Category: News

A LARGE amount of stone has reportedly been stolen from walls on sections of the Burren Way walking trail in Corofin. The stone has been removed from privately owned boundary walls in the Wood Road area of Corofin and the Vigo area of Kilnaboy in recent weeks.

Limestone pavement exported from the Burren is being sold for premium prices in parts of the UK and even countries in mainland Europe. While it is currently unclear if this stone was removed for sale abroad, the removal of limestone pavement from the Burren has become a growing problem in recent years.

It is currently illegal to remove limestone pavement from any area which falls within the Burren National Park.

“The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) police the Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) inside the national park but there are other areas which are vulnerable,” said Burren-based geologist and member of the UK and Ireland Limestone Pavement Biodiversity group, Stephen Ward.

“This Burren limestone certainly does end up in garden centres in parts of the UK and I would suspect that it also goes as far away as Holland and Germany. There is a European-wide market for it.

“It is estimated that as much as 8,000 tonnes of this stone are ex- ported every year form Ireland. So there certainly is a market for it. The Burren National Park is protected and limestone pavement is considered to be a priority habitat for conservation in these areas.”

Limestone pavement has been offered to sale in many garden centres in the UK for the last 40 years. The spread of modern machinery coupled with the rising cost of the decorative stones themselves has made it easier for people to excavate and export the stone for sale.

A FORMER Clare hurler has committed to look into the cause and affect of cyber bullying as he works with young people through the organisation Soar.

Tony Griffin co-director of the national youth outreach movement built on an early intervention preventative model for 10 to 18 years olds said it is something the group will be looking into in the coming years.

In the past few weeks two teenage girls took their own lives after been bullied on line.

Cyber bullying is one of the biggest concerns among teenagers according to Mr Griffin, who added that a recent survey of students at a rural secondary school showed it was the top worry among 83 per cent of those that replied.

“It is something we would be very, very interested in and absolutely a lot of the deeds of bullying arise out of low self esteem and self belief. So we will certainly be looking at that over the next number of years as an organisation that is interested in young people fulfilling their potential and being as happy as possible,” he said.

Mr Griffin added that the challenges facing teenagers today are very different to previous generations.

“We are living in a different world now. And our first responsibility, rather than try to understand it through our eyes of what we grew up with, is actually to see it through teenager’s eye. They are living in a much more challenging world than we did, because bullies can come into their living rooms and houses and bully them on there computer,” he said.

“People say why don’t they just turn off their computer but it is not that easy for them because that is there world. They live in a virtual world.”

The local HSE does not have a specific programme in place to deal with this relatively new issue affecting young people’s mental health.

A spokesperson for the organisation said that different health professionals are engaged in case work with various other agencies and schools in supporting children, families and young people where bullying is involved.

“CAMS (the Child and Adolescent Mental health Service) works with young people who have experienced bullying and their parents where it has had a direct detrimental effect on their mental health or has been a contributory factor. CAMS also works closely with schools to advise and support staff both in dealing with individual cases and in general within the school,” he said.

“A useful resource is the Anti Bullying Centre in TCD led by Professor Mona O’Moore. The centre provides resources and advice both to professional and families regarding bullying in all its forms including recent publications on cyber bullying.”

ALTHOUGH the 2014 local election is a year and a half away, the last ever mayor of Kilrush is already being tipped as Fianna Fáil’s most likely candidate from the town.

Independent councillor Paul Moroney is understood to be an early favourite among the party leadership, ahead of serving party members on the town council, to run in the crucial election.

It is accepted that with the dissolution of Kilrush Town Council, the town will need to elect a strong councillor to a new-look county council made up of four electoral areas.

There are currently three Fianna Fáil members serving on the town council, including former county councillor Tom Prendeville.

On Saturday last, Cllr Moroney attended a Fianna Fáil social gathering in Shannon and sat with party leader Michéal Martin at the top table.

The well-got councillor, who topped the poll in the town council election, said he has not fully made up his mind if he will run in the county council election as an independent councillor or otherwise.

“I haven’t been asked to run yet,” he told The Clare People , but admitted he would not be surprised if he were formally approached by Fianna Fáil in the future.

The father of three comes from a strong Fianna Fáil family and was first elected to the council in 2009 as an independent candidate.

The boundaries for the new Clare local electoral areas will not be published until March, but parties are already strategising about finding strong candidates in the main urban areas – Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush.

Fine Gael introduced new blood to Kilrush Town Council in 2009 in the form of councillors Liam Williams and Ian Lynch, both of whom are considered strong contenders should they put their names forward for the new county council election.

