Category: News

THE young woman who lost her life in a road accident on the M18 near Barefield on Sunday afternoon has been named locally as Vicky Courtney from Athenry.

The young woman, who was due to celebrate her 27th birthday later this week, was driving home from Shannon Airport with her mother Pamela when the accident took place.

It is understood that the car collided with the motorway crash barrier before continuing for more than 20 metres and smashing into a timber fence.

Ms Courtney was thrown from the car and suffered extensive injuries. She was treated for her injuries at the scene by a doctor who happened upon the accident but her injuries were too severe.

Her mother was trapped inside the vehicle for a number of minutes before she was freed by the Ennis fire brigade.

Gardaí from Ennis are investigating the tragedy, which was the sec- ond fatal road accident in Clare this year. On February 24, a 30-year-old man died when the car he was driving struck a wall near Clooney.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Gort are appealing for witnesses after an elderly man died in an apparent hit and run on the N-18 on Friday evening.

The incident took place just after 7.30pm on Friday evening when a 65-year-old man was attempting to cross the road and was struck by a vehicle.

The man, who has since been named as Gerry Keane from Ardrahan, was taken to University College Hospital in Galway where he died early on Saturday afternoon.

Gardaí in Gort are looking to speak to the driver of the car, who did not remain at the scene, or anyone else who may have witness the incident. It is understood that the incident was captured on CCTV but Gardaí are appealing for the driver to come forward.

Anyone who witnessed this collision or who can assist with the investigation is asked to contact Gort Garda Station on 091 636400.

CLARE County Council have spent € 571,000 on legal expenses for the first 10 months of this year, according to figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council. It now appears likely that the total legal fees paid by the local authority for 2012 will be substantially lower that the € 1,083,000 paid out by Clare County Council in 2011.

Despite the likely reduction of legal expenses for 2012, a number of councillors raised the issue of Clare County Council employing its own in-house legal team, instead of sourcing outside legal representation. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) referred to a motion put forward by former county councillor, Senator Martin Conway (FG), on this issue a number of years ago.

“I think the costs of legal fees are quite considerable. One wonders is there value in the argument that the council should have in-house legal expertise instead of having to buy it in in this way. I don’t think that the local authority can continue in this way. The public are looking for value for money and I don’t know does this represent value for money,” said Cllr Arkins (FG).

County Manager Tom Coughlan said that despite a previous motion by Senator Conway being approved by the council, this was not implemented because the council could not afford to take on an in-house legal team.

“The motion put to council by Senator Conway asked if it would be more efficient to outsource our legal services or to employ people in-house. Every motion adopted by the council can’t be implemented, because there is not funding for it. Just because a motion is put forward and seconded by the council, doesn’t mean that we have the ability and the money to actually do it,” said the county manager.

“Savings and value for money is something that we are looking at very closely. I wish we didn’t have any legal costs at all. Life would be much simpler for us if people didn’t take cases against us. It would also be much more helpful for us if these cases were resolved as quickly as possible. But that is the legal system.

“It is not that we just accept a bill and say we will pay it. Many of our bills, especially the larger bills, are assessed independently to determine if we are being charged fairly. I would prefer to drive down the legal costs in the system that we have and not change the system.”

The meeting also heard that total architectural, civil and mechanical engineering fees from January to October of 2012 came to € 930,000, auctioneering came to € 48,000 and energy came to € 3,228,000.

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.”

FIVE people have appeared in court charged in connection with a public order incident in a Shannon housing estate earlier this year.

Daniel Larkin (21), Jake Egan (20), Shane O’Connor (21), David Aherne (20) and John Cahill (21) are all charged with offences arising out of an incident at Cluian Alainn, Estate Shannon on January 1.

Mr Larkin, with an address at Mount Ivers Sixmilebridge, is charged with violent disorder; Mr Egan, with an address at 53 Aidan Park, Shannon, is charged with violent disorder; Mr O’Connor, with an address at 37 Ballycaseymore, Shannon, is charged with violent disorder; Mr Aherne, with an address at Riverview, Ballysheen, Sixmilebridge, is charged with trespass and provoking a breach of the peace; Mr Cahill, with an ad- dress at 32 Cluian Driochead, Sixmilebridge, is charged with trespass.

All five appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday. Inspector Tom Kennedy said directions had not been received from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

He said an extensive file has been prepared in respect of the cases. Judge Aeneas McCarthy adjourned the cases until January 9 for DPP’s directions.

A CLARE elected representative and his wife who registered and paid the controversial household charge before the first deadline, were this week issued with not one but two reminder letters to pay the charge and a late payment fine.

