Category: News

PRESSURE is mounting on Iarnród Éireann to deliver a “dramatic improvement” in passenger numbers on the Ennis to Galway section of the Western Rail Corridor or they could face the consequences, including a possible reduction of services on the line. This was the thinly veiled threat made by the Minister for Public and Commuter Transport, Alan Kelly (FG), last Thursday when he expressed his concerns over the future of the € 100 million project.

The Ennis to Galway section of the line has so far failed to capture the type of passenger numbers seen on the Ennis to Limerick services and is now understood to be under threat as future cuts to services are announced by the rail provider.

A small increase in passenger num- bers has been recorded in recent months and it is hoped that further improvements expected on the line in the months ahead may boost passenger numbers further.

These improvements include the creation of new stations at Crusheen and Oranmore, as well as the introduction of online booking and special online fares.

Speaking last Thursday, Minister Kelly said that the costs associated with the service meant that there was a clear need to improve passenger numbers. He also expressed his hope that the new commercial plan currently being drawn up by Iarnród Éireann would encourage people to use the service more.

Minister Kelly said that it would not be his choice to close any rail lines, but there were “concerns” about the usage of a number of passenger lines on the network.

A PERSON living in Clare is 10 times more likely to die by suicide than on our county roads, yet preventing death by suicide seems to be way down the Government’s list of priorities when it comes to funding.

There is just one resource officer for suicide prevention in the midwest region – looking after three counties including Clare.

This professional with a vast wealth of experience is described by HSE area manager Bernard Gloster as “one of the HSE’s most valuable resources”.

However those dealing with people at risk of suicide on a daily basis say more resources are needed.

Concerns have already been raised that the psychiatric nurse specialising in assessing patients out of hours is often redeployed due to staffing issues in other areas of the mid-west region’s hospitals.

Now Pieta House say that not only should that specialist nurse not be redeployed, but more are needed.

As the recession eats more into public funding, figures suggest that there are also more people at risk of suicide, as life gets significantly more difficult.

The Samaritans in Clare receive more than 40 calls in confidence every day from people in crisis.

The organisation, which receives no Government funding and is manned by up to 100 volunteers in Clare, also met in confidence with 295 people face to face last year.

The newly-appointed director of the local branch said that the numbers of calls have increased significantly since the recession.

“Everyone is different. Some peo- ple are very anxious, distressed, lonely, in financial difficulties or have relationship problems,” she said.

Pieta House – the suicide and selfharm crisis centre – receives just 15 per cent funding from the Government.

Tom McEvoy, Funding and Advocacy Department, for the organisation in the mid-west said that the charity is being strongly supported by the community, an indication of how much the service is needed.

Pieta House is to open four more houses in the coming year, bring- ing the number of houses to nine. However more needs to be done at national level to tackle the issue, according to former psychiatric nurse and member of the HSE West Health Forum Cllr Tom McNamara.

“We are going to have to take it on the same way as we tackled the road deaths.

“There are more people loosing their lives through suicide than ever died through the road deaths,” he said. The councillor said that an organisation similar to the Road Safety Authority needs to me employed to deal with the issue.

PIETA House Mid West is helping children as young as eight and people in their eighties from Clare in the battle against suicide and self harm. Tom McEvoy, Funding and Advocacy Department, with the suicide and self-harm crisis centre in the mid-west area said 659 people were helped by the service in Limerick last year. A further 100 family members were also counselled at the centre. Mr McEvoy said the significant increase in the number of people seeking assistance could be attributed to growing awareness of the organisation, but added that there is also a huge increase in the number of people requiring help. The majority of those needing assistance are young men aged 15 to 26 years old, supporting the statistic that 25 per cent of deaths among this age group is by suicide. Pieta House is targeting this demographic this year through a pilot project with the GAA in Limerick and a Mind Our Men campaign throughout the mid-west. “We are going through a male crisis in the country at the moment. We are particularly interested in reducing male suicide this year,” he said. Mr McEvoy explained that 90 per cent of calls made to Pieta House is by a mother, sister, partner or female friend of a man in crisis. “Women are better talkers and better at spotting issues,” he said. The Pieta employee, based in Ennis, advised however that if someone is calling Pieta House they should do so with the full knowledge of the person they are calling for. “If you think someone is suicidal ask them once the moment is right or you have an opportunity,” he said.

