Category: News

NEWS that smoking on the grounds of the Mid West Regional Hospital in Ennis was to become a thing of the past came to light in March.

At a HSE meeting in March, it was revealed that visitors and patients alike would have to have to leave the hospital campus and walk to the public roadside if they planned to light up a cigarette.

This is despite the purpose-built covered shelter which is in place for smokers on the grounds and just yards from the main entrance of the Ennis hospital, smokers will have to leave the hospital grounds to light up according to new regulations.

The new regulation raises the distinct possibility of patients in dressing gowns, pyjamas and fluffy slippers being visible to passing traffic and the elements if they decided to smoke.

From May 1, all hospitals in the mid- west, including the maternity hospital in Limerick, became smokefree, following in the footsteps of other HSE West hospitals.

But not everyone is a fan of the new regulations that must be imposed in all Irish hospitals by 2015.

Chairman of the HSE West, Pád- raig Conneely (FG) asked if the HSE had gone a step too far by banning smoking on all hospital campuses.

“How are you going to stop people outside accident and emergency in an inebriated state who are smoking, or a person dealing with a tragedy who wants to go outside to smoke?” he asked at the time.

According to figures released at the time, the annual security costs at the Ennis facility are € 34,000.

Clare representative to the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said he agreed with the policy, but raised concerns about hospitals like the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis, which has a psychiatric unit.

“It is more than a dependency for people with psychiatric problems,” he said.

He also asked if the HSE planned to extend the practice of allowing unhealthy behaviour on campus, by ceasing to sell sugary foods in its hospital shops, given the rise in typetwo diabetes.

Fellow Clare representative Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) asked about the size of the hospital campus and was told it was a 150-acre site.

“If there were 1, 500 acres, would you have the same rules? Where does it stop?” he asked.

HOUSE values in Clare have more than halved over the past five years as the unprecedented property price crash continues unabated in every corner of the county, The Clare People revealed in October.

This is one of the key statistics contained in a new report published early in the month, which claimed that the prices for houses across a range of sizes in the county have plummetted by just under 53 per cent since the peak of the property price boom back in 2006/2007.

The claim was made by Daft.ie in its latest House Price Report. The study for the third quarter of 2012 has shown the continued acceleration of the property crash in the county, even though it is running at a slower rate than the rest of the province apart from Limerick City.

The average price of a house in Clare in October was € 144, 524, which translated into at 52.9 per cent drop from the peak of € 306,845.

These latest figures. produced by Daft.ie economist Dr Paraic Kenna of NUI Galway. showed that there had been a quarterly fall of 4.8 per cent in the county’s house prices and a drop 19.5 per cent in the past year – this is the biggest year-on-year drop since that property crash started to kick in back in 2008.

Prices in Munster outside the cities fell by 6.8 per cent between June and September, the largest quarterly fall since the crash started.

In Munster, only Limerick County, Tipperary and Waterford City now have lower average houses prices than Clare.

Daft.ie also gave a breakdown of the new average asking prices of housing units in the county, which graphically illustrated the extent of the property crash over the past five years.

The asking price for a one and twobedroom units was € 83,000.

This figures rose to € 124,000 for a three-bedroomed house, € 191,000 for a four-bedroomed house and € 223,000 for a five-bedroomed house.

THE FIRST meeting of Ireland’s newest political party, the Irish Citizens Party, took place in Ennis in April.

The party, which was founded by West Clare man, Jim Connolly, has styled itself as a humanitarian party which promises a number of “radical ideas” on how to approach the future of Ireland.

Mr Connolly, who has ran both as an Independent and Labour candidate in previous elections, says he will not be putting his name forward for election again, but says that he hopes to have a number of candidates in Clare and other counties in time for the local election in 2014.

“I will extend an open invitation to everyone who wants to attend that meeting. There will be no membership fees charged, nothing like that. The meeting will be about throwing the idea of the party around and seeing what people think of it,” he said before the April meeting.

