Category: News

A 62-YEAR-OLD man has appeared in court charged in connection with a public order incident at an Ennis estate last month.

Michael O’Neill with an address at 68B Abbeyville, Limerick Road, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

He is charged with the production of wheel brace capable of inflicting serious injury at Abbeyville on January 21 (2013). It is also alleged that Mr O’Neill did engage in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace at the same location and date. Sgt Mark Murphy of Ennis Garda Station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. Sgt Murphy outlined a summary of the alleged facts of the case. He said gardaí were called a number of times to a disturbance at Abbeyville at 1.20am.

He said it would be alleged that the accused came out of his house and started roaring obscenities at another man. Sgt Murphy said it would be alleged that Mr O’Neill took out an item from the boot of his car. Judge Patrick Durcan accepted jurisdiction. Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that her client is disputing the alleged facts of the case. Mr O’Neill was remanded on bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on March 13.

REMOVING levies from all developments in the county would give Clare an advantage over other counties and improve the county coffers.

In proposing to rid the county of such development contributions, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) believes this would encourage development within the county boundaries, and improve the rate takings of the local authority.

He told yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of the Kilrush area councillors that he had monitored seven applica- tions for planning for development before the council.

“If they went ahead we would have got planning levies back in terms of rates by now,” he said.

Such developments would also have lead to job creation and knock on benefits for the local economy.

The Lissycasey man requested that the county manager “draw up draft amendments to section 48 levies in order to exempt areas of West Clare, which are in population decline, from charges for industrial and commercial development”.

He later extended the proposal to include all of County Clare.

The Fianna Fáil councillor argued that such a move would give areas like Westbury a distinct advantage over Limerick City, would make areas of West Clare along the estuary more attractive to business than areas to the south in Kerry and such a move would also give Shannon Airport an advantage over Dublin.

Reviewing development contributions as an incentive mechanism was previously referenced in the Shannon Aviation Business Development Task Force Final Report.

“At the moment we have sterilisa- tion. No one is building in the county,” he said.

In his reply Senior Planner with Clare County Council Gordan Daly said that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government issued Draft Guidelines for Planning Authorities o Development Contribution in June 2012.

“This guidance is designed to assist planning authorities to achieve, through their development contribution schemes, a balance between cost recovery for services provided and the need to support economic activity,” he said.

“The council considers that there are a number of issues that require to be addressed on a county wide basis including issues previously raised at county council meetings.

“It would be prudent to await the final guidelines to be issued by the department before the council would initiate any processes to commence a formal statutory review of the current scheme,” he added.

Cllr Kelly argued that these were merely guidelines and any decision in this respect would be made by the county manager and the council members.

TWO men who attempted to have an altered cheque lodged to a bank account in Ennis have received prison sentences.

Ondrej Pollak (23), with an address at 9A Dun na hInse, Ennis, and Peter Sivak (22), with an address at 311 Brookville, Drogheda, Louth, appeared before Ennis District Court last Wednesday.

They pleaded guilty to dishonestly by deception inducing a member of the bank’s staff to accept a fraudulently altered cheque in the amount of € 4800 to be paid to the Bank of Ireland held at Bank of Ireland, Bank Place, Ennis.

The incident occurred at Bank of Ireland, Dunleer, County Louth on May 24, 2012. Detective Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy said the cheque had been altered from its original amount of € 22.50 to € 4800.

The court heard that Ondrej Pollak supplied the account for which the altered cheque was intended while Peter Sivak lodged the cheque in Dunleer.

Both men claimed they had been approached by a man named Tony, to carry out the transaction.

Mr Pollak said Tony requested the use of the account as his own had expired. Mr Sivak said Tony asked him to lodge the cheque in Dunleer.

Both men told gardaí that Tony agreed to pay them each € 100.

Det O’Shaughnessy told the court that gardaí did not find anyone named Tony connected with the case. She said that the accused claimed Tony was either from South Africa or Nigeria. Bank of Ireland discovered the deception and contacted gardaí. No money was removed from the account. Solicitor for Mr Pollak, John Casey, told the court that his client has lived in Ireland since he was 11. He said CCTV captured Mr Pollak checking his balance at the Bank of Ireland after the deception had been uncovered.

Mr Casey added, “He was always going to get caught. It was his account, his address.”

Solicitor for Mr Sivak, Daragh Hassett told the court his client, a Czech National, has lived in Ireland since he was 13. He said the father of two was in difficult financial circumstances when he was approached by Tony.

