Category: News

MORE than 40 council houses are to be made liveable again, as almost a half a million euro is invested in the project.

Clare County Council’s 2013 Housing Works Programme got an extra € 700,000 boost and the funding is being invested in improving the local housing stock.

The 42 vacant Clare council houses will not only be returned to use as a result of the investment, but the work will also contribute to local employment.

The funding will be targeted at improving the energy efficiency and comfort levels of the council’s social housing stock, returning council houses to use and providing grant aid for the adaption of houses for older people and people with a disability.

A specific allocation of € 198,490 was set aside under the jobs stimulus investment programme for energy efficiency retrofitting of social housing stock.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Arkins, highlighted the new employment opportunities that will be provided for numerous private contractors in the county by the effective doubling of Clare’s 2013 allocation.

“The energy retrofitting measures for 2013 will target 250 older houses in the council’s stock which lack adequate insulation and draught proofing. The works will, in addition to providing an economic boost, considerably improve the comfort levels for our tenants.”

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Housing SPC, Cllr Patricia McCarthy welcomed the provision of additional funding of € 400,000 euro to carry out necessary works to return vacant houses to stock.

“This budget provision will see contracts being issued in respect of approximately 42 vacant units around the county in the current year. This, she stated, is particularly welcome at a time when our recently completed housing needs assessment identified 1,671 applicants in need of housing,” she said.

The housing adaptation grants scheme also received a welcome boost with an additional allocation of € 81,456 to bring the total available for the year to € 1.55 million.

The council’s director of Housing Services, Bernadette Kinsella, said, “This ambitious work programme presents a significant challenge for the council. However, I believe the Housing Department’s highly motivated technical and administrative team will ensure the effective delivery of this programme.”

LESS than a year after it was threatened with closure, representatives of the Ennistymon Community Hospital yesterday signed contracts which will secure the facilities future for a generation.

Following a mammoth local fundraising operation, The Friends of Ennistymon’s Hospital and the HSE yesterday signed contracts for Phase 1 of a € 3 million master plan for the facility.

Construction work will begin in early August with Phase 2 of the project likely to get underway at some stage in 2014.

In order to secure this new future for the facility, the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital have raised an incredible € 400,000 from local people to co-fund Phase 1 with the HSE.

A similar amount of money will also need to be raised locally to cofund the second part of the project. Yesterday’s contract signing seems like no more then a dream last year, when the facility was threatened with closure for the third time in as many years.

“The contracts were signed this morning which is a great relief for all of us.

“This is a major step forward, in the last six months we were threatened with the hospital being closed.

“That is the third time in recent years that we have been told that Ennistymon hospital was in danger of being closed,” said Thomas O’Sullivan of Friends of Ennistymon Hospital.

“It came down to what funding we could put up to back up our talk. So we were able to go to the HSE, from our small community, with € 400,000 for Phase 1.

“This is an incredible amount of money for the people of North Clare to come up with.

“We have people at church gate collection from Mullagh up to New Quay and down to Kilnamona and the support that we have got is really tremendous.

“These local people are the real back bone of our funding. That proves to us that people really want it.”

The development will see the total transformation of the facility, with twin on-suite rooms replacing the current ward-style sleeping arrangements. Phase 1 will focus on the mens and women’s sleeping quarters while Phase 2 will develop the mens area.

“As soon as the first section is nearing completion we will start looking at Phase 2.

“We have started fundraising for that already and hopefully we can progress that in the next eight or 10 months,” continued Thomas.

UNDERGROUND hunting rings are believed to be behind the reintroduction of herds of wild boar into rural County Clare. Three separate herds of wild boar have been discovered by authorities in forestry areas in the east and south of the county – with a total of 24 animals being captured from the wild. The most recent herd was discovered last week in the Sixmilebridge area where two adults and two young boar were discovered.

“These can be very dangerous animals – especially if they turn wild. The difficulty is that they breed like hell and while these animals are relatively sedate, one sow could have 13 or 14 offspring, and these offspring would be wild,” Clare’s ISPCA Warden, Frankie Coote told The Clare People this week.

Earlier this year, 15 animals were discovered in the Scariff area and a further five were discovered in a separate location in East Clare.

According to Frankie Coote, the animals are likely being released so that their offspring can be hunted for sport.

“I believe that they are being introduced by people who have an interest in coming back again and shooting the animals,” he said. ContinuedonPage14

THERE is a glimmer of hope for dwindling vocations in the Diocese of Killaloe as five young men have expressed an interest in training for the priesthood next year and are in talks with the vocations officer.

Even if one of these men are from Clare and decide to enter St Partick’s College Maynooth as a clerical student, it would still be at least seven years before the county had a new Clare priest among the 52 priests currently working in the county.

There is currently no Clare man training for the priesthood and just one man from the diocese – a Birr native – studying in Maynooth.