“I need people to get involved for this to progress. This is entirely people-orientated but there are a lot of radical proposals to it that people may need time to absorb.

“In my view, there is no alternative but to go back to basic humanitarian values, and a system based on rules that the people are happy to live under. I have decided to launch this party long in advance of any election. I have declared that I will not be running again for politics. I think there is need for this party, but it is the party itself that will select the candidates and I won’t be one of them.

“What I am bringing is the drive to set it up but also I have a track record for setting up organisations that work. This is not for financial gain or any other motivation like that; this is about me trying to respond to what is going on in Ireland over the next few years, however long I am alive. I want to combat what has been hap- pened and where it is going.”

Mr Connolly, who is also the founder of the Rural Resettlement Ireland and the man behind the Open Fairs – which are designed to promote new small businesses – believes that his party can spread beyond Clare before the 2014 local election. Wed02January13

CLARE is now a more Catholic county that it has been in 110 years but there are also rising numbers of people devoted to other religions in the county, as well as a huge increase among those who don’t believe in any religion at all.

The latest report released on the 2011 National Census of Population by the Central Statistics Office in October revealed that, for the first time since 1901, there are more than 100,000 people who are classed as Roman Catholic living in the county.

The newly released census figures show that there are 101,984 people of Roman Catholic religion in the county – the last time the figures topped the 100,000 mark was with the 1901 census when there were 110,062 Catholics out of an overall population of 112,334.

However, the 2011 census confirms a trend that over the past 20 years has seen significant increases in the nonCatholic population driven by not only growing numbers with no religion but also large increases in the religions of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, coming into the county.

Outside of members of the Roman Catholic faith, the biggest religion, or in this case non-religious grouping, is among member of the population who are of no religion at all or declined to say in their census return of what religious persuasion they were.

There are 6,384 people in the county with no religion – the highest number of areligious people in the county ever and a figure which represents a 4,612 increase over the past decade. A total of 1,795 declined to state their religious faith in the 2011 census return.

The largest religious grouping outside of Catholics are members of the Church of Ireland/Protestant faith that represent 1,960. There are 694 people of Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox persuasion, 283 Presbyterians, 283 Muslims and 52 members of the Jewish faith.

STAFF shortages and overcrowding at Ennis General Hospital was once again in the headlines in April with ongoing cuts resulting in “dangerous conditions” for patients in the hospital.

One one day in early April one nurse was left alone to care for 22 acutely ill patients in the county hospital, while care assistants replaced nurses in vital areas of care. The under pressure staff are also dealing with overcrowding at the hospital, as 12 to 15 patients are regularly cared for over-night in the medical assessment unit.

Nursing staff have to be taken from other wards to care for patients in the unit, which was added as part of the hospital reconfiguration programme and is supposed to be closed at night. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Association described the situation as unacceptable stating “this level of care is dangerous for patients”.

Sources close to staff at the hospital told The Clare People in April that they are concerned for patients and frustrated that they do not have the time to care for patients the way they should and would like to.

INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Mary Fogarty explained there is an acute shortage of nursing staff at the Ennis hospital since the moratorium was put in place. This has been exacerbated by a number of retirements.

While the staffing freeze does not allow vacant nursing posts to be replaced, the HSE is employing care assistants through an agency at € 12 per hour in an attempt to fill the wid- ening staffing gap.

“We are very concerned about the standard of care across the system,” she told The Clare People .

“While care staff have a vital role to play they cannot replace nurses. They do not have the education or experience,” she said.

Ms Fogarty was also critical of the reconfiguration process that took 25 beds out of Ennis General Hospital without having replacement infrastructure in place.

“This is a very inefficient way of managing,” she said.

PLANS to create a university campus in Ennis have been sunk – following a decision by the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) to pull out of the ambitious Munster Technological University project.

The project would have seen the amalgamation of LIT, Cork Institute of Technology and IT Tralee into a single university with 25,000 students.

