Category: News

A LICENCE to begin exploratory fracking in West Clare could be granted within months, with no input from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or any of the planning authorities.

That is according to Clare Fracking Concerned, who believe that UK-based company Enegi Oil could begin fracking in Clare early next year, once the Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte (LAB), gives them the green light.

The company announced last week that their initial assessment of the Clare Basin showed it to be a “highly prospective project” while Enegi Oil CEO, Alan Minty, said he would ap- ply for an exploration licence in February of 2013.

Kilmaley resident and member of Clare Fracking Concerned, Sarah Akamine told The Clare People yesterday that the organisation has become complacent as they believed that the company would not go ahead with the project.

“This is very bad news for all of us. Many of us [in Clare Fracking Concerned] had been under the impression that the Clare Basin project was not commercially viable – and because of that I think we got complacent,” she said.

“I think that a lot of people assumed that this would focus on the very west of Clare, but Enegi’s statement indicated that they are looking at the whole Clare Basin – that means everything west or north of Ennis – which could affect a lot of people.”

Clare County Council voted earlier this year to change the County Development Plan to prohibit fracking. While this does not prohibit Minister Rabbitte from licensing a project in the Clare Basin, it does mean that the project must be referred to the EPA before it can begin.

However, according to Clare Fracking Concerned, the same rules do not currently apply for fracking exploration licences.

“Clare Basin is a highly prospective project and we are delighted to be involved at this early stage,” said Alan Minty last week.

“The whole acreage appears to be very prospective and we are particu- larly excited by the area at the centre of the existing seismic grid which we have defined as high grade.

“Whilst these results are very encouraging, further exploration work is required to identify specific areas of prospectivity and potential future drilling targets.

“We look forward to providing details of our planned work programme and development plan once we have been awarded an exploration licence.”

Fracking involves pumping large amount of water and other liquids deep underground to shatter layers of shale rock and release the natural gas inside for collection.

The process has been criticised for polluting ground water and even causing earthquakes. Th is we e k w ill st a y m ild b u t c o o l, t h e re a l c h ill is c o m in g n e xt we e k wit h fre e zin g t e m p e ra t u re s d u e .

SHANNON business is set to relocate to Ennis next Monday as hardpressed rate-payers in the airport town take their fight for survival and a better deal from Clare County Council to the December monthly meeting of the local authority.

Business people from Shannon, led by their three-person team of Skycourt manager Pat Kelly and business owners Eoin Hoctor of McLoughney’s newsagents in the town centre and Maurice Lynch of Lynch Transport, will bring the town’s plea for help to the floor of the local authority meeting that takes place in Shannon Airport.

The trio are set to make a presentation to local authority leaders in the hope of sparking what would be a ground-breaking policy shift by Clare County Council, whereby the commercial rates burden placed on business people would be significantly reduced.

Speaking to The Clare People ahead of the gathering, Pat Kelly said “this is about businesses in Shannon being able to survive” and called on the 32-member council led by Mayor of Clare Pat Daly, County Manager Tom Coughlan and other executive members to “play their part in help- ing business fight the recession”.

“It’s the first time in a long time that business representatives will be making a special presentation in the council chamber and we’re doing it because things have to change,” continued Mr Kelly.

“This is about businesses in Shannon surviving. The council and the councillors make the budget every year and we are just making the point to them that over the past five years every business has had to adjust to survive.

“Every business has had to cut their overheads – any business that hasn’t, hasn’t survived. There have been cuts in everything, but the one thing that hasn’t been cut is commercial rates. We are saying to the local authority – you are a business, we are a business, we have cut our overheads, you have to cut your overheads in order for us to survive.

“The rates have remained the same over the past four or five years, but businesses have had turnover reductions of 30, 40 and 50 per cent. Skycourt have cut our service charge costs by 25 per cent, we’ve cut our rents, but the one thing that hasn’t been cut is the rates. That’s the biggest deterrent for Skycourt to be able to rent units,” he added.

This decision by Shannon business people to make a direct plea for help from Clare’s premier decision-making body comes on the back of a series of public meetings that have taken place in the town, where disgruntled rate-payers aired their grievances over the county council’s failure to budge when it comes to reducing rates.

The latest meeting took place on Monday night when the finishing touches to the plan of campaign for next Monday’s council meeting were put in place, while as part of the process of seeking redress from the council on rates as seen a delegation of rate-payers meet with County Manager Tom Coughlan and Clare’s six Oireachtas members.

NEWCO, the working name for the new organisation to manage Shannon Airport and its 2000-acre landbank, will become the engine for growth the mid-west region, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Richard Bruton has declared. In hailing the new departure for Shannon, Minister Bruton said that the “ambitious” plans for the new independent Shannon Airport structure can be delivered upon thanks to the goodwill of the people in the mid-west.

