Category: News

THE number of Clare women travelling to the England and Wales for an abortion has dropped significantly over the past 12 months since legislation for the X-Case was enacted by the Government.

According to figures obtained by the UK Department of Health, the number of women obtaining an abortion who listed Clare as their home, fell by 15 per cent last year. This is the continuation of trend which has emerged in recent years with fewer and fewer women from Clare travelling to obtain a termination.

A total of 55 women gave County Clare as their home address when travelling for an abortion last year. This compares to 64 in 2012, 83 in 2011 and 75 in 2010.

There has also been a marked increase in the number of Irish women who do not give a county of origin when travelling to England and Wales for an abortion. A total of 855 women did not state any county of origin when travelling to the UK.

This means that almost a fifth of all Irish women did not give a county of origin, which could mean a larger number Clare women obtained abortions than the figures suggest.

A spokesperson from the Clare Pro Life Campaign said yesterday that many women who travel to the UK for abortion feel that they do not have a choice in the matter.

“Any number of women travelling to the UK for an abortion is too many. We feel that, 12 months on from the legislation, we still need to sit down and talk about the root causes of abortion,” said Maura Garrihy of the Clare Pro-Life Campaign. “We need to support Clare women who still feel like they have no other choice but to have an abortion. We feel that part of the reason why the number of abortions are down is the increase in information that is out there. People are now realising more that a baby’s heart is beating after 21 days and it is not just a clump of cells.

“When you talk to women who have had abortions, many of them feel that they have no choice but to have an abortion.”

A CLARE actress and student of an Ennis-based acting school has scooped a top award in one of the country’s biggest drama competitions.

West Clare woman Anna Moloney has been honoured with a Leinster School of Music and Drama Excellence Award for her outstanding performance in drama.

Approximately 15,000 students across the country take the Leinster School of Music and Drama exam each year and this excellence award accolade is only bestowed on four students in all of Ireland.

Anna, who is from Miltown Malbay, will be presented with her prize at a Gala Concert in Griffith College, Dublin, in October.

Anna is a student of the School of Speech and Drama, Actors and Reactors in Ennis. The school was founded by Clare sisters Aoibhín and Doireann Garrihy last August.

The sisters have had a hugely successful year. Several of their students were award winners at the world famous famous Feile Luimni.

As well as creative drama and feiseanna, the students participated in the Leinster School of Music and Drama exams in April of this year and each one received first class honours.

“We are extremely proud of all of our students. The standard in Clare and indeed our school is very high and in a time when the importance of self confidence is becoming more and more apparent our focus is on developing crucial skills which we hope will benefit our students greatly,” said Aiobhín of the student’s achievements.

Two students of the Actors and Reactors School of Speech and Drama, Ava Rochford and Anna Moloney, were nominated for an excellence award for their outstanding performance in drama. They performed for a panel of judges in Griffith College, Dublin, on July 5.

Aoibhín is currently playing Jane Bennett in Alan Stanford’s production of Jane Austen’s famous ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in the Gate Theatre Dublin.

THE cash strapped Rape Crisis Centre in Clare is forced to close its doors from Monday for one month.

The service that provides counselling and services to victims of rape and sexual abuse throughout the county has been forced to take this action due to lack of funds.

The Rape Crisis Mid West, of which Clare is part, made the decision to close the Nenagh centre during the month of July and Clare in September when it was apparent it could not make up the annual shortfall of € 120,000.

Verena Tarpey of the Rape Crisis Mid West explained, “We are part funded by the Government to carry out our services – the service in the entire mid-west, taking in the three centres including Limerick, Clare and Tipperary cost approximately € 450,000 – we face an annual shortfall of approximately € 120,000 which we must bridge by fundraising.

“We receive no government funding to service the overheads connected with the Ennis centre and must fundraise locally to raise this deficit. We did not foresee us being in a position to bridge this significant shortfall this year and made the decision to temporarily close Ennis in September, Nenagh in June and provide a skeletal service in Limerick for the summer,” she said.

As well as dealing with a financial shortfall the service is also working with a waiting list of 30 people who are in need of long-term counselling.

Those on the list must wait approximately three to four months for medium- to long-term support and counselling, and that timeline has now been extended again as a result of the temporary forced closure of Clare’s only centre.

Ms Tarpey said it was important to highlight the fact that despite the financial challenges facing the organisation, emergency cases and crisis calls would be dealt with immediately.