The Munster Technological University plans included the creation of a campus in Ennis which would have offered lectures, initially through video conferencing, while a Clare-based academic staff was being built up.

In a statement last week, LIT confirmed that it was no longer interested in an amalgamation with the Cork and Tralee ITs.

“Following the address by Minister Quinn TD of all higher education leaders at the end of last month and the publication of new policy documents by the HEA, LIT has reviewed its future position in the higher education landscape. A decision has now been taken to prioritise collaboration with partners in the regional cluster (LIT, University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College and IT Tralee) and to pause further development of an earlier proposal to apply for designation as a technological university with Cork IT and IT Tralee,” said a spokesperson.

“This decision, which was unanimous and has met with broad support among external and internal stakeholders who were informed immediately, reflects the ambition of LIT to set the standard for a strong Institute of Technology sector.”

LIT’s decision to pull the plug on the Munster Technological University has been met with some criticism – not least from the institute’s own lecturer Dr Frank Houghton, who said it will foster the continuation of a “twotiered” education system.

“The decision is short-sighted and will harm both the institute and the people of the mid-west in the long term. We live in a highly unequal society, characterised by a two-tier education system at third level,” he said.

“We know that there is a real status difference between universities and the institutes of technology in Ireland. This decision reinforces that division and copper fastens elitism in Irish education.”

Dr Houghton also said that he has “serious concerns” over LIT’s expansions plans and its attempts to build links with foreign universities in an increasingly globalised education sector as a result of this decision.

CLARE businesses will not receive any rates reduction from Clare County Council in 2013 – despite many businesses already facing an uphill struggle to pay of current rates arrears.

Clare County Council voted on Tuesday to approve the Draft Budget for 2013 – which included no change in the rates for the county. The local authority has seen intensive lobbying from members of the business community in recent month – who claim that the current rates burden could force a viable local businesses to close their doors.

According to the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, the Council is not in a position to reduce the rate for 2013 because of large cuts imposed on other parts of the local authority’s budget.

The money that Clare County Council receive under the Local Government General Fund has been cut from € 16.48 million in 2008 to a projected figure of just € 10.07 million for 2013 – a cut of almost € 6 million or 3 per cent.

Over the same period the council wage bill has been reduced by € 44.8 million to an estimated figure for 2013 of € 35.6 million – a projected cut of € 9.2 million.

“The preparation of the Draft Budget has become increasingly difficult in recent years. The ongoing reduction in income has driven ongoing reductions in expenditure which has resulted in the implementation of ongoing efficiencies,” said Mr Coughlan.

“It appears that that model of operation will continue for the foreseeable future.”

A number of councillors raised the issue of a possible rates cut but this was deemed not possible at this time – if levels of services offered by the council are to be maintained.

Mr Coughlan said that a proposed 10 per cent rates cut – which would yield € 3.6 million – would mean that € 3.6 million of saving would have to be cut from other parts of the budget.

“If we were able to introduce a € 3.6 million reduction in rates, over € 2m would go to 13 ratepayers. That is the impact. The 2,107 ratepayers left would share the € 1.6m,” he said.

CLARE businesses pay the third highest water charges in the country – it was revealed at last Tuesday’s budget meeting of Clare County Council. The issue was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) – who questioned why businesses in the county were paying highest than elsewhere in the country.

According to Anne Haugh, Director of Service for Environment and Water Services at Clare County Council, the same system is used to calculate Clare’s water charges as every other local authority.

“If there is one area that Clare County Council has to improve on it is why we have one of the highest water charge per metre cubed of any local authority in the country,” said Cllr Meaney.

“I would like an understandable, repeatable explanation as to why we have such a situation – especially when compared us to neighbouring counties with a similar cost base and structures.”

According to Ms Haugh, the price difference is explained by the physical make-up of the county’s water system and other cost factors such as waste.

