Category: News

A SPATE of aggravated burglaries targetting elderly people living in the West Clare area is causing huge concern in the community, as gardaí believe the culprits have local knowledge of their victims.

In a latest attack, two elderly brothers were targetted in their home in Lack West Kilmihil during the weekend before Christmas.

At least two intruders, yielding iron bars, broke into the frightened men’s home between 2am and 3.25am on Saturday, December 22.

They terrorised the elderly occupants and forced them to hand over what is considered to be a sizeable amount of money. The thugs then fled in a car.

The only description available to the gardaí of the intruders was “that they were big”.

“A car with a loud exhaust was heard near the scene at the time,” a garda spokesperson said.

This crime was very similar to burglaries committed in Moyasta on December 8 and in Boolyneaska Kilmaley on December 6. Again, older people were targetted and robbed.

In the Moyasta incident, three individuals broke into the farmhouse of two elderly sisters and demanded money.

The trio broke down the door of the rural house in Kildymo, Bansha, near the seaside town of Kilkee, between 10.30pm and 11.30pm on December 8 and entered the premises where the women had lived all of their lives.

A frightening ordeal then began for the two ladies in their 80s as the robbers ripped the phone from the wall and demanded money from them.

There was very little money in the house and the thugs eventually got away with a small amount of cash from the old age pensioners’ purses.

The three who had targeted the two vulnerable older women in their own home covered their faces during the robbery. Gardaí believe there may be a connection between at least two of the three burglaries.

They are appealing for anyone with any information to contact them at Kilrush and Ennis Garda Stations.

“A substantial amount of money was taken in the latest crime. We believe the culprits in this case had local knowledge as all houses are off the main roads and in relatively isolated areas.

“These criminals are now flush with money and we are sure they are going to spend it,” said the garda spokesperson.

Meanwhile, a file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution in the case of an aggrivated burglary on the occupants of an isolated house between the Kilrush road and Kilmurry McMahon on September 21.

Gardaí arrested three men less than an hour after they were suspected of robbing an elderly woman and her family at knifepoint in their West Clare home. The elderly woman has since passed away.

THREE Junior Certificate students from Ennis were hailed as heroines by Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin after their quick thinking helped save the life of a woman who got into difficulty after going into the River Fergus to retrieve her dog.

Rice College students Ellen McMahon (15), Aisling O’Sullivan (15) and Eve Copley (15) came to the rescue of a woman, who hasn’t been identified, who was out walking her dog one June evening near Steele’s Rock in the Lifford area the town.

“The three of us were walking past at about 7.15pm, having been up town for something to eat after our Business Studies exam,” revealed Ms McMahon. “When we were passing, the woman was standing behind the wall and the dog was on the steps at Steele’s Rock. We walked on a bit and, when we looked back, the dog was being dragged downstream and the woman had moved to the steps and was calling him.

“Then she went in after the dog and was taken away by the flow of the water down towards the FBD offices. She was very tired because she had swum out to get the dog and the current was so strong there was no way she would have been able to swim back to the steps,” she added.

The three students quickly raced back to get the lifebuoy that’s located near Steele’s Rock and came to the aid of the woman, who was getting into difficulty.

“She had a hold of the dog and we raced up got the lifebuoy and threw it in to her and slowly dragged her in. We didn’t get her name because, after being soaked to the skin, she got a drive home from a passing motorist,” revealed Ms McMahon.

“Their quick thinking helped save that woman’s life,” Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin told The Clare People . “It just shows the importance of lifebuoys,” he added, “because sometimes they get vandalised and the people who do that can cost a life. Luckily in this case, it was there and the girls were able to use it and come to the rescue of the woman.”

PLANS to construct a massive Rotterdam-style transshipment port at Kilrush were lodged with an Bord Pleanála in December.

The multi-million euro project has been earmarked for banks of reclaimed land adjacent to the Moneypoint Power Station and could create hundreds of sustainable jobs locally if successful and transform the area into one of Europe’s largest freight ports.

The Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company lodged papers with the national planning authority seeking to have the development classified as a Strategic Industrial Development (SID).

The deep waters of the Shannon Estuary would allow larger vessels from America and Asia to unload massive volumes of cargo in the area – which would then be transferred to smaller ships and brought to shallow ports in other parts of Europe.

The 16-metre water depths on the Shannon is rivalled only by Rotterdam in Holland. The Dutch port employs well over a hundred thousand people directly and indirectly around the Europort facility, the biggest in Europe and currently operating at full capacity.

