Category: News

CLARE County Council meets today to set the county’s budget for the coming year with 1.02 per cent less coming from the Local Government Fund.

The local authority has been allocated € 10.7 million from central government for 2013, just over a percentage less than it was allocated at the beginning of last year.

However during the third quarter of 2012 Central Government reneged on paying out € 247,000 to the Clare council due to a nationwide under payment of the household charge.

The council members agreed to continue with the budget as set out earlier in the year on reassurances from Government TDs that the € 247,000 would be returned. However it has since been announced that the funding lost during the third quarter will not be returned.

It is still unclear if Clare County Council will have to find the money to cover the quarter of a million loss from the 2012 budget in the newly reduced 2013 budget, putting extra pressure of the council coffers.

Since 2008 the council’s allocation from central Government has been reduced by 39 per cent from € 16.48 million to € 10.07 million.

In his introduction to the draft Budget Plan, County Manager Tom Coughlan said, “The preparation of the Draft Budget 2013 has proven to be particularly difficult due to the fact that the scope to achieve operational saving is progressively reducing. Significant savings have been achieved in recent years, and as the cost of service delivery has been “squeezed” during those years, we are approaching a level of serv- ice delivery cost which is difficult to reduce without diminishing the level of service itself. “The underlying objective of this Draft Budget 2013 is the maintenance of existing levels of services while simultaneously reducing the overall expenditure of the council to reflect severe reductions in income.” That is the challenge that faces the council members today – pay for the same services.

THE small West Clare townland of Kilclogher has strong connections with Newtown in Connecticut, where twenty children and six adult staff members were killed last Friday morning, December 14.

According to sources in America, a large number of Irish emigrants came to live in Newtown in the early 19th century. A large number of these emigrants come from a single parish in West Clare – believed to be Kilc- logher, between Kilbaha and Carrigaholt and the surrounding area.

The Clare emigrants came to Newtown initially to work on the local railroad but settled in the area on tracks of farmland which had been abandoned by previous settlers. Indeed, it is also understood that the majority of the local Clare population settled in the Sandy Hook, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings took place on Friday.

It is not yet clear if any of children of teachers killed in the attack had Clare ancestry. One of the murdered teachers, Anne Marie Murphy, is understood to have strong Irish connections but it is not yet clear if her connections date back to West Clare people who settled in the Sandy Hook area. Ms Murphy’s body was discovered in a shielding position around the bodies of a number of her students.

The Irish-American population of the town went from just 5.6 per cent in 1850 to 41.8 per cent in 1890 and 44 per cent by 1900.

Connecticut genealogist, Harlan Jessup, believes that much of these Irish emigrants came from one small area in West Clare. At one point, according to Jessup’s research, the New York Belting and Packing rubber factory in town employed 200 people – 185 of whom were Irish.

Last Friday a lone gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing twenty children and six adult before turning the gun on himself. The gunman, who has been identified by authorities as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had first killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their nearby Newtown home.

TEN KILRUSH citizens were recognised for their work in the community and honoured by Kilrush Town Council through the Cissie Roughan Civic Awards.

The awards scheme began in 1993 and honours the memory of the late Cissie Roughan a former member of Kilrush Town Council and the first woman elected to the council.

This year there was a range of nominees for the civic awards, drawn from a variety of areas including community, sporting and cultural.

One of the awards was presented posthumus to young father Flan Carmody.

Mr Carmody who died in September 2012 dedicated his life and energy to working for the community

He established the west Clare kidney support group in 1999 and raised more than € 250,000, having received a transplant himself in 1998.

Again following his young son’s accident he started to fundraise for the burns unit in Crumlin Hospital and as a Clare County Council employee he took great pride each year in winning the Tidy Towns Award.

Kilrush Care of the Aged were recognised for organizing day trips and a Christmas party for the elderly of the town.

Music teacher Peig Martin received acknowledgement for her great knowledge and passion for Irish Music and organizing a Ceol na Nog for students once a month in Teach Cheoil for students.