“I don’t have a lot of say on it really. The mechanism that we use to set the price of water is set our by the Government,” she said. “There are large variances between counties in relation to the charge of water and the main factor in this is the cost. This is mainly to do with the number of schemes and water system in place in one county as opposed to another.”

Current levels of water leakage in Clare now stands at roughly 38 per cent of the water produced.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) called for special exemption from water to be made for voluntary sports clubs.

“I would expect a concession for sporting bodies. We should make a clear distinction between commercial sporting bodies and those that are not,” he said.

EIGHT people were treated in hospital on Thursday following an incident at the Chemifloc plant in Smithfield in Shannon.

Seven people, five men and two women, were hospitalised directly following the incident on Thursday evening with an eighth person presenting to the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick on Friday morning.

It is understood that staff were attempting to load a batch of bleach at the Smithstown Industrial Estate when a chemical reaction took place.

The reaction sent a vapour cloud of chlorine into the air, which also filled the building.

Eight units of the fire brigade from Shannon and Ennis attended at the scene and quickly dealt with the situation.

According to the Clare County Fire and Rescue Service, the chemical incident was “quickly contained”.

Gardaí set up roadblocks at the entrance to the estate – allowing only emergency vehicles entry.

A number of premises in the vicinity of the plant were evacuated by gardaí while fire crews investigated the extent of the spill.

Fire crews wore special protective suits over their fire fighting clothing as well as breathing equipment before they could enter the building and deal with the spill.

Clare Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly, on the advice of Chemifloc chemists, confirmed on Thursday night the gas emissions, which were caused by the chlorine reaction, do not pose a public health risk.

It is understood that none of the of the eight people hospitalised as a result of the incident are in a serious conditioned.

Most reported breathing difficulties are were retained at the hospital for treatment.

The seven people who were brought to the hospital on Thursday had to be decontaminated or washed down by fire personnel in a specially constructed tent outside the hospital, before they could be admitted and treated at the emergency department.

The company confirmed the workers were taken to hospital as a precaution, but that none had been seriously injured.

Chemifloc in Shannon are a water treatment chemical importer and manufacturer.

Products include aluminium sulphate, ferric sulphate, ferric chloride, and ferric nitrate.

A CLARE homeless charity has began donating food to hungry Ennis families – who are not homeless but are unable to feed themselves as a result of the recession and government cutbacks.

According to Josie O’Brien of Help the Homeless in Clare, the situation among poor Clare people is as bad as it has ever been. The group are expecting their largest ever turnout at the Christmas Day dinner this year – with more than 100 people likely to attend.

According to Ms O’Brien, the situation is now drastically worse than it was just 12 months ago.

“Besides the homeless, we’ve started helping other people who look for food. We’ve been helping some families around Ennis. Someone will contact me and say that they know of a family who don’t have any food and we provide the food. It’s not just people who are homeless – there are now families out there, living in houses and they don’t have food,” said Josie.

“It’s very sad. We’re talking about families with children – and they are hungry. It’s gotten worse this year a lot worse. It can be very difficult for families out the now. But the other side to that is that people are so generous. All I have to do is put up on facebook that food is needed and without fail someone makes a donation. The people of Ennis and of Clare are so so generous.

The Help the Homeless in Clare Christmas dinner will take place from 3pm to 7pm at Fahy Hall in Roslevan on Christmas Day.

“It’s not just for the homeless. Anyone can come – anyone who is on their own or needs a dinner,” she said.

“I normally cook for around 60 or 70 but I’ll be cooking for 100 or more this year because it looks like it is going to be busier.

“I’ve been doing this for eight years and I’d say that this is going to be the biggest year. So we are preparing lots and lots of food. That said – there will be no shortage of food. People have been very generous so we will have plenty of food.

“People are becoming way more aware of the problems that are out there. It’s not just homeless people anymore. Its a lot of different people. Some people just need food now,” she said.

A large number of Clare people and businesses donated food to Help the Homeless in Clare this year. To find our more search for “Help the Homeless in Clare” on Facebook.