Category: News

THE Clare County Council delegation’s trip to New York this St Patrick’s Day is estimated to cost one third of last year’s cost.

In 2012, a six-person delegation to the Big Apple cost in the region of € 12,000, with the council cutting costs by staying in the residence of the Consul General of Ireland in New York.

According to a spokesperson for the council, this year’s trip is estimated to cost € 3,000 as Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) and the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, travel to New York and Chicago. However, the St Patrick’s Day trips are not limited to the leader of the council chamber and council executive.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) will deputise for the Mayor of Ennis and travel to New York; Kilrush mayor, Cllr Mairead O’Brien (Ind) will represent the West Clare town in New York; and Shannon’s mayor, Cllr Michael Fleming (FG), will continue a 16year Shannon tradition by jetting off to New Jersey.

Mayor of Kilkee, Claire Haugh (FF) will not be going abroad this St Patrick’s Day.

Each mayor said that they would be representing the interest of the local people and encouraging investment in Clare during the trips.

Cllr Meaney will be in New York on the invitation of the Clareman’s Association. The Ennis councillor said that he does not use his town council expenses during the year, and believes that this would be a good use of those recourses.

“We didn’t send anyone last year, as we were afraid how it would look from a financial point of view. To me, that was a mistake,” he said. “It is important that we use every opportunity to ensure links with the Diaspora are maintained. It is important to encourage inward investment.”

Kilrush Mayor Mairead O’Brien’s expenses for flight and accommodation are set at € 1,177. Anne Haugh, Town Manager, will also be in attendance but the cost of sending the council official is not yet known.

The trip of the Shannon mayor, Cllr Fleming, to New Jersey on the invitation of the Union County Emerald Society is not known but last year the cost came to € 1,917.26. It is expected to be similar this year, according to Shannon Town Clerk Liam O’Connor who will accompany him on the trip.

Mr O’Connor said the Shannon delegation would promote the town to various investors and dignitaries.

During their trip to New York and Chicago, Mayor Daly and Mr Coughlan will meet with the wider Irish community representatives, United Airlines and city officials/representatives, enterprise agencies, Clare Association Chicago, Clare Association New York, Consul Generals of Ireland in Chicago and New York.

They will also take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade.

CLARE people commuting by train to and from Galway will be able to purchase tickets online before the end of April.

The lack of an online booking option has been identified as one of the main reasons why the numbers using the service have not met expectations since the Ennis to Athenry section of the Western Rail Corridor was reopened in 2009.

There was more good news for the service as new figures reveal that passenger numbers on the route jumped by almost 5 per cent in 2011. The total number using the rail service between Galway and Limerick rose from 224,166 to 235,555 in 2012.

Figures provided by Irish Rail for the Ennis to Athenry section of the track showed that just 34,235 used the midsection service in 2012.

This figure is a slight reduction on 2011 with the growth in passenger numbers being largely driven by passengers travelling from Ennis to Limerick and from Athenry to Galway.

A spokesperson for Irish Rail acknowledged that the majority of the growth in 2012 was generated in commuter journeys between Ennis and Limerick and Athenry and Galway, but insisted that the midsection of the track will be strengthened by the advent of online booking.

“We have been working ourselves and with stakeholders to grow demand on the route, and undertook a number of initiatives in the final third of last year which have yielded improvements, including free car parking at Gort and Ardrahan and targeted promotion of student commuter tickets and adult taxsaver tickets. We will ensure that there is continued targeted promotion of the service as part of our commercial plan,” said an Irish Rail spokesperson.

“We have committed to extending the online system to this route as soon as possible. Currently, our online system supports bookings only where the train has an electronic reservation system on board.

“We are currently working to modify this to support all trains on all routes, and we expect this to be completed in the next two months,” they added.”