A Spokesperson from An Bord Pleanála said a meeting with the Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company would likely take place in January but could not confirm any details about the specifics of the proposed port.

If the facility is deemed to be of strategic national importance, An Bord Pleanála will give it SID status – which means than a decision on planning will be made by them and not by Clare County Council.

The application was made by the Shannon Container Transshipment Port Company – who are not currently listed with the Irish Company Registrations Office (CRO).

The Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC), who had previously examined the possibility of creating its own deep water transshipment facility in the Shannon Estuary, confirmed yesterday that the application had not been made by them.

A spokesperson said that that the organisation had “no comment” to make on the proposal currently before an Bord Pleanála but did say that the company would assist “any marine or shipping related projects” in the area of the estuary.

In 2004, the Shannon Foynes Port The Shannon based Atlantic Way group commissioned a feasibility study on a deep water port in the Shannon Estuary in 2009. That report, conducted by international expert Dr John Martin, indicated a massive demand for a deep mater port to service shallow ports across Europe.

Speaking on behalf of Atlantic Way yesterday, former chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, Brian O’Connell, said that his organisation were not responsible for the application to An Bord Pleanála.

A NEW future of Shannon Airport began to emerge in January with the confirmation by the Minister for the Transport, Leo Varadkar (FG), the airport would remain in state ownership and will not be sold off as part any fire-sale of state assets.

The minister also indicated that any decision on the future of Shannon Airport would have implications for the workers at Shannon, saying that the company “should not be run in the interest of the workers”.

This ruled out the possibility of an all-out privatisation of the airport and the idea of extending a long-term lease, or between 30 and 50 years, to the property sector. Clare County Council welcomed the development saying that it opened the door for the council to have a larger role in the operation of Shannon Airport.

“It is intended that the airports will stay in public ownership but that is not to say that there cannot be private sector investment and involvement in the airports in a way that is not the case currently,” said Minister Varadkar.

“Shannon Airport has a great future as a passenger airport but also as one which is concerned with avionics and aero-industry but the status quo there is not working and the airport is in decline, which is why we need to have a change of policy in that regard.”

The minister was speaking after receiving the Booz report, the findings of which would not be made public until later in the year.

Clare County Council said the news was a step in the right direction.

“Recent comments made by Minister Varadkar concur with the council’s own views. The comments also are in line with the detailed submission made by the council to Booz & Company during 2011. We look forward to playing a key role in the progression of a new framework for Shannon Airport,” said a council spokesperson.

As the year rolled on, it became clear that a separately operated Shannon Airport, with full independence from the Dublin Airport Authority, was the government plan. Shannon Airport officially decoupled from the Dublin Airport Authority later on December 31, 2012, and a new entity, currently called NEWCO, comprising Shannon Airport and parts of Shannon Development will be created.

HOUSEHOLDERS in Clare are being exposed to radiation doses that are the equivalent of having three chest x-rays a day, a shocking new study conducted by the Radiological Protection Institute (RPII) of Ireland and released in July revealed.

The statistic emerged from a new radon investigation in the county, which found that one in five homes tested by the RPII registered high levels of the gas, with a number of dwellings in the county containing over five times the acceptable levels of exposure to the cancer-causing substance.

And, the findings revealed that the county capital of Ennis was the county’s chief radon blackspot, which prompted the RPII to sound out new appeal on all householders to carry out radon tests on their dwellings.

“It is a serious problem,” an RPII spokesperson told The Clare People, “because 11 homes in the county have been identified as having radon gas levels above the acceptable levels in the past five months”.

Two homes in Ennis had up to five times the acceptable levels of the gas, while another six in the county capital as well as two in Clarecastle and one in Tubber levels up to three times the acceptable level.

“Tens of thousands of homeowners in Clare have yet to test for radon and among them are many hundreds that are unknowingly living with a high risk to their family’s health,” said RPII scientist Stephanie Long.

“Only a small fraction of homes in Clare have been tested for radon. Our research shows that, of those that have already tested, there is a large percentage with high radon levels and so we are urging homeowners to take the radon test.

“It is really important for people to test their home for radon as this is the only way of knowing if your family is exposed to this cancercausing gas,” she added.

Radon is the second biggest cause of lung cancer after smoking and is directly linked to up to 200 lung cancer deaths each year.

A MAJOR shake-up in the way that policing is operated in Clare was announced in December with the news that eight Garda Stations were to close around the county.

Stations in rural areas such as Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda were named for closure while it was also announced that both Ennistymon and Killaloe District Garda Headquarters will be downgraded.

