6848100.

CLARE farmers are being urged to be vigilant following a marked increase in cattle rustling in recent months – with fears now growing that an organised gang could be targeting farms in the county.

The latest incident, which took place on a farm in Quin earlier this month, saw more than € 10,000 worth of cattle being taken from the farm of Anthony Flannery in the early hours of the morning.

The raid specifically targeting high value animals, which the thieves would likely attempt to resell rather than slaughter.

However, in order to resell the animals the criminals would need to provide valid documentation and tags for the animals – which has led to a belief that they could be an organised operation rather than opportunist thieves.

According to Clare ICMSA chairman, Martin McMahon, a theft of animals at this time could be enough to put already stretched farmers out of business.

“The value of this stock to a farmer now is huge. After such a costly winter a lot of farmers have been trying to get cattle in shape so they could get as much money from them as they could. There are loans to banks and credit to be paid and a theft like this could put someone out of business,” he said.

“These people [the cattle rustler] would have to have a knowledge of farming and a way of disposing of these animals. If there is someone out there who is helping people to dispose of stolen animals then this is a very serious risk to farmers in Clare and something that needs to brought to an end quickly.

“The Guards and the Department of Agriculture needs to row in behind this quickly and bring an end to this situation. The paperwork needs to all add up, they need to have the right tags on their ears and they need to have the licence to dispose of these animals.

“If somebody is interfering with this then it is a very very serious crime.

“When they are caught then need to be severely dealt with.”

Gardaí in Ennis are currently investigating the incident which took place in the early ours of Friday, August 2. Among the cattle stolen was a six year old black Limousin cow, two other in-calf cows as well as an Aberdeen Angus.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gardaí in Ennis on 065 6848100.

THERE were increased sightings over the weekend in Ennis of a “rogue” fox blamed for killing three dogs in a housing estate in recent weeks. Authorities have issued a warning over the behaviour of the fox amid fears it could attack small children. County Dog Warden and Clare IS- PCA officer Frank Coote says he has received numerous reports of sightings since highlighting the fox attacks last week. The animal is believed to be moving through land in the Tobertascáin area of the town. Mr Coote said the fox is responsible for attacking and killing the dogs. “To be honest I didn’t really believe it at first. It’s rare enough for something like this to happen. But I have the evidence of it, these dogs were half eaten. I interviewed the families. I took photos. These dogs were all attacked in properties,” explained Mr Coote. Though instances of fox attacks against humans are rare, Mr Coote said there is evidence in England that it has happened before. The long-serving animal welfare officer says this is the first time that he has encountered a “rogue fox” in the Ennis area. Mr Coote explained, “I’ve met a rogue badger before up in Lees Road when it opened. It was chasing people up and down the path but it had eaten a poison. I’ve seen one rogue fox in Tulla before but never around Ennis.” Mr Coote said he would be concerned that the fox could attack small children. A trap has been laid in the area where the fox is thought to travel through. But so far it hasn’t been caught. Mr Coote is liaising with officers from the National Parks and Wildlife Services. He said efforts would continue to trap the fox. “It has quite bad mange and I was talking to a vet who said he would probably die during the winter anyway. But this fox is a danger and I will stay out there to try and catch it,” Mr Coote added. Tue13August 13

A SPECTACULAR new exhibition tracking the last 10 years of life in Ennistymon will be officially launched at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon later this month. The exhibition, which is entitled “Ennistymon: Vanishing Heritage” is a photographic exhibition presented by The Old Ennistymon Society which is itself celebrating its twenty first year in 2013.

The exhibition will give a fascinating insight into now disappeared buildings, daily activities of the inhabitants, and long forgotten businesses and crafts – indeed everything that contributed to the rich tapestry of life in a north Clare market town.

The Old Ennistymon Society was founded with Michael Comber in 1992 with the mission statement of “Preserving the Past for the Future”.

Local author Eddie Stack will officially launch “Ennistymon: Vanishing Heritage” on August 16 at 8pm and the exhibition will continue Sep- tember 12.

On Wednesday, August 21, at 8pm there will be a heritage discussion illustrated by the film “I Was Happy Here”, depicting many of the streets and buildings portrayed in the exhibition. On Thursday morning, August 22, at 11.30am there will be a town walk led by Frank Davis, Frances Madigan and John O’Loughlin.

A second exhibition entitled “Of Stones and Flowers” will run at the Red Couch Space in the gallery until September 12. The exhibition will include pen and ink iIllustrations and watercolours by Hilary Gilmore.

NORTH Clare commuters using the proposed Ballyvaughan Bay Hop ferry service to Galway could end up making massive savings on their weekly commuting bill.