Meanwhile the number of priests serving the diocese continues to decline, as the patrol needs of the 124,000 Catholics in the six county dioceses are met through a “cluster system”.

According to figures released by the Diocese of Killaloe there are currently 82 priests in full-time ministry in the diocese’s 58 parishes, and The Clare People has learnt that 52 of those priests are serving in this county.

Among the 50 plus priests serving in Clare is Bishop Emeritus Dr Willie Walsh, who retired as bishop in 2010, but continues to serve the people of his adopted county as a priest.

The Diocese also has a priest from a Polish Diocese – Fr Dariusz – attending to the patrol needs of the Polish community.

Based in the Cathedral in Ennis, he serves Mass once a week in Ennis, while also moving to other counties in the diocese to serve Mass and administer at christenings, weddings and funerals.

A further six Killaloe priests are engaged in full-time school chaplaincy, teaching, diocesan administration and other pastoral work throughout Ireland, while five more serve overseas in various ministries.

Fifteen Killaloe priests are fully retired from active ministry, four of these men are from Clare.

The Diocese also benefits from the service of six priests from other dioceses or religious congregations serving as priests and benefits from the ministry of the clergy based at the Franciscan Friary in Ennis and the Cistercian Monastery at Mount St Joseph’s, Roscrea.

FIFTEEN new high end jobs are coming to the Burren with the announcement that American maritime consultancy and recruitment firm, Flagship Management, will locate its European, Middle East and African Headquarters in Kinvara.

The new Kinvara operation provide consultancy and recruitment services to maritime companies operating in the North Sea and Gulf regions. The positions created will include a local head of operations, maritime consultants, recruitment consultants as well as finance and administrative staff are are expected to come on line over the next three years.

The Florida-based company is one of the maritime industry’s leading consulting firm for executive recruiting.

The company has enjoyed rapid growth in the European market over the last 18 to 24 months and the Kinvara operation is expected to drive that growth over the next decade.

Flagship Management’s spokesperson, John Mylott, said that Kinvara is perfect for the company’s expansion.

“We are delighted with the location in Kinvara and we have had a very warm reception from the community to date. We look forward to growing our European, Middle East and African business from Kinvara into the future,” he said.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister of State, Ciaran Cannon (FG), said it is very welcome boost for the Burren region.

“This is a company which would not otherwise have come on to the radar of the IDA, now choosing to locate operations in a location which doesn’t traditionally benefit from multinational investment and jobs. This is great news for Kinvara, I commend all involved and wish them every success for their future in Ireland,” he said.

“The fact that this company can serve markets across all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa from Kinvara is proof positive that with the right broadband connection any of our small rural communities can serve as a base for further job creation. All it takes is a little innovation and creativity on all our parts.”

KILNABOY man Joseph Kelly has won gold at the Worldskills competition held in Leipzig.

The aircraft mechanic at Transaero Engineering Ireland competed in the aircraft maintenance category at Worldskills Leipzig 2013 against aircraft maintenance engineers from around the world including Canada, Singapore, U.K, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, China, Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and France to claim the top prize.

The competition took place over a four day period, 22 hours in total, with six modules to be completed.

The modules varied from sheet metal, daily inspection on a helicopter, gas turbine engine hot section inspections, flight control rigging, component removal, inspection and re-installation and electrical circuit troubleshooting and fault finding.

Mr Kelly was selected for Team Ireland having won the Irish national skills on two occasions in 2012 and 2013. He also took part in a series of interviews.

The training for the Worldskills competition was carried out mainly in FAS Shannon with expert in Aircraft Maintenance Michael Hayes.

The Kilnaboy man also received the ‘Best of Nation’ award.

NUI Galway has issued a final call for applications from Clare to its Sports Scholarships Scheme for 2013/14.

Clare has a long tradition of provided students to the university who have secured scholarships, among them a slew of hurlers such as Donal Tuohy, John Conlon, Patrick Kelly Domhall O’Donovan, Caimin Morey, Cormac O’Donovan and Gerry O’Grady as well as current Clare and Sixmilebridge camogie player Chloe Morey.

The Scholarship Programme is aimed at student-athletes of outstanding calibre who register as students of the University. The scheme is open to students who are only attending the college this September for the first time.

The scheme is also open to students already studying at NUI Galway.

The deadline for application for current and prospective students is Wednesday the 31st July at 5pm.

In the current academic year, student athletes at NUI Galway received significant financial and professional support services.

The scholarships aim to help aspiring young sportspeople to continue to develop their sporting prowess while attending the university.

Currently 60 students receive support under the scheme in a broad range of sports.

The scheme has assisted dozens of athletes’ progress to the highest levels of their sport in recent years and is aimed at providing them with the tools for success in their careers in the long term.

“The strongest selling point of our Sports Scholarship program is the results that it is producing,” said Gary Ryan is Elite Sports Develop- ment Officer at the university.

