Category: News

ENNIS’ grid-lock problems at peak periods are set to be alleviated from this Wednesday when the long-awaited inner relief road finally opens up for traffic.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) will formally declare the road open at a special ceremony at Friar’s Walk Coach Park at 10.30am, bringing to an end a long running saga for the provision of a new road to alleviate traffic problems in the county capital.

The final stage of the project was signalled in July when Ennis Town Council revealed that the final phase of the road was to begin later that month after the local local authority signed a € 360,000 construction contract with Gildoc Limited.

The contract provided for the construction of 180 metres of single carriageway road, footpaths and serv- ices, including new traffic lights at Station Road and Clare Road.

The Ennis Inner Relief Road Section E contract, to be delivered by Ennis-based Liam O’Doherty Building Contractor on behalf of Gildoc Limited, had a completion deadline for late September but was held up until final funding was secured.

At the time, outgoing Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) praised the local authority “for delivering this project which many had feared would not go ahead due to the “current fiscal constraints”.

“However, the necessary funding has been secured to ensure the delivery of what will be a very beneficial infrastructure project for Ennis town centre.

“It will complement similar road projects in recent years, including the section of the Inner Relief Road from Station Road to Francis Street and the Ennis Bypass, in further reducing traffic congestion in the Clare county capital,” he added.

“The new road will link Station Road at Madden’s Furniture to Friar’s Walk, the Causeway, Clare Road at Cathedral Court,” explained Eamon O’Dea, Ennis Town Engineer.

“This 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,” added Cllr Guilfoyle.

CLARE’S hopes of gaining bilingual status from the Department of the Gaeltacht have been boosted significantly this week on the back the 2011 National Census of Population report which says that nearly half of the county’s population are able to speak the language – the second highest ranking of any county in Ireland.

The findings, published by the Central Statistics Office as part of the latest bulletin report on last year’s census, called ‘What We Know – A study of education and skills in Ireland’, have revealed that the number of Irish speakers in the county is now running ahead of the average for the rest of Munster.

“A total of 53,853 persons in County Clare, accounting for 48 per cent of the population aged three and over, indicated that they could speak Irish. This compared to 41 per cent for the State as a whole,” a CSO spokesperson has revealed.

The breakdown of these figures has revealed that only Galway, with 51 per cent of its population being able to speak Irish, has a higher ranking than Clare. This means that Clare has a high percentage of its population speaking Irish than Gaeltacht counties such as Kerry and Donegal.

A further breakdown of these Clare figures has revealed that the majority of Irish speakers are females, with 29,145 females proficient in the language as compared to 24,708 males.

Meanwile, the upsurge in knowledge and interest in the language has been reflected in figures which show that there are now Irish speakers in over 60 per cent of households in the county. The figures show that of 42,648 households in Clare, 25,704 of those have Irish speakers in them, a figure which represents 60.3 per cent of households throughout the county.

However, a breakdown of these figures has revealed that only 1,539 people in the county speak the language on a daily basis outside of the education system, a figure that accounts for just 1.4 per cent of the total population aged three and over, compared to the state average of 1.8 per cent.

The largest concentration of Irish speakers is in the county capital of Ennis, with 11,277 of the town area’s population of 25,360 claiming to be speakers of the language. This trans

lates into ?? per cent of the population, a figure that represents a boon to local hopes the ‘Inis Dom’ project will see the town granted bilingual status by 2018. “We have a five-year plan to make Ennis a bilingual town and we think we can do this,” said local language activist, Domhnall Ó Loinsigh when launching the Inis Dom project last year. “As a town, Ennis would very much be to the fore as an urban community that is promoting Irish. We are very confident that through Irish, something can be done to make Ennis a place apart.

“This is about enhancing the visibility and use of Irish in the town and there is no cost involved. It is also about promoting the cultural image of the town, making it a more attractive place for visitors and as a more attractive shopping destination,” he added.