“It is important to distinguish this from crisis support that we provide where no person will be turned away. For example, if a person rings our centre looking for support in the immediate aftermath of a rape, either he or she will be seen immediately, often within an hour or a couple of hours. Likewise, if a person rings us in relation to past abuse and are in crisis at present, we will offer them support within hours or days. All those on the waiting list are monitored and contacted and are offered up to six weeks of support counselling while they are on the waiting list,” she said.

Meanwhile the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) in the midwest, will continue to run uninterrupted.

This is an out of hours service for 12 hours from 6pm.

The unit is a forensic facility where someone who has been raped or sexually assaulted can be forensically examined.

In the mid-west, the SATU unit is activated by the Garda only when a report is made and is not a walk-in unit. Rape Crisis Midwest provide a trained volunteer to attend the forensic examination when called.

“We have a roster of volunteers every night of the year. The role of the SATU volunteer from a rape crisis perspective is to provide crisis support to victim/survivor on initial attendance to the SATU,” said Ms Tarpey.

“We are also there to support victim before, during and after the forensic examination to provide support, advocacy and information and the reporting, examination and SATU process to liaise with the forensic examiner, nurse and any attending garda on the person’s behalf.”

IN A bid to avoid closing the county’s only Rape Crisis Centre again in 2015, supporters for the charity have begun its biggest fundraiser of the year. The Dainty Daisy Contest, described as the “Lovely Girls competition for Men”, will raise funds for the Rape Crisis Centre in Ennis and all funds raised will stay in the county.

Already 12 men have signed up for the contest in the Treacys West County Hotel on November 1, and the organisation is looking for more men in high heels to take on the challenge.

Rape Crisis Services in the midwest, including Clare, costs an estimated € 570,000 each year. While the Government provide € 450,000 towards the service, manned mostly by volunteers, a shortfall of € 120,000 must be found through fundraising.

This year the shortfall could not be met and the Clare service, which depends 100 per cent on fundraising, has to close for the month of September.

Friends of the charity said raising funds for the charity is difficult, as those that use the service who want to give back by supporting fundraisers often cannot do so publicly.

“Raising funds for the Rape Crisis Centre is a challenge, least of all because those that use the service do so in confidence and often without the knowledge of even their closest friends and family,” explained Cllr Mary Howard, who has been a volunteer fundraiser with the organisation for a number of years.

“That is one of the things we struggle with as a centre because, in the vast majority of cases for organisations that are charities, people would be very open about using something perhaps like a cancer support service or a hospital where perhaps their child was ill or other charities that support illnesses or conditions. The vast majority of our clients and the 85 people that are coming through the mid-west every week, and that does not include those on the phone, the vast majority of these people will not go public and say they were sexually abused as a child or an adult and ‘I am going public to raise money for this organisation’,” added Verena Tarpey from Rape Crisis Centre Mid West.

She said while funds for the centre are being cut, the need for the service is increasing especially since the recession.

“Often a new crisis brings up a sexual abuse as a child and it needs to be dealt with,” she said.

“We are trying to change the public perception of who the rape crisis centre is for an who goes through it. It is for ordinary people who may have been sexually abused or have had some sort of sexual violence in the past.”

This is the third year of the Dainty Daisy competition and it is hoped that it will raise much needed and urgent funds for the Clare Rape Crisis service.

Those wishing to support the fundraiser can do so by sponsoring a “Daisy”, attending the event on November 1 or nominating their own “Dainty Daisy” to take part.

Anyone wishing to support the Rape Crisis Service in Clare can contact Verena at verena. tarpey@rapecrisis.ie or Mary at maryhoward2009@gmail.com or by contacting

PICKPOCKETS are targetting Ennis with up to three separate incidents reported to Ennis gardaí on Wednesday last alone.

On each occasion wallets were stolen from unsuspecting tourists, all from back pocket locations.

Gardaí are warning members of the public to be on the lookout for suspicious behaviour and to keep valuables in front pockets for safety.

The latest warning comes almost three weeks after a public announcement was issued to supporters at the Clare – Cork Munster U-21 hurling final in Cusack Park, alerting the large attendance to reports of pickpockets among the crowd. This was an unprecedented public announcement at a Clare GAA match.

It is suspected that a gang with pickpocket expertise are ‘dropping in and out of Ennis’, identifying targets and then leaving the town quickly.