Former Superintendent, Frank Guthrie, who is now involved with the Inagh Housing Association said that there was some concern in the village about the new arrangement.

“A lot of people, especially older people, favour the old-style policing and confiding in their local garda. They felt safe. The meeting is really to see how this will be dealt with,” he said following the news.

The changes will see the garda serving in Quin reassigned to Ennis, the gardaí in Inagh and Lahinch moved to Ennistymon, the Broadford garda will now be based in Ardnacrusha, the Mountshannon garda will be based in Killaloe and the Doonbeg garda will be working out of Kilrush Garda Station.

Labasheeda and Doonbeg stations were provided with a garda from Kilrush every weekday from 10am to 1pm and at the weekend from noon until 2pm. These stations will also close.

The Chairperson of the Lahinch Community Council welcomed the closure of Lahinch Garda Station, saying the station was already “virtually closed” and the town would be better served from Ennistymon.

Donogh O’Loghlin believes that the closure of Lahinch Garda Station will not have an effect on the safety of the local population.

“I am not really concerned by the closure of the station. It is a beautiful building but I think it has been more or less closed for years already,” he said.

“It should have been closed years ago really. The local people here don’t have any idea when there will be a garda present in the station or not, so what is the point of having it there? There are 30 guards stationed just two miles out the road in Ennistymon. That should be enough.”

Clare Labour Party National Executive Member Seamus Ryan called on the Government to rethink the course of action.

“While the Commissioner is operating under the same financial constraints as so many people and the Government, it is short-sighted on the part of the force to abandon these facilities in favour of patrols and cover from other stations, some of which are up to 20km away and are themselves part-time and up to 25km to a 24-hour station for communities like Mountshannon,” he said.

CLARE County Council voted unanimously to place an explicit ban on hydraulic fracturing or fracking in the Clare County Development Plan at the January meeting of the local authority.

More than 50 West Clare residents and members of the Clare Fracking Concerned group packed the public gallery of Clare County Council for the meeting to express their support for moves by the elected members of the local authority to ban fracking in Clare.

Despite a number of procedural objects from the executive of Clare County Council, the councillors voted unanimously to amend the County Development Plan to specifically ban fracking – making Clare the first county in Ireland to take such a step.

Councillors also voted unanimously to write to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbittee (LAB) asking that the process of fracking be banned in Clare.

This follows a motion put forward by West Clare councillor Gabriel Keating (FF) calling for a ban to fracking in Clare.

Speak on the proposal Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that fracking was “raping the natural environment” for the benefit of “gamblers” in the petroleum industry.

“I say this as a land owner but in reality we don’t own the land, we hold it in trust for the next generation. It is bad enough that we have managed to bankrupt the next generation never mind poisoning the land as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a separate motion, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) criticised what he described as a lack of support from the executive of Clare County Council to change the County Development Plan to include a specific ban on fracking.

“We need to put into action the words that we have said today. I completely reject the directions coming from the executive of Clare County Council regarding the change of the County Development Plan – I reject this out of hand,” said .

“This actions bring Clare into the spotlight of the petroleum industry’s attempts to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Clare is the bottom of the barrel for these people. We have an opportunity to send a clear signal that we are not willing to participate and sit idly by.”

Despite the unanimous vote of Clare County Council, the County Development plan had not been altered with council official stating that to include an explicit ban on any activity in not within the scope of a development plan.

SHANNON’S ability to be transformed into a strategic freight logistics hub that would have direct connections to some of the world’s global logistics centres was highlighted following a major think-tank that took place in London in July.

The Mid West Regional Authority (MWRA) and the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) sounded out Shannon’s potential after meeting with international freight logistics experts in London this week to promote the mid-west region as a strategically located and sustainable freight logistics hub.

Through its participation in the EU co-funded Weastflows project, the MWRA chaired the meeting in London to discuss methods to promote the major North West European freight Gateways in terms of their connectivity to other European Gateways and onwards to the major global logistics hubs in the United States and Asia.

“The importance of an effective and well-managed Gateway for freight movements cannot be overstated for a peripheral European region, such as the mid-west,” explained Liam Conneally, Director of the MWRA.

“The Limerick-Shannon Gateway is at the heart of the region and is an important contributor to the economic development of the mid-west. Ireland’s exports continue to rise in 2012, despite the challenges faced by our key export markets, and our exporters rely on an efficient transport system to move their products within the North West Europe area and beyond.

