Category: News

THE cost of sending children to school has become too much for many Clare families, with large numbers turning to charities such as the St Vincent de Paul for help and record numbers applying for Government supports such as the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

With the cost of kitting out a child for primary school now as high as € 700 for some families, anecdotal evidence indicated that money lenders have began door-stepping some houses, offering money to cover school expenses.

With primary schools also suffering budget cuts from central government, many parents have found themselves unable to pay voluntary contribution towards the operation of their children’s primary school.

Indeed, according to Clare teachers and former head of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), Bernie Ruane, in many schools only one in every five families are in a position to make a voluntary contribution.

Large delays have also been seen in the processing of the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance. According to Clare Citizens Information Services – parents from every walk of life are getting in contact with questions about the grant.

“Our main queries at the moment are concerning the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Grant and we are getting questions from all varieties of parents about this – but particularly from parents who have had a change of circumstance over the past year. We are getting a lot questions for Clare parents who have lost a job of who have changed from over payment to another over the last 12 months,” continued the spokesperson. Any parent who is in receipt of a social welfare payment is entitled to apply for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear grant.

BUSINESS people from the West Clare peninsula are now hoping that the Loophead Lighthouse will remain open until the end of September. The landmark has proven a popular tourist attraction so far this year, with more than 12,500 people visiting between May 18 and August 13.

The historic lighthouse is scheduled to close its doors to the public on September 3, the end of the official tourism season, but Clare County Councillor Gabriel Keating (FG) said the promise of fine weather is prompting a local call for it to remain open until the end of the month.

“The business people are hoping the stakeholders will come together and keep it open for another month with the impending fine weather,” said Cllr Keating.

“It is a huge success. Today (Tuesday) up to 60 visitors from New York are coming to the lighthouse – that will give you an idea of the interest. It has created up to 35 parttime and spin-off jobs and is worth € 1.3 million to the local economy,” he said.

The lighthouse is proving popular among all age groups. Up to Monday August 13, 9,691 adults and 2,870 children had visited the historic West Clare landmark.

Clare County Council, along with Shannon Development, Loop Head Tourism and the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL), opened the 19thcentury lighthouse to the public for the second successive summer season in May. It is estimated that the 11-week trial opening scheme in 2011 was worth approximately € 400,000 to the local economy.

LABASHEEDA is the safest place to live in Clare, at least according to the latest crime statistics revealed for 2011. The West Clare parish recorded only 5 incidences of criminal activity last year. There was one reported incidence of threat/intimidation, two burglaries, one of criminal damage to property and just a single drug offence for the entire 2011.

Carrigaholt is the next ‘quietest’ community with only ten crimes reported in 2011, although the West Clare outpost lost its garda presence due to cutbacks earlier this year.

As expected Ennis (1750) and Shannon (534) are the top two when it comes to criminal incidences, with Kilrush (357), Killaloe (270) and Kilkee (151) rounding out the top five. * For a full list of ever y one of the 27 a rea s in Cla re repor ting cr ime figures for 2011, see pages 16 & 17.

A CLAREMAN who holds a special and unfortunate place in the annals of the Easter Rising has finally been remembered through a special ceremony in Dublin that has honoured the nearly 600 policemen killed during the 1916-22 period. Tullycrine man Michael Lahiffe was singled out for special mention at the ceremony which took place in Glasnevin Cemetery on Saturday for the estimated 563 Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Met- ropolitan Police (DMP) members killed in the 1916 rebellion and subsequent War of Independence.

Constable Lahiffe was a member of the DMP, having joined the force in 1910 aged 22 and was on duty at the entrance of St Stephen’s Green on Easter Monday, April 24.

When confronted by the Citizen Army, he was ordered to leave his post, but stood his ground and was shot three times and died from his injuries.

“He was an unarmed policeman, but was shot dead because he was doing his job,” said retired Garda, Gerry Lovett, who was one of the organisers of the wreath-laying ceremony along with other retired members of the Garda Siochána and Royal Ulster Constabulary.

“It is only right that Constable Lahiffe be remembered, because he was one of the first shot in 1916,” he added.

The ceremony came on the back of a local campaign in Clare mounted over a number of years by former detective sergeant, Michael Houlihan, who also hails from Tullycrine.

Growing up, Mr Houlihan knew Constable Lahiffe’s brother Tom and sister Nell, who lived in Tullycrine until their deaths in the early 1970s.

“They never talked about their brother,” revealed Mr Houlihan. “It just wasn’t something people talked about back then. A brother of Michael’s named John was in the RIC in Cork. There were eight of them in the family and they had a holding of about 30 acres in Tullycrine.

“It was only after they were all gone that I started gathering the information about what happened to Michael.

“A cousin of mine bought the house in which the Lahiffes were brought up and it was there we found bits and pieces,” he added.

These included a photograph of Constable Lahiffe in his police uniform, a postcard home to his mother proclaiming his love and a pledge to write again soon and a mass card.

Constable Lahiffe is the only person buried in the Dublin Metropolitan Police plot who has an individual headstone, on which reads the following inscription:

“Sacred to the memory of Constable Michael Lahiffe, who died on the 24th of April, 1916, from wounds received whilst gallantly doing his duty as a member of Dublin Metropolitan Police. Erected by his sorrowing parents, brothers and sisters and by the members of the Irish Police and Constabulary Recognition Fund.”

ONE of the diocese of Killaloe’s longest serving priests passed away at the weekend.

The retired Parish Priest of Tubber and Boston, Very Reverend Charles Navin died on Saturday at the Bons Secours Hospital, Galway, after a short illness.