Cllr Moroney could have one slight advantage, however, as he will, if he is nominated and selected, enter the race as the last every mayor of Kilrush.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil are concentrating on finding a strong candidate in the Shannon urban area. Mr Martin was in the town on Friday to rally the troops as they attempt what many consider a political impossibility – to find a potential Fianna Fáil councillor in an urban area that traditionally votes for Labour, Sinn Féin and left wing independents.

Labour is also going to face challenges as it attempts to translate its strong Shannon Town Council holding to a county council seat in a new smaller council.

FIANNA Fáil in Clare has been accused of cynical political opportunism as it launched an amendment to the State Airport Act.

Leading the charge was Labour TD Michael McNamara who said, “Fianna Fáil had their chance over many years to secure Shannon and they blew it. The party has no credibility on Shannon or on Aer Lingus. The State Airports Act 2004, a piece of Fianna Fáil legislation, enabled the transfer of Aer Rianta International (ARI) to the Dublin Airport Authority, and the establishment of a Shannon Airport Authority to run the airport without Aer Rianta International.

“All Clare’s Fianna Fáil TDs and senators at the time voted for it, including the current transport spokesman. It’s easy to talk the talk in opposition. Walking the walk when they were in government was a different matter. Why did Fianna Fáil use the power they once had to transfer ownership and control of ARI from Shannon? And why are they now singing a different tune?” he asked.

“The Fianna Fáil leader and the Transport spokesman need to recognise that this Government proposes to leave Shannon debt-free, this is an enormous contribution at a time of harsh economic conditions. Making Shannon debt-free and leaving the international travel retail company with the airport, is a phoney suggestion from the party which contributed so much to landing us in the mess we are in.

“I am confident that there will be a turnaround at Shannon. There is growing optimism that flight numbers will increase in the coming year. A new structure and good marketing will create a new dynamic at Shannon, which we all hope will generate new business and employment in the region. Something new and positive is being done by this Government following years of neglect by others,” he said.

THE Fianna Fáil leader was in Shannon on Friday to launch the State Airports (Amendment) Bill 2012, which states that Aer Rianta International (ARI) must be part of any future independent Shannon Airport.

The Government is proposing to cut the Clare airport loose, erase its estimated € 100 million debt, and give ARI to the Dublin Airport Authority.

The opposition party argues, however, that for the airport to survive, it must retain ARI, and is willing even to keep the debt if the profit-making company is retained in its Shannon birthplace.

Clare Fianna Fáil TD and Transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley said Fianna Fáil does not agree with separation at the moment.

“If that is the decision that is taken, it is imperative that Shannon has the appropriate means to survive into the future,” he said.

“Shannon in its current format even if you had no debt – is not profitable and unlikely to be profitable, now in a recession and in a normalised environment, unless you drum it down to a Farranfore style airport. If it is just a Farranfore style airport it is not going to accommodate the larger jets that are such an integral part of the US tourism business here. The infrastructure needs upgrading, so it needs a recurring revenue base,” he told a group in Shannon.

Among those listening were former airport employees Liam Skelly and Michael Hanrahan.

They argued that money directed to Dublin through ARI should be repaid to Shannon and Cork.

“Writing off the € 100 million is in no way compensating Shannon. We must make sure that Shannon gets a viable chance of being viable for the future,” said Mr Skelly.

“I feel that we need someone independent spells out what Shannon has lost by not having ARI and not getting a piece of the sale of the Great Southern Group. To date Shannon has made € 100 million during the 16 years it was under the old Aer Rianta.”

It is also estimated that ARI made € 160 million in the last eight years.

“Fianna Fáil believes that in the middle of an economic crisis, separating Shannon from the DAA is the wrong thing to do. However, we support the work of the steering group; particularly the aviation business development task force in identifying business opportunities for the new Shannon entity and the change management task force committee in working towards the transitional arrangements; charged with developing Shannon Airport and the region,” said Deputy Dooley.

Meanwhile the Government is expected to announce details of an arrangement with Ryanair and possibly other airlines in the coming weeks. “We are all very clear that hitching your boat entirely to the Ryanair brand certainly leave you open to potential difficulties in the future,” said Deputy Dooley.

A WEST Clare community is rallying around a shocked family to rebuild their home after it was struck by lightning at the weekend.

A gaping hole was blown open on the roof of the home of Barbara and Martin Haugh in Farrihy, Kilkee, shortly after 4.15pm on Saturday.

The lightening also blew out the electricity in the family home and the ceilings in two bedrooms collapsed. A nearby mobile home belonging to their daughter and her family was also hit, but no one was injured in the incident.

Ms Haugh, who was inside the house with her son Martin Jnr (23) and her six-year-old grandchild, was blown off her feet when the lightning struck the house, and although she was extremely shocked, she was unhurt.