“We have supported the development of numerous Irish Internationals including some World Champions and medallists over the last number of years as well as the enormous success that so many of our GAA players have enjoyed at Senior and U21 level in recent years.

“Our focus is on the support of our student athletes in their dual careers. We strive to offer world class supports in one of the Ireland’s leading universities.

“Our scholarship students develop skills that will sustain them in their future sporting and professional careers and the long list of successful sporting alumni is testament to that,” he added.

The deadline for application for current and prospective students who may be thinking of attending NUI Galway is Wednesday the 31st July at 5pm.

THE people of Clare were not to blame for the current financial crisis – including the creation of a property bubble in the county. That is according to a new book about to be published by Clare resident, André Hakizimana.

The book, entitled ‘The Irish Economy – Past, Present and Future’, lays the blame for the ongoing recession on the policies used by the past and current government. According to the Ennis resident, the previous governments concentrated too much on exports, and this did not benefit the local domestic economy.

The present Fine Gael/Labour coalition government, he believes, is making the same mistake and should concentrate on investing and improving the domestic economy of many small regions, like County Clare.

“The housing boom and bust in Clare is a cause to the recession, but is not the core – the strategy [employed by the Government] is,” said Mr Hakizimana. “The Government should look to boost the local economy, rather than exports – where there is little or no job creation.

“The Government, the banks, but also the people must take responsibility for peoples current finincial status, but the public should not be blamed exclusively.

“The Government should invest in local enterprise as this would help people go back to work. This is key to improving our economy.”

Mr Hakizimana has been a Clare resident for almost 10 years and has a first hand experience of the effects of the economic boom and bust.

‘The Irish Economy – Past, Present and Future’ outlines the economic strategy of Ireland in recent decades and aims to pinpoint where everything started to go wrong. The book is available from The Ennis Book Shop at a cost of € 15.

THREE Clare artists have had their work showcased in an international festival of photography that’s taking place at various venues around the country.

The artists’ work was part of a group exhibition curated by Enniswoman Shelagh Honan that was organised as part of the PhotoIreland Festival, Ireland’s first ever festival of photography and image culture.

“It celebrates Ireland’s photographic talents, often times only recognised abroad, as well as bringing international practitioners and artists to Ireland,” a spokesperson for PhotoIreland Festival said.

“The festival highlights, promotes and elevates fine art photography in Ireland, conferring on it the importance it duly deserves.”

Clare’s involvement centred around the ‘Call it What You Will’ exhibition that included the work of curator Shelagh Honan, the work of Fiona O’Dwyer and Maria Finucane from Ennistymon and Tulla respectively, as well as Dublin-based artists Mike McLoughlin and Marie Phelan.

“This was an exhibition that involved the work of four lens-based artists,” Ms Honan told The Clare People this week.

“It wasn’t strictly photography based, but involved projection, video and photography.

“There were three separate exhibitions in Limerick as part of the festival, one in Ormston House, another in Occupy Space gallery and the ‘Call It What You Will’ exhibition in Faber Studios.

“This is the second ‘Call It What You Will’ exhibition in a series touring the country. The exhibition, which is not strict photography, involves a series of installations including sound, video and camera obsurca.

“The first took place in a disused house in Ballyferriter in Dingle and now Photography Ireland selected this work to be part of their PhotoIreland Festival exhibition. The second show follows a similar format to the first, but has evolved.” added Ms Honan.

The PhotoIreland Festival was established in 2010 and takes place every July, bringing together a wide range of artists, galleries and cultural institutions in a celebration of photography.

The inclusion of the ‘Call It What You Will’ exhibition in the PhotoIreland Festival programme comes as the Clare artists begin preparations to bring the exhibition to Ennis as part of ‘Culture Night’ that takes place throughout the country on September 20 next.

“Bringing the show to Ennis is important for us,” said Ms Honan, “and ‘Culture Night’ is the perfect opportunity to do that, with the key being to find a suitable building in the town to host the exhibition for a one to two-day period,” she added.

EIGHT PEOPLE from West Clare including a 16-year-old boy who were charged in May with selling or supplying drugs, including heroin and cannabis appeared again in Kilrush District Court on Tuesday.

Three of the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges against them, and had their cases adjourned until September 10 for sentencing.

Judge Patrick Durcan also ordered a pre-sentence probation report in all three cases.

Four of the defendants had their case adjourned until October 15 for a plea or hearing.

A bench warrant was ordered in the case of Clare O’Sullivan (25) of Main Street, Cooraclare, who failed to appear in court.

She was charged with having cannabis for sale or supply at the Kilrush Marina on Christmas Eve last, December 24, 2012.

She was also charged with having cannabis for sale on March 15, 2013 at Main Street Cooraclare, and again in the Tesco car park on February 4, 2013.