Kilrush town councillor Tom Prendeville (FF) said that he has a receipt to show that he paid the € 100 charge.

Yet despite his compliance with the law he received a letter in the last week stating he was now over due the payment.

His wife also received a similar letter sent to the same address, demanding the “outstanding” charge be paid.

An angered Cllr Prendeville said he was not going to ring the lo-call number highlighted in the letter to advise the Local Government Man- agement Agency (LGMA) of its mistake.

“I paid € 100 for household charge. I paid for services and I’m being denied services because others have not paid,” he said.

Among those who received reminder letters on the household charge were a dead man and a dead woman from West Clare, as well as numerous people that had already paid.

Among the 33,000 letters issued by Clare County Council on behalf of the LGMA a number of them went to people who are deceased.

Councillor Prendeville said one West Clare woman was particularly upset as a reminder letter was sent to her late husband, using a name that he was not known by on any documentation except the register of electors.

The councillor raised concerns that the register was being used as a method of identifying people, a method he described as “illegal”.

A JUDGE has refused jurisdiction of a case involving an alleged assault in Lahinch on New Year’s Eve.

Paul Matthews (21), with an address at Mullagh Road, Miltown Malbay, is charged with assault causing harm at the Claremont Hotel, Main Street, Lahinch on December 12 (2011).

Details of the alleged assault were heard at Ennis District Court on Wednesday. Inspector Tom Kennedy said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed summary disposal of the case.

He said it would be alleged that Mr Matthews punched another man in the face, breaking a bone in his nose. Insp Kennedy said the alleged incident appeared to be “at the higher end” of assault cases. He said the alleged victim had surgery for his injuries. After hearing a summary of the alleged facts, Judge Aeneas McCarthy said he did not deem the case fit to be tried summarily. He refused jurisdiction of the case. He adjourned the case for the service of the book of evidence.

TENS of thousands of mature ash trees will wither and possibly die in Clare in the coming years as the spread of Chalara fraxinea or ash dieback disease to Clare has been deemed inevitable.

The fungal infection, which was discovered in an area of County Galway last week, will have a particularly negative effect on sections of the Burren – where ash is a central part of the natural biodiversity.

Ash plays a key role in the Burren ecosystem and provides shelter for insects and other smaller plants. While the exact effects of the spread of ash dieback to the Burren cannot be guessed, it is thought that they will not have a very negative effect on the Burren’s rare butterfly population or its collection of alpine flowers.

“It is not only likely that it will spread to Clare, at this point it is inevitable. Nobody has been able to stop it before. The spores of the fungus are airborne and are released by the leaves, so they spread very rapidly,” said Sharon Parr of the Burren Farming for Conservation Group.

“You could try to contain it by burning all the leaves of infected trees but spores are being released before any signs of the disease are detected. So even if you cut an infected tree down you would have to gather up all the leaves produced by that tree and burn them to contain the infection. I just can’t see that happening. Nobody has been successful in containing them to date.”

The spread of this disease is likely to have a major impact on the Burren due to the large number of ash trees in existence there and to the delicate balance which already exists in the Burren ecosystem.

“This is going to be incredibly significant. Ash is one of the major woodland trees in Ireland and when this disease gets into the Burren area, and other areas of well drained ash-friendly soil, it is going to have a major impact,” continued Sharon.

“Ash is the main large tree species in the Burren. You have hazel woodland in some sections of the Burren but as you move east the ash starts to take over and become a much more dominant part of the landscape. There are significant areas of ash woodland in the Burren which could very easily be lost.

“It is thought that some of the non- native ash trees have some sort of immunity to the disease and it won’t effect mountain ash, because mountain ash isn’t really an ash species at all, it is a totally different species of tree.

“This will certainly effect the Burren and the problem at this stage is that we don’t really know how. We don’t know for sure what parts of the biodiversity up there is affected by the ash. We know that a lot of lichens are directly connected to the ash trees and a lot of insects and flowers are able to grow and thrive under an ash canopy, but it is not clear.

“I think the biggest loss will be the visual loss of the ash tree themselves first and then we will just have to wait and see how that affects other parts of the Burren. I don’t see it having a major impact on the rare flowers or butterflies yet – they are more associated with the grassland than woodland parts of the Burren and there should be enough pollinators to keep that going at this stage.

“But there are other species which are directly tied into the ash plants that will suffer. We will just have to wait and see.”

Between 60 and 90 per cent of the ash trees in Denmark are effected by the disease while in Sweden more than 50 per cent of the trees have noticeable damage.