AMONG the many targets set out by the HSE West in its blueprint and budget for health services in the region is the target of providing 3.1 million hours of home help to 13,460 people in the HSE West area. Closer examination of the figures, which depend on assumptions and optimistic predictions, shows that this is just an average of 4.4 hours per person per week. A total of 846,780 hours of home help service are to be provided to 3,601 people, resulting in a breakdown of 4.5 hours per week. For many dependents on this service, it will mean fewer hours; for others a little more. The HSE West Service Plan 2013 has a number of targets set out in its plan for the year ahead, including cutting waiting times in the region’s hospitals to six hours, at which point 95 per cent should be discharged or admitted. It also states that no adult will wait more than eight months for an elective procedure, in-patient or day case, and no child will wait more than 20 weeks. It has set the waiting time for Out Patient Department appointments as no longer than one year, while it aims to cut the maximum wait for an “urgent colonoscopy” to four weeks. “No person will wait more than 13 weeks following a referral for routine colonoscopy,” it stated. It also outlines plans to provide 2,238 home care packages; support over 5,000 people with NHSS (Fair Deal) residential care places and provide for a minimum of 589,889 hours of personal assistant and home support services. And while the service must cut its staffing numbers by 4 per cent it has promised to prioritise the recruitment of frontline Primary Care and Mental Health posts and Integrated Care Diabetes Nurse Specialists across the region. The implementation of the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme and preparation of three sites for the National Cancer Control Programme Colorectal Screening initiative is also on the wish list.

AS MANY as 1,000 jobs could be created in the North Clare/South Galway areas in the coming years, following news that Government funding has been secured to extend the M18 from Gort to Galway City.

A total of € 20 million has been secured for the project, with the National Roads Authority (NRA) now set to re-enter negotiations with the preferred private sector bidders.

There will be no tolls on the new motorway, with the Government instead paying the operators a set amount each year.

The entire project is expected to cost in the region of € 400 million over a period of approximately 30 years.

Besides creating construction jobs in the area, this news has also been welcomed by the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) who believe that a finished M18 could have major repercussions for the airport.

The Director of Shannon Airport, Mary Considine, said that the confir- mation that Government funding is now committed to the project means that negotiations with a view to commencing the works can get underway with the private investors who successfully tendered for the project initially.

“The confirmation that the Government seed funding is now available is hugely welcome and our hope is, of course, that the private investor commitment will follow and pave the way for this project to commence without delay,” she said.

“Shannon is the only airport on the entire western seaboard with transatlantic services and connectivity into one of the five major European hubs. This is a unique strength on top of the services we have elsewhere into UK and Europe.

“The extension of the motorway would make the airport and these services far more accessible to passengers into the wider west of Ireland region, offering passengers much greater choice to this catchment and amounting to a significant opportunity for Shannon to grow its passenger numbers in the process.”

AN ENNIS hotel sold for € 90,000 over it’s reserve at an auction in Dublin on Friday to a Clare businessperson; while a west Clare hotel failed to attract a buyer. The Ashford Court Hotel was sold for € 305,000, with a lot of bidders attracted by the basement bargain reserve of € 215,000.

The distressed property on the Old Mill Road in Ennis was put up for auction by receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG at the Allsop Space auction. Associate Director of Allsop Space, Robert Hoban, told The Clare People that there was a lot of interest in the 27-bed hotel, set on 0.072 hectares, with “several bidders” taking part in the auction.

All contents were included in the sale of the hotel building, which included a restaurant, bar area and an- cillary accommodation.

A second Clare hotel, The Kilkee Bay Hotel, failed to reach its reserve. The hotel on the Kilrush road has a reserve of € 315,000, and was put up for sale by private citizen.

Mr Hoban said he did not know if there would be a second attempt to sell the property, and he was awaiting instructions from his client.

“Some clients take it off the market, and some times it is re-offered at a lower reserve price,” he said.

The familiar landmark hotel on the Kilrush road into the seaside town has 41-bedrooms together with bar and function room facilities that extend to 18,910.45 square feet.

The two-storey hotel neighbours The Kilkee Bay Leisure Centre, a basketball court, and several rows of apartments/holiday homes.

There is extensive car parking to the front of the property.

A VISUALLY-IMPAIRED Ennisman is terrified that he will effectively be a prisoner in his own home in four months time, as he faces the loss of his Mobility Allowance.

Thomas Connole believes that the loss of this monthly grant that allows him limited independence and dignity is very likely, as the Government has failed to guarantee an alternative fund.

The 45-year-old depends on the funding system to provide for taxi trips so that he can attend social outings and be free to leave and return from his own home at will.

There is not sufficient public transport to meet with Mr Connole’s needs, and as he is blind, driving is not an option. This grant provides for his only form of transport, and now he fears it will be taken from him, and more people in the county who are highly dependent on it.

“If this goes it means I cannot get out,” he said.

Mr Connole is supported by a personal assistance for a few hours every day, but as he pointed out they are not always available.