Martin Snr was stranding outside when the freak incident occurred.

“It was very frightening but at least no one was hurt.

“The lightning came in through the phone line and my wife, who was standing at the front door, got blown down the hall. She wasn’t hurt at all but she was very shocked by it,” said Mr Haugh.

“All the electrical appliances just blew up.”

Mr Haugh admitted that he did not have insurance but said he did not think it would have covered this act of God.

The local community has already begun to rally around the family, with the power restored on Sunday by a local electrician.

The hole in the roof was also patched up, and a major clean-up began yesterday (Monday).

Local people described the Saturday afternoon weather in Kilkee, which included hailstones and lightening, as “horrific”.

WHILE questions may remain over the future management of Shannon Airport, business at the ailing airport got a boost yesterday with the announcement that daily transatlantic flights to Philadelphia will resume next year.

After a four-year absence, US Airways announced that it would begin the service on May 22, generating an additional 30,000 passengers through the airport next year.

The new flights to Philadelphia the sixth most populous city in the US – will operate on a daily basis with a two-class 176 seat Boeing 757 aircraft. The service will run until September 3, departing Shannon at 11.35am daily, and arriving in Philadelphia at 2.05pm local time. The return flight leaves Philadelphia at 9.05 p.m., arriving in Shannon at 8.40am the following day.

Welcoming the news, Mary Considine, Director of Shannon Airport said, “This is a great boost for Shannon as it adds another new transatlantic service for 2013. We are really pleased also to be welcoming US Airways back to Shannon and look forward to helping them build a strong base of business and leisure travellers to and from Philadelphia, as well as cities that they serve beyond the gateway.

“Philadelphia is a major hub for US Airways and offers onward connections to 175 destinations in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean so this opens up huge opportunities in terms of markets to and from Shannon through Philadelphia.”

Said Andrew Nocella, US Airways Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning. “As a popular destination in Europe, US Airways is thrilled to return to Shannon with seasonal service from our international gateway at Philadelphia International Airport.

“Beginning next spring, our customers will again have non-stop access to both coasts of Ireland. Customers can begin their trip with the Cliffs of Moher outside of Shannon and end it with seeing all that Ireland has to offer. As an additional benefit, customers can clear U.S. customs and immigration before departing Shannon, allowing for a quick and efficient arrival experience at Philadelphia International Airport. Customers who receive pre-clearance at Shannon Airport arrive as domestic passengers, are able to check their baggage through to their final destination and ultimately reduce the amount of time needed to connect to their next flight.”

AMERICAN football is being credited as the unlikely saviour of the tourism season in Clare this year, with the recent Notre Dame versus Navy Homecoming Game providing a much-needed visitors boost for the county.

This year’s London Olympics had a negative effect on the number of foreign tourists numbers visiting Clare, contrary to what many tourism organisations had predicted before the games.

According to year-to-date visitor numbers recorded at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Centre, the Olympics and Euro 2012 dampened down the number of individual tourists, both from Ireland and abroad, coming to the Cliffs.

According to Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, package or bus tours have saved the Cliffs from a large slump in individual tourists brought about by the large numbers visiting London for the Olympics and the number of Irish people who travelled to Poland for the Euro 2012.

The visitors centre, which is by far Clare’s most visited tourist site, is used by many in the industry as a barometer for the overall health of the tourism sector in county.

Year-to-date visitor numbers for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience are slightly ahead of 2011 figures.

Group tours have been performing well this year, especially in the autumn period, but individual visitors have not been quite as strong, according to Ms Webster.

“The Notre Dame versus Navy American football match at the start of September really helped pull up the numbers after a pretty poor summer. We saw a decline in numbers around the time of the Euro 2012 campaign and the Olympics.”

An estimated 35,000 American football fans travelled to Ireland for the Homecoming Game which took place in early September, a massive increase on the 10,000 who travelled to Ireland the last time a seasoned American football game was staged here.

The estimated boost to the country from the match was estimated at around € 70 million. The event was also seen as a major point to advertise The Gathering to Americans who may decide to visit Ireland in 2013.

THE number of call outs to the fire service on Halloween night was down slightly on last year, however the figure was up by 57 per cent when week-long celebrations were included.

This weekend the celebrations took a sinister turn when illegal fireworks were set off close to a fire officer who was controlling a chimney fire with colleagues at the time. Gardaí are investigating the incident that took place in the Ennis area.

The county’s fire service was called to six bonfires in total on Wednesday night, one less than last year.