The council paid tribute to Margaret Purtill and Peggy Cahill who in 2012 decided to renovate the New Shanakyle Graveyard and set about fundraising € 20,000. They then carried out extensive work.

Matthew Kelly dedicated his time to organising training and trips for the youth of Kilrush to Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium

He also works tirelessly organising fundraising for clubs and trains the U16 Moneypoint A.F.C – all of which was recognised when he received his award.

Anne Hayes organised a Kilrush Music Session Group and travelled to Kilrush twice a week for training, while James McMahon was honoured for his involvement with Comhaltas in Kilrush since the 70s.

He joined the new reformed Inis Cathaigh Branch in 2006 and if very influential among young members.

Fionnuala Walsh swam the English Channel – the first Clare person to do so. This was a featthe council could not ignore as they presented the annual awards.

When Martin Cahill was presented his award it was said he deserved it “as he has over the years become the face of Kilrush and is affectionately know to all as granddad, Martin is loved by all that come across him and his infectious ways, good spirit and heart of gold as well as his ability to sing have been wowing the visiting tourist that come to Kilrush for many a year.”

Former Kilrush Town Councillor Jack Fennell was described as a “true Kilrush man that lives and breathes for his town” when he was presented with his award.

Mayor of Kilrush Mairead O’Brien (Ind) said, “The Cissie Roughan nominations are a way to enable ordinary people to acknowledge friends and neighbours for their good works. We have lots of people doing great things and it’s nice for the Town Council to provide the opportunity for public recognition of the valuable works and activities and involvements.

“The thanks and acknowledgement of the community are due to you all.”

POLICING in rural areas of the county affected by the latest raft of Garda station closures can be enhanced thanks to a new partnership approach between Clare Garda headquarters and new community groups.

That’s the message sounded out by Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, in the wake of the controversial Budget 2013 decision to call time of eight rural Garda stations in Clare as part of a nationwide cull of 80 outlets.

Superintendent Kerin told a public meeting in Inagh last week that the key to future policing in the eight locations that will lose their Garda sub-stations lay establishing “community fora” that would liaise with the Clare Garda Division.

I’m sending out that invitation to all communities affected by Garda station closures,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “that if they were willing to set up a community forum of five or six people affected by Garda station closures, the Gardaí would be willing to meet with them on a monthly basis. The superintendent in those areas will meet with them on a monthly basis – I would be willing to meet with them on a bi-monthly basis,” he added.

Following on the closure of Carrigaholt Station earlier this year, the latest round of swinging cuts of announced in the Budget means that stations in Quin, Inagh, Lahinch, Broadford, Mountshannon, Doonbeg, Kilmihil and Labasheeda are all facing the axe in the new year.

According to Chief Superintendent Kerin the closures can be the catalyst for a new type of working arrangement to emerge between communities and what will be a Garda Division split into a two-district service of Ennis and Kilrush.

“A lot of those areas affected don’t have joint-policing committees,” said Chief Superintendent Kerin, “and I would hope that they set up these fora that would be representative of all strands of society within the community. If we did that, we would know what issues were happening and we would be able to address them,” he added.

STAFF at the Clare County Council recycling facility on the Gort Road in Ennis have been praised for their calm actions after a live grenade was discovered on site last Thursday morning.

The grenade, which is understood to date back to Civil War times, was discovered on the site on Thursday morning.

The explosive device was found among a stash of recyclable metal on the facility and is understood to have been live and a genuine explosion risk.

The supervisor at the facility alerted both the Gardaí and the Defense Forces to the find and Clare County Council closed the recycling centre for a number of hours of Thursday afternoon, while the grenade was being dealt with.

The Defense Force’s Army Bomb Disposal Unit were tasked to make safe the ordinance and arrived at the Gort Road Industrial Estate around 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon.

A small controlled explosion was carried out and the area was declared to be safe just after 2.15pm on Thursday afternoon. It is as yet unclear where the grenade came from and Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the incident.