“Keeping the status quo is not an option,” he revealed, “and we have now created a real opportunity for exciting development.

“It is a very good day for the Shannon region. We are creating a new engine for regional development and it is being built from structures that unfortunately for different reasons were running into extreme difficulties,” added Minister Bruton.

The minister paid tribute to Shannon Development’s record over the past 50 years, but revealed that it was time for change because “the funding model that supported them for so many years has been severely damaged by the property crash”.

“We now have to create new structures that will carry on that work (of Shannon Development).

“I believe that we have in the business plan development and the merged entity, NEWCO, the opportunity to start a new chapter in regional development for Shannon.

“By restructuring the enterprise agencies in the Shannon region we can ensure that indigenous and multinational industry already in the region or considering locating there have access to a comprehensive range of supports.

“By merging a strong independent Shannon Airport with the extensive property holdings, experience and expertise of Shannon Development we will create a strong new State company which will work with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on developing an International Aviation Services Centre in the region.

“The implementation of these decisions represents a new start for enterprise and jobs in the Shannon region,” added Minister Bruton.

Shannon Passenger
Numbers 2007- 2012 2007 3.62m 2008 3.16m 2009 2.79m 2010 1.75m 2011 1.62m 2012 1.5m

CLARE was the toast of the national Tidy Towns movement in the mid west on Thursday night last as the county scooped 17 awards at the regional prize-giving ceremony for 2012 at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis.

Ennis led the way for the county and region by winning the overall award, having already captured the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre at the National Awards ceremony in September. Gold Medal winners in the region were Ennis, Ballynacally and Kilrush.

The winners were presented with their awards by Ms. Jan O’Sullivan T.D., Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and Leonard Fay, Regional Manager with SuperValu, proud sponsors of the competition. Also joining the Minister on stage was Mr John King, Assistant Chief Executive, Shannon Development.

Speaking at the awards ceremony Minister O’Sullivan said: “I’m delighted to have this opportunity today to acknowledge the efforts of TidyTowns groups across this region, and to pay tribute to the very many enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers who get involved in this competition year on year regardless of the weath- er conditions.

“The unselfish effort and the generosity displayed by these volunteers really does make a difference to our communities. The results of their hard work is evident across the region in towns and villages that are more attractive, better cared for, better places to live and more appealing places to visit.

I would like to pay tribute to all the other TidyTowns groups not here today who are also committed to improving their communities year on year and I’m sure they will be providing tough competition to this year’s winners in the future.

“All of the TidyTowns groups take pride in their communities. I’d like to congratulate Ennis; the overall winner for the Mid West region and the winner of Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre Award as well as all of today’s other prize-winners,” she added.

“Tourism is a key economic driver in the Shannon Region economy and it is vitally important that we maximize all our resources to enhance the environment and promote tourism business,” said Shannon Development assistant chief executive John King.

“SuperValu Tidy Towns is a priceless resource, not just for now, but for future generations who want to live, work and spend leisure time in the Shannon Region,” he added.

Clare Winners
National Award IrelandsTidiest Large Urban Centre: Ennis MidWest Region – Overall Winner: Ennis Gold Medals: Ballynacally, Ennis, Kilrush Silver Medals: Mountshannon Bronze Medals: Kilkee,Tuamgraney

County Winners
Winner: Ennis Highly Commended: Ballynacally Commended: Mountshannon Endeavour Award: Connolly

Gum Litter Taskforce
National Award: Ennis Large Urban Centre Award: Ennis Small Town Award: Newmarket-on-Fergus

Tourism Town Awards
Ennis & Ballyvaughan

THE community spirit of the Clare Tidy Towns effort was celebrated on Thursday night by the county’s flagship centre in the national competition over the last number of years.

Ennis was presented with seven different awards on the night, with the chairperson of the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee, Áine Purcell hailing what she called “a back to basics” approach as being the major contributory factor for the county capital’s achievements.

“In Ennis this year what we decided to do was go back to basics,” Ms Purcell revealed when accepting the award for Ennis as Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre. “We led by example. I know Tuamgraney do it, I know Mountshannon do it, I know Kilrush do it – I know all of you do it.

We asked people. People like to be asked. Everyone likes to be part of a community so we asked people.

“We didn’t make any emails, we didn’t make any phone calls, we didn’t write any letters – all 22 of us just went around and asked people. It paid off very well in that there’s a tradition that we’re very proud of, but it paid off more importantly in that it brought everyone together as a community,” he added.

