Category: News

THE Employments Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has found that a council foreman who allegedly threatened to set himself alight in a work van four years ago was unfairly dismissed.

Awarding Joseph Floyd Snr, Lower Main Street, Tulla, € 30,000 for unfair dismissal, the EAT also found that the Clare County Council employee was not given sufficient notice of his dismissal and awarded him just over € 4,000.

Clare County Council can appeal the finding to the Circuit Court.

While the EAT ordered the council to pay Mr Floyd compensation it ruled out his reinstatement.

On May 13, 2010, local gardaí assisted by the armed Garda Emergency Response Unit, and the Fire Service were called to the incident at Feakle during which Mr Floyd had a petrol can and lighter with him in his van, while he protested against the outsourcing of council work to sub-contractors.

In the course of the hearing, the council gave evidence that the fore- man threatened to set himself and council property alight, leading to a lot of concern for his, and others’, safety.

Mr Floyd challenged this later claim in the tribunal.

The tribunal also heard that a letter was given to Mr Floyd during the stand off ass“uring him his job was safe.

Clare County Council official Leonard Cleary said he issued a letter “under duress” and “this formula of words used worked to save a life”.

He added that a union official on site during the “difficult and volatile situation” had seen the letter and was aware of the situation.

The day after the incident Joseph Floyd presented to work at Clare County Council, but was placed on administrative leave “for health and safety reasons and for his own well being”.

Mr Floyd then spoke to the local radio station Clare FM. Later that day Mr Floyd was informed by letter that he was suspended from work and an internal council investigation got underway.

In September 2011, the council told Mr Floyd that he was dismissed after finding him guilty of three charges of gross misconduct.

Mr Floyd appealed the findings and an unfair dismissal hearing as well as a hearing into failure to give minimum notice was heard over four days during dates on June 2013, October 2013, February 2014 and May 2014.

The tribunal satisfied itself that the claimant’s employment ended on 6 September, 2011, when he was dismissed without notice but the tribunal was not satisfied that a dismissal without notice was justified.

“The claimant had more than the 15 years’ service required to seek the maximum minimum notice award of eight weeks’ gross pay,” the three-person tribunal found.

The tribunal also found it unfair that the council found Mr Floyd guilty of serious insubordination, as he had not been charged with that.

“There was a lack of evidence to substantiate the charge of bringing the name of the council into disrepute. The tribunal was not satisfied that this charge was sufficiently proven to warrant dismissal.”

THE PEOPLE of Liscannor, Doolin and all of North Clare are in mourning today following the tragic death of local man TJ McDonagh.

TJ, who was 38-years old, passed away on Wednesday evening after a tragic accident while working on his family farm in Moher.

This is the third time that tragedy has touched the McDonagh family with TJ’s brother Declan losing his life in a motorcycle accident in Lisdoonvarna in 2002, while his uncle also died in a motorcycle tragedy in the 1960s.

TJ’s funeral took place at St Brigid’s Church Liscannor on Saturday, on the same day that his brothers 12 year anniversary mass was due to take place.

Mr McDonagh, who was an agricultural contractor by trade, was responsible for much of the restoration work which took place in the area following this winter’s devastating storms.

Indeed, TJ cleared the devastated Doolin Pier on three separate occasions in January and February, restoring access for the ferry operators and Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

TJ was also a great lover of the Aran Island and was planning to visit Inis Oirr for the curragh races this weekend. A number of boats servicing Doolin pier flew at half mast over the weekend in his honour.

“He was a great person and a great friend of everyone on the boats,” said Donnie Garrihy of the Doolin to Aran Ferries.

“He was a great worker, a great businessman and a real man.

“He came to our assistance on three separate times over the winter when the storms hit Doolin. He will be missed.”

TJ passed away while he was fitting a wheel at his family farm on Wednesday evening.

TJ’s father Tommy heard a loud bang just after 7.30pm and ran and discover his son, who had sustained a serious head injury understood to have been caused by the wheel exploding.

An ambulance from Ennistymon along with a second ambulance and rapid response advanced paramedic unit from Ennis were sent to the scene. Gardaí and a local doctor also responded to the emergency call.