Clare Green Party councillor Brian Meaney paid tribute to the calm ac- tions of the staff at the centre while a spokesperson from Clare County Council also apologised for any delays felt my members of the public as a result of the incident.

“We would like to thank the public for their patience during the interruption to services at Ennis Recycling Centre.

“We also want to acknowledge the assistance of An Garda Síochána,” said a spokesperson from Clare County Council.

This is the second time that Army Bomb Disposal Unit have been called to a suspect device in Clare in 2012. In January a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious device discovered on the strand at Lahinch Beach.

A four foot long metal canister, which was discover on the north end of the strand beside Lahinch Golf Course, was discovered by a walker on the beach just after 7pm on Saturday evening, January 7.

EUROMILLIONS winners Dolores McNamara could be set to make Killaloe her new home after a deal was concluded for the sale of Tinarana House over the weekend. A deal for the 270 acre property, which was sold for around € 13 million by Dr Paschal Carmody in 2006, was finalised late last week – with Dolores McNamara understood to be one of the bidders in the final shake-up.

The property was sold for around € 3.5 million, almost double the 2012 asking price but still nearly € 10 million less than was paid for it by development consortium Tinarana Ltd in 2006.

Local property agents GVM have remained tight lipped over the identity of the estates buyer. Once the transaction had done through details of the sale will be published on the newly established Property Price Register. The address of the property and the final sale price will be included on the register – but not the name of the buyer.

It is understood that Dolores McNamara has been on the lookout for a rural property to avoid excess media attention. She already owns nearby Lough Derg Hall, which was bought for € 1.7 million and where she has lived on-and-off since 2005.

Tinarana House has attracted a large number of interested bidders since it went on the market earlier in 2012. Bidders from Austria, Holland, Germany and Britain are understood to have been in the shake-up for the property, alongside the Euromillions winner.

Tinarana House itself includes 16 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms and was put on the market on the instructions of receivers PriceWaterhouse Coopers in June of this year.

While the € 3.5 million price tag is considerably less that the € 13 million paid in 2006, it is understood that the historic property needs restoration work which could total as much as € 1 million.

At the height of the property boom in 2006, Tinarana Ltd received planning permission from Clare County Council to construct a major hotel and leisure complex on the site – which also included an 18-hole championship golf course and equestrian holiday village.

An Taisce objected to the development and those objections were upheld by an Bord Pleanála in 2007.

Tinarana House was built by the Purdon family of England in the 1870s as a fishing and hunting lodge. The mansion comprises 14,467 square feet and sits on a small raise overlooking Lough Derg.

A BOYCOTT on all farmed salmon caught off the Irish coast has been called for in protest against plans by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to license the creation of a large salmon fish farm off the Clare coast.

Environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment called for all of its followers to boycott Irish farmed salmon in the run up to Christmas. The call was made Thursday, hours before the Irish Wildlife Trust came out against the proposed fish farm.

It is as yet unclear what impact, if any, the boycott will have on farmed salmon producers in the run up to Christmas – the busiest time of the year for sales of salmon in Ireland.

According to Friends of the Irish Environment, the planned fish farm should not go ahead until the difficulty with sea lice on Irish fish farms has been resolved.

“The initiative contradicts the moratorium on fish farms agreed under the National Development Plan’s Irish Seafood National Program 2007 to 2013,” said a spokesperson.

“This ruled that no increase in pro- duction would take place until the sea lice issue had been addressed. A recent report from Inland Fisheries Ireland showed that in fact mortalities from wild salmon from farmed salmon sea lice have now reached 39 per cent of the returning wild salmon.”

The proposed fish farm has been hugely controvertial since details of the proposal first emerged more than six weeks ago. It has two State agencies – Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in direct conflict.

BIM claim that the farm could creat as many as 500 jobs in the locality while the IFI believe that a more realistic jobs target would be less that 50, while it also believes that pollution created by the farm could threaten inland fishery resources in North Clare and South Galway.

Irish Wildlife Trust confirmed on Thursday that they have made a submission to the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG) outlining their opposition to the project. Minister Coveney will decide in the new year if BIM can allow groups to tender for the license to create a fish farm off the Fanore coast.