The service, which will launch on a trail basis on September 2, will offer weekly commuter tickets to and from Galway for just over € 40. These tickets, which will be offered to commuters using a promotion code during the trail, match the regular commuter ticket cost under the Government’s tax saver commuter scheme, which could be accessed should the service be made permanent.

This would result in large savings for Burren commuters compared to the weekly petrol bill to and from Galway – while the service also offers to reduce the commute time by as much as two hours every day.

“We have had a handful of tickets sold already which is good considering we are three weeks before the trial starts. There is a lot of support from locals – both people who want to use the service themselves and people offering discounts to tourists coming over from Galway,” said or- ganiser, Gwen Ryan.

“A lot of local shops are offering discounts to people who show their tickets, for example Burren Bikes are offering a special rate for people who travel over on the boat and want to rent a bike for the day.

“I started this project in order to give myself and other commuters a reliable service from the Burren into Galway. Our weekly commuter ticket will cost € 80 but we have also launched an early bird ticket on the trial which will mimic the savings which would be made by commuters under the tax saver scheme if this was to become a full time service. That would roughly half the price of the weekly ticket.”

This Ballyvaughan Bay Hop trial will every day excluding Sunday from September 2 to 13 and an official launch will take place on August 25. Liam O’Brien, of O’Brien Line will operate the service on behalf of the community in a 12 passenger hard-cabin rib.

The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark is supporting this Ballyvaughan Bay Hop trial service with financial assistance from the TransTourism Project.

Tickets are on sale from www.ballyvaughanbayhop.org

IT WAS birthday celebration on the double for the newly-crowned Rose of Clare this weekend, as she was named the over all winner of the contest on the eve of her 23rd birthday.

Una Dowling who represented Kildare at the 34th annual CooraclareCree contest beat off strong competition from 16 other contestants from all over Clare, Australia and England, hours before her birthday.

The Kildare woman has strong Cooraclare-Cree heritage as her mother Eileen Chambers comes from Dromelihy.

Una, the daughter of Eileen and Christy Dowling, grew up in Castledermot, Kildare.

She is a third year student at Mater Dei Institute of Education, where she studies English and religion.

Una wasn’t the only festival success on Friday night, as local man Pat McMahon was named Overall Escort following a vote by all the roses.

The popular engineer won them over with his quick wit and charm, and no doubt with tales of his charity work with the Niall Mellon Trust.

THE famous Kilfenora Céilí Band will lead an audacious attempt to bring a new Guinness World Record back to Clare later this month.

The band will lead an attempt on Sunday, August 25, to set the world record for the largest Irish band ever to play a tune. Amateur and professional musicians are invited to make the trip to Kilfenora on the day and help the Clare village set a new world record. Officials from the Guinness Book of Records will be in Kilfenora for the event and 250 musicians will be needed to set the world first.

“We want to get as many musicians as we possibly can in Kilfenora for the day and if we can get 250 or more to play then we will have set a world record,” said one of the organisers, Gerard Linnane.

“The attempt will be led by the Kilfenora Céilí Band who will come on stage at 3.30pm. We will have rows of chairs set up for the musicians in the square and the hope is that enough musicians will turn up on the day to help make it a reality.

“Anyone who is aged 12 years or older can take part and all that the need to know is how to play the famous Kilfenora Jig. There will be music in the village all afternoon and we will get a rehearsal in with everyone who is taking part before the main vent.”

Anyone who wants to take part can register in Kilfenora on the day be tween 12 noon and 2.30pm. Volunteers will also be collecting money for Kilfenora Senior Citizens and The Irish Cancer Society at the event.

More information is available from www.largestirishband.ie or by ringing Gerard Linnane on 065 7088157.

THE Bishop of Inis Cathaigh (Scattery Island) and Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn in New York Most Reverend Frank J. Caggiano has apologised to the people of Kilrush for pulling out of plans to celebrate Mass on the monastic island at the 11th hour.

The bishop was forced to change his plans to celebrate the Mass last weekend due to financial constraints, both in his own budget and the budget of the local authority in Clare.

The bishop, who holds the ancient title of Bishop of Scattery Island since his ordination in August 2006, accepted an invitation from Kilrush Town Council and the local committee Comóradh Sheanáin Naofa to celebrate the annual Mass on the year of the Gathering.

In July his secretary wrote to Kilrush Town Council asking if the bishop would be reimbursed for his travel expenses.

The council members agreed that they did not have the funds to cover the costs, and did not usually cover any costs of visiting dignitaries to the town.

The bishop then contacted the town clerk John Corry just weeks before the Mass expressing his regret that he could not visit Kilrush due to budgetary issues.