He then uses his mobility allowance to attend his horse ridding classes or to socialise.

“I am a huge music fan and there are a lot of dances at a local hotel and I like to go there,” he said.

“This allowance will go, and I am worried I am going to be housebound. I will effectively be trapped in my own home. I also fear I will have to stop horse ridding if it is taken away.”

The music enthusiast is most fearful of the isolation of being restricted to his own home, an isolation that could impact on the mental well being of many people reliant on the payment for their independence.

“That is what the Government don’t think of. They think of the overall picture and not of how it impacts on those involved. There are talks that they are going to give the money to organisations and that won’t work for the individual. No one person has the same needs, or have the same appointments,” he said anxiously.

The Mobility Allowance was a means-tested monthly payment payable by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to people aged between 16 and 66 years who have a disability and are unable to walk or use pub- lic transport and who would benefit from a change in surroundings.

The Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly repeatedly warned the Government that by putting an age limit on the scheme it was in contravention of equality legislation.

Last week the Department of Health axed this payment and the Motorised Transport Grant stating the two schemes would be a burden on the exchequer if they were to operate in accordance with Equal Status Acts. The Government has failed to guarantee that an alternate fund- ing stream will be in place for people with disability next July, when payments of existing mobility support ceases.

The Department of Health has set up a review of the schemes, with the review group instructed that any solution to the mobility needs of those affected must be devised within a funding limit of € 10.6m.

The Minister for Health James Reilly maintains that extending the schemes along with Ms O’Reilly’s recommendations would cost approximately € 170m per annum.

Dermot Hayes, Disable People of Clare, criticised the Government as they had been aware of the Ombudsman’s concerns about this payment for a long time, but failed to act or put an alternative in place before axing the current payments.

“This is a huge cop out. They can sort the banks with an overnight sitting of the Dáil. I cannot understand why they cannot change this quickly,” he said.

THE HSE West outlined in its Regional Service Plan for 2013, how it will cut waiting times, increase patients’ safety and provide even more services within a budget cut by € 24.46 million.

Authors of the blueprint for the health services in the region, which includes County Clare, admit that its success depends on a lot of “assumptions”.

The services for the rest of this year must be delivered within a € 1.2 billion budget and within the overall employment control limit of 15,750.

This means staffing levels must be cut by 653 people, or four per cent.

Hospital budgets have received a 10 per cent increase, however there are still what the HSE describe as “serious cost containment measures” required, as the increased budget is less than the outturn costs of the hospitals in 2012.

The € 238.344 million 2013 hospitals budget is an increase of 10 per cent on 2012. However, despite this increase, there remains a substantial financial challenge of € 21.759 million for the year. A financial plan, comprising a variety of cost containment initiatives, is in place to deliver breakeven, according to the HSE.

Ann Doherty, CEO Midwest Region Hospitals Group, said “National cost containment initiatives including legislation to increase income from private patients, in addition to general income maximisation, staffing efficiencies, procurement and stock controls, and HSE funding for oncology drugs are all part of the breakeven plan.”

She admitted, however, “This plan is based on a number of assumptions and like all assumptions there are risks that these assumptions may not be realised, e.g. if our assumptions on income are not realised or demand growth is required to maintain our targets, we will then have to find other measures to address this shortfall,” she warned.

“There is a degree of uncertainty at this point regarding our work force as we do not have good visibility on the impacts of the proposed schemes aimed at reducing headcount and the impacts these will have on our services and financial plan. This will be monitored closely so that remedial action can be taken quickly if required.”

Likewise a further € 3.558 million in non-acute services in the mid west must be saved, which is not accounted for in detail in the plan.

It is predicted that the required expenditure in this area for 2013 is € 308.785 million with an available budget of € 305.227 million equating to approximately 1.15 per cent of a pressure on cost against budget.

“This is on the clear assumption that the costs will be maintained at the quarter three 2012 levels or appropriate alternative adjustments will be made where those costs increase,” the HSE stated.

DISABLED groups in Clare looks set to come out fighting against government plans to remove the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant.

The cut, which is set to come into place in four months, looks likely to bring disable people out in the street protesting in ways that have not before been seen.

According to Ennis man Dermot Hayes, now that disabled people have had a taste of independence, they are not willing to give it up.

“The money involved in this is very small. It is a direct payment to the individuals that aids that person to get out and about and live an independent life. We have been working to tear down the walls of disabilities institutions for decades and it has been a long time coming. Now that we have received a level of independence we are not prepared to give that away,” he said.