Ennis’ other honours were as in the Gum Litter Taskfore competition, where the town was named both the large urban centre and national winner, the Tourism Town Award, the County Award, as well as a Gold Medal and the Shannon Region award winner.

“One of the highlights for me personally,” continued Ms Purcell, “was after we won the award as Ireland’s largest urban centre, someone said to me in the street ‘didn’t we do well in Dublin’.

“That was powerful because there was a sense of ownership in that because it was the community coming together.

“We are very, very fortunate in Ennis in that we have a very positive and great working relationship with our town council. Any positive relationship that you can foster is brilliant. SuperValu are to complimented for promoting Tidy Towns and promoting bringing communities together,” she added.

GARDAÍ in Ennis have launched an investigation after an attempted arson attack on units in the Beechpark Traveller accommodation site.

Two buildings at the site on the outskirts of Ennis sustained smoke damage when an attempt was made to set them ablaze on Saturday night.

Intruders attempted to set fire to the kitchen of one unit after breaking a window. The rear was forced open in another unit and an attempt was made to set the building alight.

Gardaí in Ennis said yesterday that petrol was discovered near the scene of both attempted fires. No one was injured in the attack.

The family who live at one of the damaged units were away on the night. As of yesterday, no one had been arrested or charged in connection with the attack.

It is the second time in three years that the Beechpark site has sustained damage. Between 2010 and 2011, the Council was forced to spend € 2800 a week on providing security at Beechpark after units there were destroyed by vandalism and arson in April 2010. Last year, a report from Clare County Council on the costs associated with providing traveler accommodation in Clare, stated that Beechpark has been the subject of threats and intimidation since 2010.

COMPANIES are queuing up to do business in the Shannon Free Zone and provide thousands of new jobs – the only thing they’re demanding to turn this commitment into a reality is that Clare’s international airport be freed from the strictures of Dublin Airport Authority control and be given its full independence.

This promise of a jobs bonanza for the region was delivered by Rose Hynes, the chairperson of the Aviation Business Development Task Force that has helped draft a blueprint for the independent Shannon Airport structure over the last four months.

“We have people lined up who are willing to do business with Shannon but they are only willing to do it if the airport and the new entity is created on the basis of separation,” Ms Hynes revealed at Monday’s press conference heralding the timeframe for the airport’s independence.

“People are willing to do business, but not when there’s an air of uncertainty. They want to do business when there’s certainty and separation. We are already talking from a position of strength where we have commitment for a 1000 of those jobs – that’s a position of considerable strength. We are talking a success- ful airport that when combined with the landbank we can actually create and additional 3,500 jobs over five years,” she added.

Ms Hynes, who is tipped to become chairperson of the new Shannon Airport structure, has moved quickly to dispel thoughts the jobs target is overly ambitious, telling The Clare People that the plan represents “the beginning of a new era” for the airport.

“We had intensive discussions and we formed the view that the status quo was not a sustainable option and that a restructured Shannon and Shannon Development can be sustainable and can be successful,” said Ms Hynes. “Shannon cannot just remain where it is at the moment. We have looked at the Shannon situation high up and low down and we are absolutely convinced that we have a plan that’s viable, that’s going to lead to a successful airport.

“We had a philosophy in the task force where basically we decided that we weren’t going to leave behind a set of recommendations that were going to just gather dust somewhere. We decided that if we were going to recommend something we were going to put momentum into it.

“We were going to try and take that as far as we could do. We did that in relation to job numbers; we did that in relation to every other recommendation that we made. It means that when we talk about it, we talk about something we believe,” she added.

Commenting on the cabinet decision, Shannon Airport Director Mary Considine said, “Today is a pivotal step in the process of separation. The focus of staff and management at Shannon Airport has been on ensuring that the airport is financially and operationally ready for separation.

“This entire process is all about securing a sustainable future for all the stakeholders of the Airport and that Shannon Airport delivers on its role as a key economic driver for the West of Ireland,” she added.

FIVE thousand new jobs can be created in Shannon by 2018 as Clare’s international airport finally prepares to free itself from the shackles of Dublin Airport Authority control and chart a new independent future for itself.

This ambitious blueprint for Shannon was revealed by senior Cabinet ministers, Leo Varadkar and Richard Burton at an aviation conference in Dublin on Monday, with December 31 next set as formal beginning of the new independent airport freed of its € 100m debts and given a start-up fund in this Wednesday’s budget as it begins life as a separate, stand alone entity.

The new airport authority has been provisionally named as NEWCO – a merger between existing Shannon Development and Shannon Airport staff, and in an early move to allay fears among the workforce in the two companies, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton has said “there will be no compulsory redundancies”.