“In the reply that I received from Most Rev Caggianos office regarding his visit to Ireland it appears that the cost of the trip to Kilrush appeared to be the problem,” Mr Corry told The Clare People .

“His offices indicated that because of the limited travel funds in their budget, they determined that it was not feasible for the Bishop to travel to Ireland for the Mass. They estimated the cost of this trip at $1,800 and with the bishop previously scheduled to participate in the Youth 2000 Summer Festival in mid-August, an additional cost like this would off-set their expenses.

“They expressed their sincerest apologies for the short notice and change in plans,” said Mr Corry.

Chairperson of Comóradh Sheanáin Naofa Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF), who first proposed the invitation to the council, said the group were disappointed that the bishop could not attend the special Mass.

Had he been able to make the trip he would have been the first Bishop of Scattery in living memory to visit the sixth century settlement.

“I understand why the county could not afford the bill, especially at such times of constraint. Maybe he might be able to come in the future.”

Cllr Prendeville said that other than the disappointment of not having Bishop Caggiano in attendance, the Mass and weekend of visits to the island was a huge success.

A DISTRESSED mother has told how she relied on the kindness of strangers who were themselves at the mercy of the health services, as she waited more than three hours to have her two-year-old daughter’s head injury assessed.

The long wait at the University Hospital Limerick’s Emergency Department (ED) began at 6.45pm on Tuesday.

The little girl had received a bang to the head earlier that evening after a gate swung back on her. The family travelled to the only hospital in the region permitted to take injured children under the age of five to have the head injury examined and treated.

After a long wait to see a nurse, the worried mother was less than satisfied when she was “asked how it happened, my name, my contact number and advised there were two people ahead of us and it would be approximately an hour before she would be seen”.

The little toddler was then sent back out to the waiting room with her wound open and uncovered.

“At 9.30pm, 2.45 hours later, I approached the reception desk at AandE and pleaded with the lady that she be reviewed as she was a child with a head injury. There were tears in my eyes by now,” said the upset mother.

“The lady behind the desk seemed surprised that she wasn’t reviewed and said she is a child who should be given priority,” she said, adding that she told her to go through to a room inside in the emergency department.

“I met a nurse there and I advised her that the lady in reception suggested I bring her in …. There was only one other patient in there at the time but the nurse advised I would have to leave and wait outside.”

Eventually more than three hours later she was called through to ED.

“During this time I stood with my child in my arms and tried to console her as much as I could. An elderly man on a stretcher bed actually got up and let her lie down on his bed for a few minutes so she could try and get comfortable. After a few minutes I felt bad for the man and moved her. Another woman gave me a chair.”

“When she was eventually called by the doctor at approximately 10pm she was extremely upset as she was tired, exhausted and sore. She got upset on entering the [examination] room and I tried to calm her down, she ran out and I followed her, as she was scared of what was going on. As I left the doctor shouted after me ‘you answer my questions and the nurse will go after her’. I kept walking after my daughter but I could hear a nurse saying to him the child needs her mother.

“I eventually calmed her down, with the help of a lovely woman who gave her some chocolate from her hand bag. The doctor approached us and asked if she was okay now and I advised yes – she understands what will happen, to which he replied, good I will see another patient and I will be back. I could not believe this, neither could patients or people in the area that witnessed it. My daughter is two and a half years old, had been waiting in a strange place for over three hours for a doctor and she got scared. She is only a child. I find it absolutely unacceptable that my daughter had to wait over three hours for a doctor to assess her head injury,” said her tired mother.

She paid tribute to the other patients who helped her through the ordeal stating “They were people who cared more about me than the nurses and doctors.”

Since the episode in the ED the little girl was taken to her GP at the weekend, as the cut was badly infected. She is now on antibiotics for the infection.

THE dolphin human relationship in Clare may have got some bad publicity in recent weeks, but two striped dolphins are back swimming off the west coast of Clare thanks to a group of children.

The young heroes floated the two mammals, who had become beached on Thursday evening at the west end of Kilkee beach, before the emergency services has arrived.

The Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard were dispatched to the beach following reports of the distressed dolphins trapped in shallow waters.

The unit had been on a training exercise nearby at the time.

The call out came at around 7.30pm but the coast guard arrived just in time to see the dolphin swim away, after it was helped out of shallow rock pools.

A spokesperson for the coast guard told The Clare People , “By the time we got there a few local lads had floated the dolphins back out. Apparently it happens regularly enough.”

Members of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group also arrived at the beach shortly after the rescue.

It is believed that there were as many as four dolphins in the area on the night in question.

The striped dolphin is more likely to become beached in shallow waters that the more confident bottlenose dolphin.

Dolphins are social, living in pods of up to a dozen individuals. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a superpod; such groupings may exceed 1,000 dolphins.