“Often people need to be asked if they are all right or need help,” he added.

“It is all about talking – male to male, male to female,” he said.

The prevention and intervention service continues to fundraise for its life-saving services in the Clare area.

The organisation is currently looking for volunteers to take part in its national bag pack on February 15 and 16 at Tesco in Kilrush and Ennis.

The flagship event – Darkness into Light walk – will take part in Lees Road on May 11.

More than 1,200 people took part in the Clare event last year.

“The community aspect of our ethos is our strength. We are reliant on the community to keep Pieta House open,” explained Mr McEvoy.

Those wishing to volunteer during the fundraisers can contact Tom on 087 2430700 or through tom@pieta. ie.

If you need to contact Pieta House Mid West urgently call 061 484444.

CLARE County Council is to seek compensation from the source of the massive oil spill on the N18 on Friday evening, resulting in commuters and motorists sitting in traffic for up to six hours.

When the local authority workers attended the scene of the spill on the northbound side of the dual carriageway between Setright’s Cross and Sixmilebridge late in the afternoon, they sprayed it with “road bio” to neutralise the spillage.

“It did not work on this occasion; for whatever reason, the oil seemed more potent,” explained County Engineer Tom Tiernan.

The council workers then doubled the concentration of the neutralising bio, but this still did not work.

“We decided it was not safe at around 6pm or 6.30pm and closed the road,” explained the county’s most senior engineer.

The fire service and council workers from the Shannon area continued to work on what is considered “one of the busiest sections of road in the west” until 11pm when one lane of the dual carriageway was reopened.

They returned to the scene on Saturday morning and continued working until both lanes were considered safe for road users again.

The cost of the clean-up is believed to have cost the council thousands of euro, and it will be seeking recompense.

On Friday night, detours through Sixmilebridge were described as a “fiasco” by motorists, with others critical of the lack of early information on the traffic delay.

One mother of two from Ennis told The Clare People how she was forced to sit in traffic for three hours with her two children during a journey home from Dublin.

“When I looked back on it afterwards, I couldn’t believe that they took our money at the toll and said absolutely nothing as they let us onto the packed motorway,” she said.

“If we had been warned, we could have diverted via Killaloe, as could many others, I’m sure, easing the congestion somewhat.”

The Waterford Crystal hurling semi final in Sixmilebridge on Friday night between Clare and Cork was delayed by 50 minutes as a result of the oil spill.

Some of the Cork team took five hours to reach the venue, nine of their players being trapped in static traffic on the N18 motorway.

CLARE is losing over 10 times more people to suicide than to road deaths, and those working at the cold face of local mental health services say we are in the midst of a crisis that needs to be addressed urgently.

As many as 23 cases relating to people taking their own lives were listed before the coroners court in Clare last year. Not all cases were certified as suicide, with a number of open verdicts recorded and three of these cases still have to be heard.

Of those deaths, more than half of the deceased were in their 30s and 40s, bucking national trends which point to young men aged 15 to 26 years old as most in danger.

A total of 17 of the cases before the coroners court related to men.

Among the deaths were 13 hangings, four drownings and four deaths at the popular tourist destination the Cliffs of Moher.

Mental health workers in Clare told The Clare People that the recession has had an impact on the mental health crisis, with unemployed men, older isolated people and young men of particular concern.

It is also accepted that the number of people seeking help is on the up, but so too is the number of people dying by suicide.

There were 15,845 calls to the Smaarathans in Clare last year, that is as many as 305 every week.

Tom McEvoy from Pieta Mid West said the number of Clare people seeking assistance from the suicide crisis centre doubled in the last year.

In 2011 358 people were helped by the organisation based in Limerick. As many as 16 per cent of these people were from Clare.

Last year that number had jumped to 659 people, More than 100 of these people seeking urgent help were from Clare.

KILRUSH Town Council is expected to have a new member at its monthly meeting on February 12, as Fianna Fáil hosts a convention to select a candidate to replace the late Cllr Stephen O’Gorman on Sunday evening.

Two names have already gone forward to be considered at the convention, to be held in the Haven Arms, Kilrush.

Former town councillor Christy O’Malley is to return to contest the seat, as will university student Em- met Greaney.

Mr O’Malley, a former garda sergeant, previously served on the council until he lost his seat in the 2009 local elections.