The second largest number of Irish speakers is located in Shannon, with 3,759 of the town’s population of 10,058 able to speak the language, while third and fourth in the county’s league table of Irish speakers are Kilrush and Sixmilebridge with 966 and 895 respectively.

A FINAL decision on whether fracking will be allowed to take place in the West Clare Basin will not be made until 2014 at the earlier, it was revealed yesterday. The terms of reference for a major Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on the viability of fracking are currently being drawn up and the report will not be completed until 2014.

The Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte (LAB), has confirmed that no decision on whether to grant a licence for commercial fracking will not be taken until after the EPA report in completed.

British-based company, Enigi Oil, was granted limited exploration right in an area around Doonbeg earlier this year and provisional data indicates that a commercial fracking operation could be sustained in the area. This prompted a large anti-fracking campaign locally which resulted in councillors at Clare County Council voting to change the County Development Plan to ban fracking earlier this year. This move is of little legal value however, as the power to grant a license for fracking lies solely with the Minister for Energy.

The EPA produced an initial study on fracking earlier this year but Minister Rabbitte requested that a second, more detailed, study be produced. The steering group for this research was announced last week and will include representatives from the EPA, Department of Environment, the Department of Environment, in Northern Ireland, the Commission for Energy Regulation, An Bord Pleanála and the Department of Energy.

The Clare Basin is one of two locations in Ireland where the possibility of commercial fracking has been identified. Fracking involves drilling large vertical tunnels deep underground and then using pressurised water and other material to crack and shatter the shale rock located there and release the natural gas trapped inside. The technique has been blamed for causing earthquakes in some parts of the world and has also be sighted a possible major pollutant to local water system.

THE women of Clare place a far greater emphasis on education than their male counterparts, the latest bulletin report of the 2011 National Census of Population has revealed.

The ninth report published by the Central Statistics Office since the census was taken in April 2011 presents a profile of the education and skills of the county’s population of 117,196, focusing in detail on age leaving education and field of study in which qualifications are held.

The Clare figures show that there are 17,533 people in the county with a third level qualification, but that a much larger proportion of these graduates are women. There are 10,084 women graduates to 7,449 male graduates.

A breakdown of these figures reveals that 58 per cent of graduates in the county are female, as against 42 per cent of males. Meanwhile, the percentage of female graduates in the county runs two per cent higher than the national average, with males graduates are two per cent lower than the national average.

“Twenty nine per cent of people aged 15 and over in the county in 2011 had a third level qualification, with 24 per cent were college graduates. The figure of 29 compares with 31 per cent for the State as a whole,” a CSO spokesperson told The Clare People .

“Twenty one per cent of all men aged 15 and over who had ceased full time education men were third level graduates compared with 28 per cent of women. A total of 398 people aged 15 and over who had completed their education held a Doctorate (Ph.D.) level qualification in April 2011.

“The social sciences, business and law category was by far the most popular field of study among all those with post-secondary school qualifications in the county in 2011, with 6,809 persons holding a qualification in this area,” the spokesperson added.

A PROPOSAL by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to build a car park on the edge of the site earmarked for the controversial Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre is “part of a process” that will eventually lead to the building of a visitor facility in the area.

This warning has been sounded out by the Burren Action Group (BAG) this week as part of its detailed submission to Clare County Council planners opposing the NPWS plans for the car park at Knockaunroe in the Burren National Park.

The 15-page document was lodged with the planning authority on Friday ahead of this Monday’s closing date for submissions. It has warned that the car park will “create a new set of risks” in the Burren – chief among these a covert plan of “induced development” designed to eventually bring about the building of visitor facilities at Gortalecka, the original site earmarked for the Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre.

The BAG submission highlights what it calls the “danger of incremental development at the core of the (National) Park”, saying that the planning application was the “thin end of the wedge” and precursor for further development.