“Furthermore, if Ireland is to meet its commitments in terms of reducing CO2 emissions, the region needs to learn the best methods for en- couraging modal shifts from road to more sustainable forms of freight transport,” he added. “The Weastflows project is seeking to improve and enhance freight logistics in North West Europe on a West-East axis. The project brings together experts from all sectors of the freight industry to work towards connecting and improving sustainable supply chains for the movement of freight. During the recent meeting in the UK, the MWRA promoted the LimerickShannon gateway, which as the most western gateway in the project has a key location for freight movements.”

Linda Newport, EU Projects Officer with MWRA, explained that the benefits for the mid-west region in participating in the Weastflows project include an opportunity to improve the connectivity from the region to the major North West Europe transport corridors, as well as an opportunity to test out the latest in innovative approaches to freight transportation via participation in pilot projects.

“The mid-west region is strategically located on the west coast of Ireland and is an important logistics hub in Ireland with the Shannon Estuary and Shannon International Airport. The Limerick-Shannon gateway is at the heart of the region and is an important contributor to the economic development of the region.

“Through our participation in the Weastflows project, the MWRA will work with the Irish Exporters Association and other partners to establish the Limerick-Shannon gateway as a sustainable gateway and improve links with the Seine gateway, the Liverpool-Manchester gateway and the London-Thames gateway, among others. It is anticipated that the results of the project will feed into the regional planning processes,” she added.

SHANNON Airport’s status as a stopover point for world leaders from President John F Kennedy to Mikail Gorbachev to Barack Obama has been showcased once more with release of the State Papers from 1982.

The papers released under the 30year rule show that Cuban leader Fidel Castro passed through that year, creating the possibility for what could have been one of the more unlikely summit meetings in Irish history.

All because when passing through Shannon, Castro left a gift for Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The documents show that the Cuban president stopped off at Shannon Airport in late 1982, probably en route from Moscow after attending the funeral of USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Haughey wrote a private letter to the Cuban president on 9 December, 1982 – one of the final acts he performed during his term as Taoiseach in that government – to thank him for the gift Castro had left for him.

An election in November had seen Fine Gael and Labour form a coalition and Garrett Fitzgerald took over from Haughey as Taoiseach on 14 December, just five days after the letter was written.

In the letter, Haughey thanked Castro for the “magnificent gift” of cigars and a casket which the Cuban leader left for the Taoiseach during the stopover.

“The hand-carved casket is most impressive and the cigars will be greatly enjoyed by my family and friends at Christmas,” Haughey told Castro.

Given the differences in political philosophies between the two men and Cold War tensions at the time, it is somewhat surprising how eager Haughey seemed to be to meet with the socialist leader, telling him:

Please accept my apologies that I could not be there to greet you in person but I hope that we can meet on some future occasion.

The letter ends with Haughey expressing his “warm personal regards” for the Cuban leader.

THE future viability of smaller nursing homes in Clare was called into question in January following the leaking of plans by the government to move a number of publiclyowned nursing homes into semi-private ownership.

Fears were raised that the Minister for Health, James Reilly (FG) planned to effectively force smaller nursing homes, with under 50 beds, into funding their own existence and not be grant aided each year by HSE funds.

This news prompted fears for homes such Ennistymon and Ra- heen, which have 22 and 33 beds respectively, that the local communities would be forced to take over the running of nursing home units from the HSE.

The news came fast after a number of drastic cuts in the number of HSE nursing home beds in the county in recent years.

St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis has borne the brunt of these cutbacks, with bed numbers slashed from 270 down to the current number of 166 over the past three years.

And a Government commitment to close up to 900 community nursing home beds over the course of the year led to fears being expressed that a number of nursing homes in the county could be closed, forcing them down the privatisation route as the only feasible way to keep their doors open.

Regional Health Forum West member, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) blasted any privatisation plans, saying that “the onus is on the Government to keep as many community care beds as possible”.

“A level of service has to be maintained,” he says, “and you can’t compromise on that. It will be hard for the public to support privatisation when that means beds will be about making profit.”

Speaking at the time, Tomsie O’Sullivan of the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital, said that many local community groups would not be able to cope if the proposals put forward by the health minister lead to a greater funding burden being placed on the local community.

“There is not a hope that we would be able to cope [if the recommendations from Minister O’Reilly come into force].

“We are in ongoing talks with HSE West in relation to the future of Ennistymon Community Hospital,” he said in January.

“The cutbacks will make it very difficult but we have been in very difficult situations before. And the way that we got out of those situations was through communication from all sides.”