The former chairman of the council also served as chairman of the Kilrush Special Olympics Committee when Kilrush Town hosted the Georgia Republic in 2003.

A member of the local Cumann, Mr Greaney is new to elected politics.

He is currently a postgraduate law student at the National University College Galway, and he signed up as a member of Ógra Fianna Fáil locally at just 14 years old and be- came very active in the party when he went to college.

It is possible that more candidates will enter the race before Sunday but, if not, members of the party locally will have to decide who they feel is best to take up a position on the town council between the two nominees.

Cllr O’Gorman passed away in December, leaving a vacant seat in the council chamber.

His party members are now required to fill that position, and next week either Mr O’Malley or Mr Greaney are likely to be seconded on to the council for its last ever term.

THE HSE has moved to reassure Clare mothers to be that it has improved hygiene standards at the region’s maternity hospital following an unannounced HIQA report last November. The report, published last week, pointed to areas that could be improved upon in the Mid Western Regional Maternity, Limerick, including the management of waste. The health care watchdog was also concerned that the level of compliance with hand hygiene practices in the hospital posed a risk to patients. It added however that, “During the course of the monitoring assessment, the authority did not identify any im- mediate serious risks to the health and welfare of patients receiving care in the areas assessed at Mid Western Regional Maternity Hospital.” In a statement, the hospital said it acknowledged significant improvement in the area of hygiene was required and it was fully committed to ensuring that it achieve the necessary improvement. “Despite much emphasis on hand hygiene in our hospital, we are disappointed that we were observed to have suboptimal levels of hand hygiene compliance on the day in question (November 7). “Since the audit, much work has been ongoing in this area,” a spokesperson said. Since the audit, all staff trained in the delivery of hand hygiene training have had refresher and update training and an updated training plan is also in place for 2013. “This enhanced training will be further strengthened in February when it is planned to ‘blitz’ hand hygiene compliance throughout the hospital,” added the spokesperson. “A technical assessment of all our clinical handwash sinks is being undertaken with a view to prioritising non-compliant sinks for immediate replacement.” Senior Midwifery Management are also said to be approaching hand hygiene with a new vigour from the perspective of patient advocacy with a hand hygiene culture shift also expected among clinicians at all levels. Tue05February13

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.

A FORMER judo instructor yesterday received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of indecent assault. Thomas Waters (68), with an address at Moore Street, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to the offences at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court.

The charges related to offences committed between April 1979 and March 1981. The court heard that Waters assaulted the boy, who was a member of his judo club in Ennis.

The abuse started when the boy was aged nine and consisted of the accused masturbating the victim and digitally penetrating his anus.

Sergeant Catriona Houlihan, who led the investigation of the case, told the court that the boy was also as saulted and shown pornographic material during an orienteering trip to Cratloe Wood.

The court heard that after the boy asked Thomas Waters to stop, he told him he would if the boy got his younger brother to take his place.

The victim made a full statement of complaint to gardaí in July 2011. Reading from a Victim Impact Statement, the man told the court that he was seduced by the image of Waters as a “strong and powerful man”. He added, “To me, he was the equivalent of Bruce Lee.”

The man said the abuse had a negative impact on his education and that he was prescribed anti-depressant medication at an early age. He told the court that he had “deep feelings of guilt and shame” for denying to his parents that Thomas Waters abused him.

The man said he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and finds it difficult to be in group situations. He said he would like to re-enter education but had been unable to do so.

He said, “This is a life sentence which I began as a child.” The man told the court that he did not want an apology as it would only be “insulting”. He thanked the Ennis Rape Crisis Centre, SHINE and the gardaí for the support they had given him.

Counsel for Waters, Mark Nicholas BL, told the court that the victim had been subject to a “series of outrageous activity which rightfully outrage people and rob people of their childhood.”

He urged the court to consider the accused’s behaviour in the intervening years and his guilty plea. Mr Waters is currently serving a four-year sentence for indecent assault.

Judge Carroll Moran said the accused’s guilty plea is important as it is an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and avoids imposing additional trauma on the victim. He said the fact that the nature of the abuse was of a continuous nature was “very serious”.

He imposed a two-year sentence, concurrent on all counts, to be served consecutively on the expiration of the sentence now being served. Tue05February13