Gardaí are understood to be examining street CCTV pictures from a number of locations throughout Ennis in a bid to identify the thieves.

However an American tourist who had his wallet stolen in Ennis last week has said the experience did not ruin his visit to the town.

Timothy Sweeney from Washington told The Clare People last week how his wallet was taken from a rear pants pocket near Parnell Street on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Sweeney explained that he turned and bumped into a young man.

He said it was only after the encounter that he noticed his wallet was missing. Mr Sweeney said the wallet contained € 110 and $200 and a number of credit cards.

“I was walking around with my camera out. It was obvious I was a tourist. I guess they thought I was an easy mark. It’s a lesson learned”, Mr Sweeney told The Clare People .

A WEST Clare artist, commissioned to sculpt a marble bust of Bobby Sands, saw his work unveiled in the Felon’s Club in West Belfast at the beginning of the month. Paraic Casey from Kildysart was working with white marble on the Greek Island of Thassos when he was approached by the Bobby Sands Memorial Trust to create a piece of sculpture to represent the iconic hun- ger striker. The 100 kilo piece was unveiled by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams in the club dedicated to republican political prisoners as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The bust was hand-carved by the 31-year-old Clareman over two and a half months and three locations. The work began on Thassos Island and the marble was then moved to Athens while Paraic attended the Athens School of Sculpture. The life-size bust that stands at 60cm in height, 50cm in length and 35cm in width was then shipped to Kildysart to Paraic’s workshop for completion. The young sculptor explains that there were no short cuts taken with the work as it was all completed by hand. He even made the pointer he used to carve the piece using clay and then casting it in plaster. “I felt very grateful to be allowed to do this work and I would love to do more realist pieces like this,” said Paraic. “A lot of the work I do is garden sculpture and abstract work, but I enjoy doing realist pieces too. I work mainly in stone – limestone, granite and marble, but have also done some abstract work in wood.” From as early as three years old Paraic has been creating pieces of sculpture. He attended art college in Limerick but his love of sculpture saw him leave other mediums behind in favour of sculpting. He attended the School of Sculpture in Leitrim where he learnt his craft and further honed his talent in Greece. He hopes to continue to make commissioned pieces of all shapes and sizes from his workshop in West Clare.

CLARE County Council spent € 742.15 last month on the official launch of the its new Local Enterprise Office (LEO), but the spend was far from the € 4,000 splurge of some other local authorities or the frugal celebrations of Leitrim County Council who partied for just € 30.

On July 14, the Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry, officially launched LEO at Áras Contae an Chláir in Ennis, a department that has been operational since mid April.

Combining the resources of the Clare County Enterprise Board and Clare County Council’s business support unit, Clare LEO is one of 31 around Ireland that is tasked with delivering services and support to busi- nesses within a framework set by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and overseen by Enterprise Ireland.

According to figures released in a parliamentary question, 27 local authorities have already hosted official events to launch these offices.

The € 742.15 spent by Clare County Council on the official launch included photography costs.

The efforts of the neighbouring local authority, Tipperary County Council, were not as prudent however as it ran up the largest bill of € 4,385, which included a € 1,449 catering bill and a € 1,000 marquee hire.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown also ran up a bill over € 4,000 with the Taoiseach’s home county of Mayo coming in third with costs reaching € 3,717.

Clare was well below the mid-way mark in 16th place when it came to costs, but it was Leitrim that proved to be the most entrepreneurial when it came to showcasing its enterprise office. The € 30 it spent was for the cost of a courier to deliver a stand. The tea and coffee for the celebration was provided by the council canteen and kitchen with two small local companies displaying their home baking and providing the food free of charge.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said official launches of these offices, which cost a total € 38,528.81, were part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness of their role.

“Each LEO has a small allocation for events such as these and the costs are incorporated into each Office’s budgets for the year,” he said.

SCORES of Clare horses are being trapped in a circle of neglect with many horse owners literally unable to give their animals away.

The number of Clare horse owners increased sharply during the Celtic Tigers years but reports of cruelty and abandonment have been widespread since the economic downturn, with many people now unable to af- ford the cost of keeping the animals properly.

However, according to Clare dog warden Frankie Coote, a large number of Clare horses are suffering from neglect on numerous occasions – with their owners unable to get rid of the animals. With a large number of horses bought or sold on the black market, many Clare horse owners have no longer got the money to keep their animals but do not have the documentation to sell their animals.