Mr Hassett said it was indicative of his client’s amateurism that he had signed the bank lodgment slip with his own name.

Judge Patrick Durcan said the men were not hardened criminals. He said their story involved the introduction of a “most curious character named Tony.”He added, “I do not believe one word about the existence of Tony or the responsibility of Tony.” He said the men had engaged in “criminal thievery of the worst kind”.

Mr Sivak received a six month prison sentence. Mr Pollak also received a six-month sentence but had the final two months suspended. Reco gnaces were fixed in both cases in the event of appeals.

THE group charged with developing tourism in the west of the county is in limbo, as Shannon Development personnel try to find their new role in tourism, and the county council awaits news if the State body is still to take part of the West Clare Economic Task Force.

At yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of the West Clare area councillors, acting senior engineer Cyril Feeney said the area’s marketing officer had written to the body and other inter- ested groups in a bid to regroup for the coming tourism season.

“There doesn’t seem to be an appetite currently for this,” he said, adding that some organisations are involved in amalgamations and restructuring and have not replied.

“But leaving us in limbo is no good to us or ye,” he said.

The West Clare Economic Task Force is in place since 2009, and was drawn up to encourage economic and tourism development in the West Clare region.

It is made up of the council, Shannon Development and other inter- ested tourism bodies.

“I am very disappointed that the agency hasn’t come back. I think a lot of work was done up until now,” said Cllr Pat Keane (FF).

Although not all members of the Kilrush area were as convinced of the vital role the task force had played to date in developing the west.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said, “The task force has been in operation over three years and not one job has been created. We would be deluded to think we have created jobs.”

The Lissycasey man argued that the Loophead Lighthouse project, and the jobs and spin-off jobs it created was the work of Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) who made it one of his pre-election pledges.

Cllrs Christy Curtin (Ind) and Cllr Keane disagreed with Cllr Kelly, and asked that the report on the work of the task force be made public.

THE stories of three Clare girls who were sent to Magdalene Laundries in the late 1940s have been recorded as part of the McAleese report into State involvement in the laundry system, released last week.

These records, which were on the file in the archive of Clare County Council, show that the local authority, and many other regional authorities in Ireland, were part of a system of referring girls and young women into Magalene Laundries.

A Clare County Council spokesperson confirm that, up until the enactment of the 1970 Health Act, Clare County Council had some responsibility for the provision of health services in the county. This process ended with the establishment of the Regional Health Boards, which were later replaced by the HSE.

The Clare County Archive includes records from the Clare Board of Health and Public Assistance from 1915 to 1966, as well as records on the operation of the County Home and County Hospital.

There were no records in the Clare archive of girls or women who gave birth outside of marriage being referred to laundries. However, there were a number of reports of “boarded-out children” or foster children, being referred to laundries in the 1940s and 50s.

In those times, financial help to foster parents came to an end when the child turned 15.

“[There was a] frequent refusal of foster parents to provide a home for the children after the age of 15 unless the board continues to maintain them. Recently a girl of 15 was returned to the County Home by her foster parents when payments for maintenance ceased. Nothing is gained by rearing children in foster homes if they are returned to the County Home at the age of 15,” the report says.

Three Clare girls are mentioned in the report – although they are not named. The first was ordered to the Good Shephard Convent in Limerick on December 20, 1947. Records indicate that she was 17-years-old and her mother was alive at the time of admission.

She remained in the Magdalene Laundry for slightly less than two years, before she “went to a situation” or a job.

A second similar case was recorded in 1949 when the 17-year-old girl was also sent to the Good Shepherd Convent in Limerick. There was “no account of parents” for this girl who remained in the Magdalene Laundry for just over five years, at which point she went to the Magdalene Sisters in Belfast.

A third case identified in the records of Clare County Council occurred in 1950. This case involved a 16year-old-girl who was ordered to the Good Shepherd Convent on June 19, 1950. There was no record of parents for this girl, who spent almost three months at the Magdalene Laundry, before she “went to a convent”.

CLARE women were amongst the most likely in Ireland to find themselves in the care of a Magdalene Laundry, according to figures released as part of the McAleese Report published last week.

The report has identified, but not named, 261 different Clare women who each spent various lengths of time in a Magdalene Asylum or Laundry. This means that Clare had the fifth highest number of women in Magdalene facilities in the State. Only counties with much larger populations such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Tipperary had more women in Magdalene Laundries than Clare.