Meanwhile, The Clare People can exclusively reveal that Clarewoman, Rose Hynes, is being lined up to become the first chairperson of the new airport authority. The Bellharbour woman chaired the Aviation Business Development Task Force that drafted the new airport plan, which she says is “the beginning of a new era” for Shannon.

The government has set a target of boosting passenger numbers at Shannon by one million over the next nine years, with Transport minister Leo Varadkar telling The Clare People that “if Shannon can’t achieve that kind of growth, then there is no fu- ture for the airport”.

However, it’s in the area of jobs that Shannon can expect its biggest windfall with Minister Varadkar revealing that a new international aviation services centre has “the potential to create between 3000 and 5000 jobs within five years”.

Minister Bruton said the airport’s independence, which will see two companies in Shannon provide up to 850 in the coming months represents “a new chapter in regional development” in Ireland.

THE new independent Shannon Airport has been warned away from entering into a new deal with Ryanair similar to the one that resulted in record passenger numbers of over 3.6m passing using Clare’s international airport in 2007.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar told a media briefing in the Dublin Convention Centre that was attended by key figures from the Shannon Airport Authority, Shannon Development, Clare Oireachtas members and the mayors of Clare and Ennis that any dealings with Ryanair in the future should be on “a commercial basis” and instead pointed to the benefits of securing more military traffic through the airport.

Shannon’s passenger numbers rocketed to 3,620,623 in 2007 on the back of an incentive package arrangement between the airport and Ryanair that saw the low-cost carrier operate over 50 routes, but since then have declined year-on-year with figures expected to dip below 1. 5m by the end of 2012.

“I would expect that any deals that the new Shannon Aiport makes would be on a commercial basis that can be sustained, which was not the case in the previous Ryanair deal,” said Minister Varadkar, before revealing that targeted growth of having up to 2.5m passengers over the next decade was not dependent on a new Ryanair deal.

“They did reach a peak of 3.6 passengers largely on the back of that arrangement (with Ryanair),” said Minsiter Varadkar, “but bear in mind that prior to that they were well over 2m passengers on various occasions and up as far as 2.7m passengers at one point”.

Last June, Ryanair made a pitch to treble its passenger numbers through Shannon to one million if it was given a new deal by the Shannon Airport Authority whereby all charges would be waived for all additional passengers over the current level of 375,000.

Meanwhile, as late as last week it was revealed in The Clare People that the budget airline was on the cusp on announcing a new investment at the airport to bring in one million extra passengers providing an extra € 100m passenger spend to the region.

However, instead of looking to Ryanair, Minister Varadkar championed the cause of secured extra military stopover at Shannon as a way of boosting the airport’s figures.

“I have indicated for a very long time that Shannon has been a transit point for military flights and part of the plan would be to grow that,” he revealed.

MEMBERS of Ennis Town Council will meet today to pick a name for the newly opened € 2.5 million section of the inner relief road.

Jail Road and Bothar Na Rince are among the names that have been so far suggested.

It has also been suggested that a plaque be erected near Madden’s Furniture, the site of the old Paddy Con’s dance hall, to commemorate musicians in Ennis.

Up to 4,500 vehicles per day are expected to use section E of the Ennis Inner Relief Road project, which opened to traffic last week.

The newly completed 180 metres of single carriageway road links Station Road at Madden’s Furniture to Friar’s Walk and the Clare Road at Cathedral Court.

The € 2.5m road also features new traffic lights at Station Road and Clare Road.

Ennis Town Council says the com- pleted section of the Inner Relief Road will improve traffic flow to the town centre for customers and visitors to Ennis, and will reduce traffic congestion in the Station Road and Upper O’Connell Street area of Ennis.

Officials have said that it will take a few months to adequately assess the impact the road will have on traffic flow on the town.

Speaking at the opening, Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine said, “It is heartening to see that despite the current fiscal constraints faced by Ennis Town Council that it is still continuing to complete important infrastructure projects throughout the town. The completion of the Inner Relief Road will bring a range of immediate benefits, both to the local community and to those visiting the town.”

Ennis Town Clerk Leonard Cleary said the new section of the Inner Relief Road will complement similar road projects completed in recent years, including the Ennis Bypass and the section of the Inner Relief Road from Station Road to Francis Street, in further reducing traffic congestion in the Clare County capital.

“The completion of work on Inner Relief Road project will be welcomed by motorists throughout the town as it will bypass numerous traffic bottle necks and vastly improve commuting time for users,” he added.

The road project is funded by Ennis Town Council with a € 2.1M loan approved by the Department of Transport.