“It can be very disillusioning [being trapped at home]. You start to wonder ‘is this what life is all about’. Having a small grant which ensures that you can get out every once and awhile is huge for a disabled person. It is the whole world.”

According to East Clare man and the former National Vice President of the Centre for Independent Living, Tom King, disabled people are ready for this fight.

“There is an appetite on the ground to fight this. People with disabilities are feeling the recession as much as everyone else. We don’t have the money in our pockets to cover this and we are ready to fight for this,” he said.

“They [the HSE] are talking about putting some of the money into organised transport. That is going to make an institution of transport, and we will be back to a situation where everyone who has a disability is on one bus together travelling together at time that doesn’t suit. It takes away the possibility of employment and a social life but the main thing that it takes way is independence. This is going to leave disable people isolated, in their homes, alone.”

The Disabled People of Clare (DPOC) organisation has asked for the Department of Health to shelve plans to cut the scheme until a better solution can be worked out.

“Any confidence that individuals and the families of those with a disability had in the department of health, nationally, is being undermined as a direct result of a number of recent issues,” said Margaret Kinnane of DPOC.

“We ask that the Government leave in place the current Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grants, until they have entered into talks with disability organisations, representing the individual with a disability, such as the DPOC,” she said.

THE waiting for Doolin residents, local surfers and Clare County Council will be over later today as An Bord Pleanála are set to announce whether the planned new pier for Doolin can go ahead.

A final decision on the development was expected to be announced yesterday, but no nothing was announced by the planning authority. Indeed, this is the fourth promised deadline that An Bord Pleanála have missed so far in 2013 and locals are becoming anxious at the time taken to come to a final decision.

“People are waiting for this decision to be made so their can get on with their lives. Whatever the decision turns out to be, people have been left in limbo,” said ferry operator Eugene Garrihy.

“We were given a date of January 2 [for a decision], then it was February 18. Then it was supposed to be last Friday and then today. I was on the phone to Clare County Council a few minutes ago and there won’t be a decision today.

“There is a lot of frustration locally with the amount of time that this is taking. People just want to get on with their lives.”

The development of a new pier in Doolin had looked set to go ahead two years ago after Clare County Council granted Part 8 planning permission for the development. This decision was challenged by a number of surfing organisation, including the Lahinch based West Coast Surf Club, who believe the damage a famous surfing wave in Doolin.

They applied to An Bord Pleanála to force Clare County Council to complete an Environmental Impact Statement for the project before giving it the green light.

A MOVE towards group transport for disabled people in County Clare may prove uneconomical in the future – as it would prevent disabled people from accessing employment and becoming tax-payers themselves.

That is is the opinion of a number of disabled Clare people who have been able to find work after accessing the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant.

One such person, Declan Considine from Kilmihil, believes he would never have been able to gain employment without the motorised Transport Grant.

“I did a course with NUI, Galway, and from that course I received a placement in the Civil Service. That placement was down in Clonakilty in Cork.

“I used the Motorised Transport Grant to help me to buy a car that would allow me to go to work every day. If there was no grant, there would have been no job for me,” he said.

“For the majority of people with disabilities, social welfare or a FÁS scheme is their only way of surviving.

“It would be virtually impossible for someone to purchase a car to get to education or work if it wasn’t for the help of this scheme. And without a car there is no chance of mov- ing on.”

Clare woman Anne Dunne says that group transport schemes – such as the one operated by the Disabled People of Clare (DPOC) – are not a sufficient solution to allow disabled people to live independent lives.

“Independence is a key issue for a person who is disabled. I had to go to the hospital last week. I booked transport with Disabled People of Clare (DPOC), who do a great job, two week ahead of time and they came back and asked me could I share a bus into Limerick that morning.

“The other person’s appointment was at a totally different time to mine – so what happens is that we are both in the hospital all day long, waiting hours for each other,” she said.

North Clare woman Anne Marie Flanaghan, says she would never have been able to find employment if it has not be for the schemes.

“I used to get the Mobility Grant and the Motorised Transport Grant and that helped me to get my first car.

“If it wasn’t for these grants I could not have gone to college and I wouldn’t have been able to get a job.

“Because I got this grant. I am independent today; I am working and paying taxes. I am now in a situation that I don’t need or qualify for the grant anymore and that is how it should be.”