Indeed, the number of Clare women to have spent time in Magdalene Laundries is likely to be much higher than those presented in the report, as no details of any Clare facilities are mentioned in its findings.

This is despite claims by a large number of local people that a laundry operated in Ennis for many years during the 1940s and 1950s.

The vast majority of Clare women referred to in the report attended the Limerick City Magdalene Asylum. This facility was opened by the Good Shepherd Nuns in 1848 and contin- ued in operation until 1984. While entrants into this facility peaked on the 1930s, there was still a considerable number of girls and women being admitted to the facility in the 1970 and 1980s.

Indeed, according to the McAleese Report, a total of six women were admitted to this facility in 1981 – the last years than any new intake of women was recorded.

Members of the Magdalene Sur- vivors Together met with Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore (Lab) yesterday to discuss the McAleese Report.

Both the Justice for Magdalenes advocacy group and the London-based Irish Women’s Survivors’ Network decline to attend the meeting.

The groups are anxious that they receive an opology from the State over abuses which took place in the laundries.

THE owner of a well-known hotel has expressed concern that Ennis is falling behind other areas of the country when it comes to attracting tourists.

John Madden of the Temple Gate Hotel called yesterday for a more unified approach to the promotion of the county capital, saying that groups currently involved in the tourism sector are “not working together”.

Mr Madden said he is concerned that Ennis is losing tourists to areas such as Westport, Cork and Galway.

He said, “Are there too many organisations? I don’t know but we need to be acting and working together.”

“There is a huge push going on in Limerick at the moment and it just seems that we don’t have the same push in Clare,” he added.

Mr Madden was speaking at a meeting of Clare County Council’s Community and Enterprise, Tourism and Emergency Services, Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).

He said the recent purchase of the West County Hotel by the Treacy Group could also be a huge boost to the town.

Mr Madden said the hotel’s reputation as a conference venue would continue to be “crucial” to bringing visitors to Ennis.

He explained, “I remember a time when there were up on 19 or 20 conferences a year in Ennis.

“If the West County can be encouraged along, we can get back to that stage again.”

He continued, “We had the AllIreland Darts Championships in the West County at the weekend and the hotels were full.

“I saw families of players coming back to the hotel with bags after shopping in the town. If we can get more of that (type of business), Ennis will do well.”

Mr Madden said all groups involved in the promotion of Ennis should meet and agree on a unified approach.

Director of Service and Ennis Town Manager, Ger Dollard told the meeting that groups such as Promote Ennis are working to bring more tourists to Ennis.

However, Mr Dollard said that both Promote Ennis and the Clare Tourism Forum will have to “gear up for a new reality” when the responsibility for tourism promotion for the mid-west is transferred from Shannon Development to An Bórd Fáilte.

Mr Dollard said initiatives such as the recent Purple Flag are aimed at bringing more tourists to Ennis.

Mr Madden told the meeting that businesses are concerned over the time it is taking for responsibility for the newly independent Shannon Airport to be transferred away from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to the new board.

He said, “It hasn’t really transferred and it is a worry and the people that are going to suffer are businesses.”

He also called for Clare to be better promoted in the arrivals hall of Shannon Airport.

Mr Dollard said a two-person board has already been set up and further appointments are expected.

He said stands promoting Clare will be on view in new destinations serviced by Shannon, such as Phoenix and Washington.

Mr Dollard told the meeting that the Clare Tourism Forum will spend up to € 10,000 this year on signs at Shannon Airport. Ma n u fa c tu re rs o f Bo x P ro file Cla d d in g a n d Co rru g a te d Sh e e tin g a ls o ma n u fa c tu re rs o f No n -Drip In s u la te d Ro o fin g , All Fla s h in g s , Cla p p in g s a n d Gu tte rs e tc Sp e e d y d e live ry, ke e n e s t p ric e s fo r a ll yo u r n e e d s in Ro o fin g Ag ric u ltu ra l o r In d u s tria l

TOWN councillors from Clare’s four different authorities who plan to run for the next local election have one major fear in common, that there respective towns will be forgotten in a new larger local authority.

They say that the major driving force behind their intention to stand is to ensure that their town and the surrounding area will continue to have a voice.

“I would prefer to be standing for Shannon Town Council than Clare County Council. I think town councils have a lot to offer and I think the current situation with the councils being disbanded should be reversed,” said Shannon’s Greg Duff (Lab).