“We are dealing with the same horses now as we were dealing with four or five years ago. Because of difficulties with passports and microchips, there people are unable to sell them on to factories which has resulted in a lot of people owning horses who don’t have the means to look after them,” said Frankie Coote.

“We are being called out to the same horses again and again over the past four years. These horses are getting no vetinarial treatment, their hoofs are not being done and they are not being fed right. They are not getting adequate water in many cases.”

A number of Clare cases of animal cruelty have currently been referred to the DPP for possible investigation.

“We can take animals away in severe cases and we have sent a number of files to the DPP in relation to cases from last year,” said Frankie.

“But we do have a situation at the moment where we have a lot of peo- ple who just can’t take care of their animals but can’t get rid of them either. People should know that in emergency cases we have fodder for horses available and vetinarial fees available – so people can contact us for help.

“We are expecting this to be a difficult winter and we are certainly advising people not to over stock. But I think we need a legislation change really to allow for these [undocumented] horses to be moved on.”

THE Clare construction industry is beginning to come back to life with a marked increase in the number of projects actually being commenced in the first half of this year.

The number of commencement orders issued in Clare has grown by a massive 53 per cent compared to last year. While these figures have been broadly welcomed, industry insiders have stressed that the growth is from a very low level and it will take a prolonged period of similar growth before the construction industry in Clare returns to a sustainable level.

There was further good news for the construction sector as the number of planning applications lodged in Clare during the first half of 2014 is up by more than 12 per cent when compared to the same period during 2013.

Commencement orders are considered to be a much more accurate way of mapping the health of the construction sector in a region as a large proportion of planning applications in recent years refer to the retention of historic planning applications, many of which may go forward to the construction stage.

Despite Clare’s positive showing in the National Housing Construction Index, the county is actually lagging behind the country as a whole with Ireland recording an overall increase of 66 per cent in commencements so far in 2014.

“The year on year increases for planning applications and project commencements bodes well for the construction sector in the short to medium term. The 66 per cent year on year increase in project commencements is incredibly positive, notwithstanding the slowdown in the rate of growth in project commencements since the start of the year,” said Danny O’Shea of Link2Plans who compile the National Housing Construction Index.

ENNIS is facing its worst ever rental property crisis – with prices set to rise by at least 10 per cent over the next 12 months.

The rental market in the county town is on the verge of grinding to a standstill – with just 29 properties available for rent in Ennis today, and only 12 three-bedroom, family style homes.

Rental property prices rose by 2.2 per cent in the the second quarter of this year – with the lions share of this rise being driven by Ennis.

A normally functioning rental market should see more than five per cent of the total property stock on the rent- al market at any time. Ennis requires a 1600 per cent increase on current stock levels to get close to that level.

“The last six months has seen a sharp decline on the number of properties available to rent in Ennis. We had a property last week which was rented after its first viewing for a increased rent, a lot of properties aren’t making it to the property websites they are going so fast,” said Mairead Carrig of Location Location in Ennis.

“Properties are being snapped up very quickly and there are very few new builds coming through. It would not be unrealistic if we saw price increases of 10 per cent of more in the year ahead. The powers that be need to make it easier for builders to get back to work in Ennis.”

The divisions between Clare’s two speed rental market also appears to be deepening with a large number of properties still available for rent outside of urban areas.

According to Ronan Lyons of Daft. ie, Ennis is just six months off a property shortage similar to those currently being experienced in Dublin and Cork.

Unlike Dublin and Cork however, there are few building projects planned for Ennis in the short and medium term.

“The figures for Ennis are really dramatic. A healthy market should have between 5 or 10 per cent of properties for sale at any one time but there is nothing close to that at the moment,” he said.

“Ennis is in the same boat as Cork and Dublin, there is just a lack of available accommodation, but it just on a small scale. Ultimately, this can only lead to large increases in rents.

“We have seen rent rises in four of the last five quarters in Clare and I could see rent rises significantly in the county over the next six months. It is very difficult to predict but I wouldn’t be surprising to see rents for the whole of the county rising by between 5 and 10 per cent in the year ahead.

“The places will see this the most is in Ennis and the parts of Clare which are close to Limerick and Galway. More and more now people want to be closer to jobs and services.”