He was airlifted to Galway University Hospital where he died shortly afterwards.

He is survived by his mother Mary, father Tommy as well as his brother Brian and sisters Fiona, Stella and Marian.

A MAN has appeared in court charged in connection with a robbery in Ennis town centre last month.

James Connors (20), who is originally from the Shannon area, appeared before Ennis District Court yesterday.

Mr Connors, who is stated of being of no fixed abode, is accused of committing a robbery at Riverwalk, Woodquay, Ennis, on July 22. He is alleged to have robbed a HTC 1 mobile phone worth € 600 from a man.

He initially was brought before Ennis District Court earlier this month and the case came back before Judge Grainne O’Neill yesterday.

Garda Inspector John O’Sullivan told Judge O’Neill that an issue concerning an address for Mr Connors had to be resolved for bail to be finalised.

Judge O’Neill rose for a few minutes to allow gardaí check out the address supplied by Mr Connors.

When the case resumed, Insp O’Sullivan said the address – given in court as Caherdavin Meadows, Old Cratloe Road, Limerick – was acceptable to gardaí.

Mr Connors was granted bail sub- ject to a number of conditions.

He was ordered to reside at the stated address; sign on at Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick and observe a curfew between the hours of 12 midnight and 8am.

Mr Connors was ordered not to have any contact with the alleged victim or witnesses in the case.

He was further ordered to stay out of Ennis except for court appearances and pre-arranged consultations with his solicitor.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey requested the conditions be amended to allow her client collect a social welfare payment in Ennis.

She said Mr Connors is currently in the process of transferring collection of his dole money from Ennis to Limerick.

Insp O’Sullivan said this was acceptable to the gardaí. Judge O’Neill granted bail and remanded Mr Connors on bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on September.

Addressing the accused, she told Mr Connors that any breach of bail would be treated by the court as a serious matter.

Judge O’Neill warned Mr Connors that if he were to breach the terms of his bail, he could be brought back to court and potentially be taken into custody.

FRIENDS of a Polish man who died in tragic circumstances in Ennis earlier this year turned out in large numbers on Friday night to celebrate his memory.

Over 80 people attended a memorial soccer match in Ballycasey between an international selection of players and local club Rineanna Rovers.

The charity match was held in memory of the late Robert Godzisz.

Mr Godzisz, a factory worker who lived in Ennis since 2005, died following a suspected suicide in Ennis in June, four days before his 33rd birthday.

The father of one was a popular figure and respected figure in the community and was known for his love of soccer. He was actively involved in anti-racism campaigns and through his association with the Clare Intercultural Network, helped found the Ennis International soccer team.

Robert worked at the Organic Lens factory in Ennis.

A total of 52 players: Irish, Polish, Slovakian, French and Filipino – all united by soccer and their friendship with Robert – were involved in the game on Friday, which was organised by the Robert’s former club Rineanna Rovers.

Marcin Piotrowski, a friend and former work colleague of Robert, said the purpose of the game was to raise money to cover soccer fees for Robert’s 11-year-old son in Poland.

“From now on every year we are going to play a memorial game,” Marcin explained.

Marcin said he hoped the game would also help highlight the issue of suicide and generate discussion on how it can be addressed.

“In the last few months, two Polish people took their own lives. Our community is shocked about it because everyone knows them well. There are around 2,000 Polish people here in Clare and we all know each other well. People are quite close. For everyone, it was quite a shock. That’s the reason why people are trying to help as much as possible,” he said.

“He was a very important member of our community, always in- volved in soccer, in preparation of the games and building international teams, fighting against racism,” said Marcin of his friend.

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.”

GOOD news keeps landing at Shannon Airport as as new figures from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirm another impressive month of growth at the Clare Airport.

After passing out Cork Airport just last month, and reclaiming its position as Ireland’s second largest airport, Shannon begun to pull away from its Munster rival.

According to the new Air Traffic Figures for July, compiled by the IAA, Shannon Airport recorded an 18 per cent growth in the number of daily commercial flight coming through the airport compared to July of 2013.