“The proposal excludes the provision of toilet facilities, picnic tables etc., it is inevitable that a demand will be created for these facilities on the site in the near future,” the BAG submission states. “Consequently, future applications for extension of the car park and provision of such facilities are to be expected. The initial choice of this site for a car park may be seen as the ‘thin end of the wedge’ for future provision of visitor facilities on the Gortlecka site. It will inevitably create demand for further development at the core of the park,” it adds.

The proposed car park facility is on the proposed site for the overflow car park that was originally included in the ‘Gortlecka’ application, a move that has prompted the BAG to claim that the NPWS application is going against decisions handed down by An Bord Pleanála and Supreme Court.

“The NPWS were obliged, by Bord Pleanála and Court decisions, to restore and rehabilitate the Gortlecka site at very considerable cost to the NPWS and the taxpayer,” says the BAG submission. “Consequently, the current application seems contrary to the intent of previous An Bord Pleanála and court decisions,” it adds.

CLARE County Council are set to review sections of the County Development Plan that prevent people from selling a property built in certain parts of the county for seven years after its construction.

Councillors decided at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council to review the situation, following a joint motion put forward by Cllrs PJ Kelly (FF), Tom McNamara (FF) and Joe Cooney (FG).

According to councillors, a change to the current County Development Plan could promote construction work in parts of the county and allow people who have been forced to emigrate to offload properties at home.

At present, a property owner can apply to Clare County Council for a condition of a planning permission to be changed.

The council yesterday declined a suggestion from Cllr PJ Kelly to advertise the existence of this process in the local media.

“These mechanisms were put in place to grant planning permission where development would otherwise not have been possible, not to prevent developed. Planning systems are about proper planning and not economic decisions and I think that is as it should be,” said Director of Services for Clare County Council, Ger Dollard.

“Anybody can apply to have the conditions removed under the current situation. But putting an ad like that in the paper would only give false hope to people. There are no easy solutions to this and I don’t think that just letting the conditions be changed is the way forward.”

Councillors yesterday put a timeframe of one month on a review of these sections of the County Development Plan.

Cllr PJ Kelly also questioned County Manager, Tom Coughlan, about the powers of a county manager to make changes to individual planning applications.

Cllr Kelly suggested that he had some information that he would make public in the future.

“I don’t know what Cllr Kelly is talking about. If you [Cllr Kelly] have information, put it out there and let’s deal with it. We can’t answer hypothetical questions about hypothetical situations,” said Mr Coughlan.

“There is a legal policy for changing the County Development Plan and it cannot be done by a notice of motion. There has been a framework set up for making these amendments. The director [Ger Dollard] has suggested that this matter be referred to that process and I think that is what we should do.”

A PROPOSAL to ask the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, to introduce new ‘D’ plates for any driver convicted of drunk-driving for a second time was rejected at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

The proposal, which was put forward by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), proved controversial both because of the details of the motion itself and Cllr Kelly’s use of the phrase “Séan Mac An Asal”.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) criticised Cllr Kelly over his use of the phrase, which he said was a derogatory term and insulting to rural dwellers.

“Many offenses are on the increase in this country because the punishment is not enough. Unfortunately, accidents are going to happen and we sympathise with anyone who has been involved with it. Accidents are inevitable but some of them are avoidable,” said Cllr Kelly.

“I don’t think that people would drive under the influence if there was a bigger deterrent in place. I think it would be much better to allow people to stay on the road and instead force them to carry a ‘D’ plate on the car.

“As well as that, I would suggest that people who are convicted of driving under the influence should be forced to appear bi-weekly at a local garda station. I think that would also be a deterrent for people.”

The motion was opposed by a large number of councillors and was eventually defeated, with 17 councillors voting against it and just two councillors in favourof it.

“I have a lot of respect for Cllr Kelly but I cannot support this motion. I think this would trivialise this [drink driving] to a serious degree and I can’t support that.