Kilrush town councillors Ian Lynch (FG) and Marian McMahon Jones (FG) know what it is like not to have town representation at county level, and it is with this in mind that they both had decided to contest a county election, even if the town councils had remained.

“It is of the up most importance that we have a strong voice from West Clare,” said Cllr McMahon Jones.

“The town of Kilrush plays a huge part in the development of West Clare. Kilrush needs a councillor on the county council to ensure that the town and West Clare are represented and the concerns and needs of the electorate served,” said Cllr Lynch.

And while Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) may be preparing to contest the county council election, he will forever be a “townie” at heart.

“Look I’m going to have to see what the results of the boundary commission are but I would be intending to go. I would like to see people from the town have someone from the town to vote for. You could have people running that wouldn’t be inclined to have the same love for the town as a townie. I’d be inclined to run just to give people in the town a chance to vote for a townie,” he said.

Cllr Michael Fleming (FG) is keen to represent his town and area but realized getting the opportunity will not be easy.

“It is going to be difficult for anyone to get elected to these new municipal districts, but for people like me who contested their first election in 2009 it is going to be even harder. But despite that I am willing to throw my hat into the ring. I would be a lot happier to run for Shannon Town Council and not this new district,” he said.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny and Minister for the Environment and Local Government Phil Hogan are not wanted in Ennis to officially launch the groundbreaking ‘Ennis Town Hub Framework’ document that has been drafted by Ennis Town Council in conjunction with the University of Limerick.

This move was heralded at the monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council on Monday when the fourtime Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle, railed against giving the Taoiseach and his frontline minister a platform in the county town, while at the same time they’re putting legislation through the Dáil to disband town councils.

“I can honestly say that to have a Taoiseach down here, who tells his own TDs what way to think and what way to vote, troubles me,” said Cllr Michael Guilfoyle in rallying support against have the Taoiseach launch the Ennis Town Council blueprint.

“To have a Taoiseach down here, who to me doesn’t have his finger on the pulse, is wrong. To bring down the Taoiseach and to hear him take the credit – a Taoiseach that’s trying to put us out and not give a voice for the people of the country and this town, I’d be against this motion. I’d support this motion if you take out the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment,” he added.

Cllr Guilfoyle was supported by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind) and Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind), who proposed that the Mayor of Ennis launch the plan at a date later this month.

“It was commissioned by Ennis Town Council and it was paid for by Ennis Town Council and the mayor should launch it,” said Cllr Brennan.

Following the intervention of the Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine, who said he “didn’t wish to insult the office of Taoiseach”, it was agreed that both the Taoiseach and Minister for the Environment would be invited to attend the launch, but not to perform at the launch which is being timed to coincide with the 400th year anniversary of the formation of the borough of Ennis.

THE long-running industrial dispute at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Centre came to an end last Thursday when the Cliffs of Moher Limited announced it had come to an agreement with its SIPTU employees.

The agreement brings to an end more than five years of unrest at the North Clare tourist attraction, which has seen strike action being taken on two occasions, including in 2011 when a visit to the Cliffs by Ireland soccer manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, was cancelled because of a picket on the site.

The dispute centred on the terms and conditions of the SIPTU employees on the site, who have been seeking to have their terms of employment made equal to local authority workers.

The Cliffs of Moher is an independent limited company, owned by Clare County Council.

“This positive development now allows the company and its employees to fully focus our combined efforts on delivering a world-class visitor experience in what is a very important year for tourism,” said Katherine Webster, General Manager at the Cliffs of Moher Centre.

“I am particularly pleased that the proposals now being implemented allow us to retain our full staff complement which, at the peak season in 2012, stood at 56 employees.”

Director of Services at Clare County Council and Director of Cliffs of Moher Centre Ltd, Ger Dollard said he was delighted that the situation had been resolved.

“Our most recent conciliation conference in December 2012, which was facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission, ended without a resolution despite a fair and constructive formal offer being made to SIPTU on behalf of its members. The union negotiators rejected this offer,” he said.

“The company in mid-January advised the Labour Court that it proposed, in any event, to proceed with the implementation of the offer from Friday, February 1.

“The company received notification from SIPTU that the offer had now been accepted by the members. The company is delighted that the arrangements now being implemented take account of the financial circumstances of the business as verified by independent financial consultants appointed under the auspices of the Labour Court,” he added.