More impressive than the percentage growth however is the number of commercial flights which are landing at the Clare airport each day.

An average of 74 daily commercial movements were recorded at Shannon Airport in July – the largest monthly average for more than four years. This compares to 66 daily commercial movement in Cork for the same period.

While commercial movement do not necessarily translate directly to passenger numbers, it is expected that Shannon Airport will also have passed out Cork Airport when those figures are released later this year.

This growth in traffic through Shannon Airport comes in the way of the decoupling of the airport from the Dublin Airport Authority. During 2012 Shannon Airport was close to being passed out by Knock Airport in Mayo as Ireland third busiest airport.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistic Office have compiled detailed figures for Shannon last year which show that the airport hosted 1,308,242 passengers last year – with four out of every ten passengers travelling to or from London.

The most popular route was Shannon to Heathrow which carried 258,000 passengers while Shannon-Stansted and Shannon-Gatwick hosted 183,000 and 104,000 respectively.

In the same year, more than 200,000 people travelled between Shannon and New York with 107,000 travelling from Shannon to Newark and 102 travelling from Shannon to JFK.

THERE are more than 100 extra vacant commercial premises in Clare compared to this time last year – despite anecdotal evidence of improvement in the local economy.

The latest report from the Geo Directory tracker has found that the rate of vacant premises has risen from 11.4 per cent last year, to 12.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2014 – meaning that 904 of Clare’s 7,030 premises are now vacant, compared to 801 last year.

The chairperson of Ennis Cham- ber of Commerce, Rita McInerney, described the figures as disappointing but stressed that sections of the Clare economy are experiencing a recovery.

“I am disappointed that the rate has gone up because the general feeling within business is that things are broadly improving. I think it reflects the challenges that the retail sections are facing at the moment,” she said.

“This is indicative of the pressure that the retail trade is under. Retail is the sector that will always require premises when new businesses start.”

The Ennis Chamber is keen to forward new approaches to retail, such as the creation of a Business Improvement District, to allow businesses to win back customers from large retail parks and online shopping sites.

“The creation of a Business Improvement District is one of the weapons we can use to tackle vacant units in Ennis and other town centres. These districts strive to reenergise town centres and ensure that there is the right mix of shops and facilities to give customers what they want,” continued Rita.

“There is a real possibility of challenge online shopping by giving people a different sort of shopping experience. Online shopping is clinical, it’s unsocial and people are looking for that social kind of shopping experience.

“It’s about being able to offer people a complete experience. Online shopping serves a purpose, people are social by their nature and a lot of people are looking for an experience when they shop.”

Discussions on the creation of a Business Improvement District in Ennis are ongoing amongst businesses involved in the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

ENNIS has moved up the litter free league table by 10 places, retaining its “Clean to European Norm” status. The awarding body, Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), said yesterday that it would prefer to see this town push on to a higher position on the table.

According to the report carried out by An Taisce for IBAL, “the top ranking sites in Ennis were not just clear of litter but well presented and maintained”.

The sites that made the A grade included Clare Leisure World, Garden of Remembrance and Recycle Facility at Ennis Shopping Centre.

St Patrick’s Terrace and the road from the town centre at Carmody Street out to square at Dalcassian Avenue were also given the top grade, as were Dalcassian Avenue and the N68 / N67 Kilrush – Kilkee Approach Road to Ennis.

The An Taisce inspector was less impressed with the Mill Road River Walk giving the area a poor C rating.

“This is an extensive site incorporating the river walk, hurling monument and Ennis Civic Trust Amenity Project at the Weir. It is a lovely environment, which has been poorly treated. The area beside the hurling monument was clean and tidy but across the road at Civic Trust Project garden was a different story – there were heavy levels of a wide variety of litter at the sluice gates. Throughout the rest of the area surveyed cigarette butts were very pronounced along the paving and there were several separate incidents of graffiti, including on one of the statues,” the report said.

Ennis Shopping Centre received a grade B. “This was a freshly presented and generally quite well maintained environment – car park surface / signage / markings were in good order and the interior was spot- less. However, cigarette butts and chewing gum were very prevalent throughout the exterior,” the inspector maintained.