“This is a very serious issue and there have been plenty of lives lost because of this in recent years. The most suitable thing to do is put someone off the road,” said Cllr Cathal Crowe.

This feeling was echoed by Cllr Patricia McCarthy.

“I think that one conviction for drink driving is bad enough, but a second conviction, I think that a person should be put off the road for life. I don’t think anything justifies having a drink and getting behind the wheel of a car,” she said.

CLARE County Council is to write to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG) asking for some clarity in relation to the proposed scrapping of town councils in Kilrush, Ennis and Shannon.

This follows a motion put forward by Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND), himself a member of Shannon Town Council. Cllr Flynn said that the further centralisation of services would lead to poorer services being delivered to the people of Clare.

“It is quiet clear that the minister [Hogan] is seeking to centralise services in the county. All you have to do is look at what has happened with the centralisation of services so far and see the total disgrace which came from the centralisation of education services and the hardship which has come about to students and their family through the new system for third-level grants,” he said.

“We need to ask the minister ex- actly what his intention are and what he plans to do. There are a lot of staff working in these local offices around the country.

“Some of these people, under the Croke Park agreement, would be protected but some would not be protected.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Patricia McCarthy (IND), also a member of Shannon Town Council.

“I think it is important that some clarity is brought to this situation sooner rather than later,” she said.

BUSINESSES in Clare are continuing to pay their local authority rates in large numbers, despite the downturn in the local and national economy.

According to figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, the Council have collected 71 per cent of the rates owned to them so far this year. This compares to a payment rate of 75 per cent for the same period in 2011.

The council is aiming to collect a total commercial rate of € 32.35 million in 2012. With the final percentage for collection of rates reaching 79 per cent for 2011, Clare County Council can expect to collect an extra € 2 or € 3 million before the end of the year.

The figures were released in response to a motion put forward by Cllr Oliver Garry (FG) who asked that more staff be put in place to help collecting rates.

“I would, of course, like more people to be available to help in the collecting of rates but that requirement has to be balanced against the needs for staff in different parts of the organisation,” said a spokesperson from Clare County Council.

“The key to handling this situation is early engagement with customers. We do try to engage with people and put some sort of a practical arrangement in place as early as possible.

“With falling staff member in he council there are less people in the organisation overall but this is an area that we do see as being very important.”

THE courage shown by pioneering author and broadcaster from Clare, the late Máiréad Ní Ghráda, will be celebrated in Glór in the coming weeks thanks to a series of workshops that built around her most acclaimed piece work.

The workshops on Ms Ní Ghráda’s play called ‘An Triail’ comes in the wake of the move by the Department of Education to include the work on the current syllabus for the Leaving Certificate Irish exam.

The workshops are being provided by Irish language enthusiast Fidelma McDonnell, starting this Wednesday and continuing for six weeks – a programme that’s seen as the first step towards a fully-blown production of the play in Glór next year.

“The play’s storyline features a single mother in 1960s rural Ireland who was forced to go into a Magdalene Laundry due to pressure from family and society around her,” reveals Ms McDonnell. “This theme was very controversial to write about at the time and Ms Ní Ghráda showed great courage in raising this subject through her writing.

“It is a great thing for a playwright from Clare to feature on the Leaving Cert and it will bring her work to the forefront of people’s consciousness once again,” adds Ms McDonnell.

Ms Ní Ghráda, who hailed from Kilmaley was the first female pre- senter on Ireland’s first national radio service, then known as 2RN that started broadcasting in 1926.

An Triail is thought to have been based on an incident near her home that Ms Ní Ghráda remembered from her youth: the victimisation of a pregnant young single girl while the man involved escaped condemnation.

While some people were shocked at the “filthy immoral” drama others saw it as being ahead of its time. Tomás MacAnna, who produced the play, praised it as the precursor of women’s lib. It still ranks with Brendan Behan’s ‘An Giall’ as the most successful play in the Irish language.