Denis O’Connell, Senior Fire Officer, explained however that the fire services were called to four bonfires the previous weekend as the partying began early in Shannon, Ennis and Kilrush.

The Halloween night call outs were restricted to Ennis and the Ennistymon area.

On Thursday night there was one more call out as the celebrations began to wind down.

Mr O’Connell explained that in his experience when Halloween night falls mid-week the festivities are often drawn out over the week.

While these call outs are costly and a nuisance to a service that must contend with cut backs and austerity, the fires the service attended this year were smaller than previous years.

“The big, big fires seem to have died off because if material is seen by the Environment Section (of the County Council) it is removed because it is considered waste,” said Mr O’Connell.

He added however that Halloween bonfires waste the fire services resources, not just financially but it also uses up manpower that could be required else where at an emergency.

Early estimates put the cost to the fire service at € 20,000, although the full cost will not be known for a number of weeks. However Mr O’Connell said the message and warnings about bonfires seems to be getting through in Clare.

“We are not finding fires under wires or tress anymore. The locations seem to be better,” he said.

A crackdown on removing waste gathered for bonfires has also paid off.

Robert Burns, Executive Engineer with the Environment Section of Clare County Council, the body charged with the clean up following illegal bonfires, said the council was busy in the run up to Halloween night making people aware and gathering waste.

He said the council had a number of complaints prior to Halloween night from the West Clare and Shannon area. The council removed bonfire material from the Kilrush, Kilkee and Ennistymon area. Among the biggest hauls was one in Kilrush and a more worrying potential fire on the beach in Kilkee that consisted of tires. This would have proved a huge environmental hazard according to Mr Burns.

The council must now set about cleaning up the site of bonfires that have not been dealt with by the community. Each clean up will cost between € 500 and € 1,000, and the total cost to the council will not be known for weeks.

Mr Burns was also content that the bonfire issue was not as big as other years.

“To be fair I think most people did heed the message. It is not as big an issue as in the cities,” he said.

A MAN alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman in his car during a Valentine’s Day journey last year has had the charge against him dismissed.

The man, with an address in Clare, had been accused of assaulting the woman who was a passenger in his car on a country road of the main N18 between Ennis and Limerick on February 14 (2011).

The man denied the charge, saying that what he happened between them was consensual.

At the end of a near five hour hearing, Judge Aeneas McCarthy said that he had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent to the overall activity.

He said, “I have a doubt and I have to give that doubt to the accused, accordingly I dismiss.” Details of the case were heard during an in-camera sitting of Ennis District Court on Tuesday.

The court heard that the woman travelled to Limerick and back in the defendant’s car.

She said that on the journey back, the driver told her she was a “stunning looking woman.” She said that he kissed her and put his hand up her top.

She said, “I was in dread of my life. I was never in a situation like this before in my life.”

The woman, who is in her forties, said that just before they arrived back in Shannon, the driver pulled off the main road.

She alleged that the man started “mauling” her when the car stopped. “He was doing his best to get into my pants,” she added.

The woman said she resisted his efforts and told him she would meet him the following week as a way of stopping the ordeal.

The woman, who cried during her evidence, said, “I thought he was going to kill me down there.”

Asked about the effect the incident has had on her life, the woman said, “This has turned my whole life upside down.

“I’m not the same person I was. My marriage is nearly over.” The court heard that moments after being dropped back to her car, the woman phoned her boss and her husband to tell them what happened.

Defence solicitor Patrick Moylan put it to the woman that her evidence in court was “completely at odds” to the statement she had made to gardaí at the time.

He said what had between both parties was consensual.

The parties did not know each other before meeting on the day, the court heard.

The man, who is in his fifties, told the court that the conversation between the pair had “got very flirty” on the journey back to Clare. He said they had shown each other “saucy” text messages and ringtones. The man said they held hands.

He admitted kissing the woman and putting his hand on her breast. “I assumed everything was consensual at that stage,” he added. He said, “She wasn’t terrified. She was laughing and joking all the way.”

Garda Donna Egan of Shannon Garda Station said the woman was “extremely distressed” when she spoke to gardaí.

The man was subsequently interviewed by gardaí. He said he asked the woman’s permission before kissing her.

He told gardaí that he hadn’t stopped on the N18 because someone he knew could have seen him.

Under cross examination from Mr Moylan, Garda Egan said there were some variances in the woman’s evidence in court and her original statement to gardaí. Inspector Tom Kennedy said the State conceded that there were “inconsistencies” in the woman’s evidence.

Mr Moylan said, “This is a case of consent.”

Judge McCarthy said it was “very evident” that there was some sort of sexual activity between these two individuals.

He said it was for him to decide if what had happened had been consensual. He dismissed the charge.