The Clare County Council Recycle Bank at the Leisure Facility also got a B.

“This was a somewhat littered site but certainly much improved on previous IBAL Anti-Litter survey. The area to the base of the bins and surrounding shrubbery harboured a variety of food related litter and bottles tops. Two clothing recycle bins were overflowing. Extensive and colourful signage was very clear about not leaving items if bins were full,” the report said. MAUREENO’GORMAN(née O’ Shaughnessy) , Corbally, Kilkee. Peacefully. Reposing on Wednesday evening, August 20, at Lillis’Funeral Home in Kilkee from 6.30pm, with removal at 8pm to Kilkee Parish Church. RequeimMassonThursdayat 11.30amfollowed by burial in Lisdeen Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

ONE hundred and fifteen jobs at one of Clare’s leading employers are safe – following the buyout of Ennistymon’s Data Display by US firm Daktronics yesterday.

The buyout, which was announced to the US stock market yesterday morning, could see an increase in employment in Ennistymon with an investment promised by the NASDAQ-listed company.

Data Display has been a landmark company since it was founded by local businessman Kevin Neville in 1978. While Mr Neville took a step back from the company in 2007, both Paul and Ann Marie Neville retain a senior management role within the company and are expected to remain in their roles as the company passes to Daktronics.

According to a company spokesperson, careful negotiations have been underway between Daktronics and Data Display for the past 12 months.

“Daktronics have given a firm commitment to the company here and the employees in Ennistymon. They have a long-term view of the facility here and they want to bring investment here for production and engineering,” said Paul Horan of Data Display.

“A growth in employment is certainly possible but I would not want to overstate it at this point. There is talk about the future but everyone is being very careful not to overstate anything. My own personal view is that there is good potential for growth here in the future.”

In a statement to The Clare People yesterday, Daktronics confirmed that they would retain the Data Display workforce.

“We believe Daktronics and Data Display complement each other well. Daktronics is active in the transportation business, mainly in the United States, and we have a global presence with offices and people in many countries, currently focused on sports, third-party advertising and video solutions,” said Daktronics CEO Reece Kurtenbach.

“Adding the strengths of Data Display will allow our combined organisations to better serve transportation customers worldwide and broaden our leadership position on a global scale. Daktronics looks forward to further expanding its customer and market focus in Europe and surrounding areas.”

THE body of a woman who died after she tripped and fell under a train in Dublin was returned home to Kilrush for burial.

Patricia Brennan was killed in the tragic accident on Thursday afternoon.

The Cappagh native who had been living in Dublin was blind. She was waiting on the platform at Raheny DART station just before 2pm when she tripped and fell onto the track as a fast-moving train was approaching.

Irish Rail said the driver put on the emergency brake but could not stop the train before it hit the woman.

She was hit by a train travelling from the city’s Pearse Street station to Drogheda, which was not scheduled to stop in Raheny station.

The 57 year-old was rushed to Beaumont Hospital, but later died.

It is understood a group of Spanish students were on the southbound platform at the time of the incident and witnessed the fall.

One of them broke away along the platform and tried to alert the driver of the oncoming train.

Ms Brennan’s family came originally from Scattery Island but have lived on the main land in Cappagh for more than 50 years.

Local man Sean Dunleavy, who went to school with the late Ms Brennan said she was a lovely woman who returned regularly to the town to visit her mother.

She is survived by her mother Bridget, sister Maria, brother-inlaw Jim, aunts, uncles, relatives and friends and was predeceased by her father and her brother.

Irish Rail offered its sympathies to the Brennan family and Ms Brennan’s friends for their tragic loss.

“Despite the efforts of the driver who applied the emergency brake and a young woman on the southbound platform who also alerted the driver to the incident, it was not possible to stop the train before it struck the woman,” a spokesman said.

Irish Rail said the driver of the train would receive counselling and support following the incident.

“Customers on board the train remained on board throughout, but were moved to the rear of the train away from where the emergency services were assisting the woman,” the spokesman added.

Patricia was laid to rest in New Shanakyle Cemetery Kilrush yesterday (Monday), following 10am Mass in St Senan’s Church.