SOURCES within Clare GAA have confirmed to The Clare People that a number of suspensions will be handed down this week as a result of the investigation into Minor A hurling final between Kilmaley and Clarecastle.

Both clubs are also expected to be fined as a result of the incidents that marred the second half of the final, played in Sixmilebridge back in October. Several mentors from both sides have recently been before a committee appointed by the GAA in Clare to examine the controversy.

The game made headlines when pictures of the incidents were featured on the front pages of a number of national newspapers, as well as going viral on Facebook and Twitter. Only two mentors were named in the referee’s report, Kilmaley’s Niall Romer and Clarecastle’s Tommy Howard.

AN Bórd Pleanála has determined that issues raised with it regarding a contentious wall across a contested right of way have been dealt with previously.

James McNulty had asked the planning appeals board if development works (between the period 20042008) from the end of the public road L61041 across Doonbeg Golf Course to the public beach at Doughmore Bay, Carrowmore, Doonbeg, including the closure obstruction of the established public right of way to Doughmore Beach and the movement and alteration to the natural line of the public vehicular right of way at this location was considered development.

In his submission, the Cree man said he requested a declaration on the question from Clare County Council but had received no declaration.

An Bórd Pleanála concluded that the question being asked had already been dealt with and adjudicated on previously. The report said, due to “the evidence of the site inspection by the Board’s Inspector, where no works are apparent, it is considered that the substance of the case have already been determined and any further question has not been clearly articulated to enable the formulation of a determination.

“In deciding not to request further clarity in the matter, the Board considered that the substantive matter regarding previous works have already been dealt with,” it concluded.

A decision was made in May 2010, to a previous submission on the issue by Mr McNulty along with Theresa McNamara of Ballykeelaun House, Parteen. They appealed against a decision by Clare County Council to grant subject to conditions permission to Doonbeg Golf Club Limited for a development comprising retention of a gravel path, a dry stone retaining wall along a section of boundary between the golf course property and a neighbouring property, and the alteration of ground levels over an area of 300 square metres on the golf course to the west of the dry stone retaining wall.

At the time, An Bórd Pleanála upheld the local authority’s decision regarding that gravel path but refused permission for the retention on the contentious “dry stone retaining wall”.

“It is policy of the planning authority, as set out in the West Clare Local Area Plan 2009, to protect public rights-of-way and to keep them free from obstruction. This policy is considered to be reasonable,” the board said in May last year.

MORE than 30 young men and women from the North Clare and South Galway area have contacted Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) either applying for a job or asking to be trained to work on the 500-hectare organic salmon farm proposed for off the Clare coast.

Despite growing concerns about the impact of the fish farm among local fishermen and agencies such as Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), BIM confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that they have been inundated with young people looking to work on the proposed site.

BIM have also confirmed that, should the farm be given the go ahead by the Department of Agriculture, the organisation will establish a temporary training facility in North Clare where people can learn the skills needed.

“We have not only had people inquiring about jobs, we have also had people asking about training courses where they could up-skill in preparation for the jobs coming on line,” said Donal Maguire of BIM.

“I think most people understand that the jobs will come when we are in a position to appoint an operator. But we have had an awful lot of enquires from people who want to get qualified in operating a boat or diving training – things like that. There are quite a lot of people locally who are thinking ahead with a view to being at the top of the queue if and when these jobs come online.”

BIM have said that the fish farm could create as many as 500 jobs locally, if it is given the green light by the Department of Agriculture. The number of jobs have been queries by the IFI and other groups.

“Once we get the go ahead for this we will set up a mobile training unit in North Clare or in Galway so that we can deliver training on the spot to the local people,” continued Donal.

Meanwhile, groups opposed to the fish farm will protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), this Saturday, December 15.

In a statement, No Salmon Farms At Sea (NSFAS) said that it will join like minded groups Save Bantry Bay, Save Galway Bay, FISSTA and Friends of the Irish Environment for the protest march in Cork.