He served as priest of the Killaloe Diocese for 69 years and was in his 94th year.

Born in March 1919, Fr. Navin was a native of Clarecastle.

He studied for the priesthood at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he was ordained in 1943.

He began his priestly ministry in the parish of Killanena/ Flagmount and later that same year was appointed to Whitegate.

After a period of illness, he was appointed to Scariff in 1950 and was then appointed curate in Ballywilliam, County Tipperary, in 1959.

In 1965, he became the curate in Sixmilebridge, before moving to Borrisokane, County Tipperary, in 1969.

In January 1973, he was appointed parish priest of the County Clare parish of Tubber and Boston, a position he held until his retirement in July 1995.

He continued to live in Tubber, the parish he had served for 22 years, until his death.

Fr Navin’s remains were returned to the Church of St Michael, Tubber, where they reposed from 3pm until 8pm yesterday (Monday).

Funeral Mass will be celebrated today (Tuesday), August 28 at 2.30 pm.

Fr Charlie will be laid to rest in the grounds of the Church of St Michael, Tubber, immediately after the Requiem Mass.

A MAN will stand trial for the alleged robbery of a 71-year-old woman in Kilrush earlier this year.

Kieran Hall, with a previous address at 15 Crawford Street, appeared at Ennis District Court on Monday. It is alleged that he did rob a woman on Moore Street Kilrush on May 15 (2012), taking a purse containing € 100 and bank cards.

Jurisdiction of the matter was refused in the District Court.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented for the accused to be returned for trial to the next sitting of Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on October 16. Insp Kennedy made an application to have Mr Hall returned for trial.

Judge John O’Neill made the order returning the man for trial to the next sitting of Ennis Circuit Criminal Court. He delivered the alibi warning. Mr Hall was remanded in custody to appear again in Court on October 16.

DESPITE the torrential rain, students from North Clare were in high spirits when they collected their Leaving Certificate results last Wednesday.

While each of the local secondary schools reported good results, the cream of the crop for 2012 was at the CBS in Ennistymon, where two students achieved six A1 grades and the maximum 625 points.

Lawrence Egan and James Cotter, who are both from the Ennistymon area received the full six A1s in the exam.

Both students have applied for engineering courses in university.

“Everyone was very happy and very relieved with the results. There were a few people in honours maths who were a bit concerned but they all came through it well,” said Anne Tuohy from CBS in Ennistymon.

“The bonus points are definitely attracting more people [to maths]. I just hope that it doesn’t distort the points too much for people who didn’t do honours maths. I think it will be a few years before we know for sure what it is doing to the points system.

“Overall we are very happy with the results, especially with the two students who achieved six A1s. That was a fantastic result for both – they have their full 600 points and the 25 bonus honours maths points to spare. We had a lot of very solid results along with that so they are all very pleased.”

There was also a great performance from the students at the Ennistymon Vocational School, where Ciaran Roche from Liscannor was the top points earner on 550 points.

“We are very happy with all of our students. Everyone got on really well, especially in higher level math and in Irish,” said Elizabeth Flanaghan from Ennistymon Vocational School.

“The number of people taking higher level math definitely increased this year since the bonus points were introduced. The students were definitely attracted by the extra points on offer.”

There was also a series of very good results at Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon, where principal Seosaimhin Ui Dhomhnallain congratulated the students for all their hard work.

“It is wonderful to see the girls’ hard work rewarded. They were a wonderful group of co-operative, hard-working girls, who made a very valuable contribution to all areas of school life,” she said.

“The parents, students and teaching staff of Scoil Mhuire are to be congratulated on their splendid re sults, for their support and hard work throughout the girls’ school years and I wish them all the very best in the next stage of their lives,” was the principal’s final words.

THE recession is hitting Clare couples hard with the a marked increase in the number or people getting divorced and separated in recent years. The number of divorces granted to couples in Clare grew by 40.8 per cent last year – the largest year-onyear increase since divorce was made legal in Ireland in 1996.

According to new figures for the county released by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) 69 divorces were granted to Clare couples last year with a further 66 application for di- vorce being made.

According to Paul Woulfe of the Ennis branch of the Citizens Information Service, these figures are the tip of the iceberg, with many Clare people seeking judicial separations – because they cannot afford the cost of an official divorce.

“There are many more people going down the route of a negotiated separation rather than going for a divorce. We get a lot of people coming into us because their marriages have broken up and the cannot afford the cost of a solicitor,” he told The Clare People.

“People come to us and they don’t realise that there are other option to having a full divorce, but there are. Of course there are many other couples who have been cohabiting for years and have a family – these people do not need a divorce at all and would not show up on the statistics.

“When a marriage or a relationship breaks up people have a lot of questions. A lot of them either don’t realise that you can get a separation agreement or a judicial separation and they will give you the same protections as a divorce. Really, the main difference for a divorce is that it allows the party’s involved to remarry – but a person can always get a judicial separation and then apply for a full divorce down the line at some stage.”

Meanwhile, just one annulment of marriage has been granted in Clare over the last five years. A total of five application of annulment have been made in the county since 2007, with only one being granted. An annulment is a declaration that a marriage was deemed never to be valid and is declared on rare occasions – such as when one of the people involved is found already to be legally married.

Anyone who wishes to contact the Clare Citizen’s Information Service for can call 0761 075260.

DESPITE the cost of divorce thought to be proving a deterrent in most parts of Ireland, Clare saw a rise of 40 per cent in the number of couples getting divorced in the county in 2011.

According to new figures for the county released by the Central Statistic Office 69 divorces were granted to Clare couples last year – with a further 66 applications for divorce being made.

Experienced Clare based Family Law solicitor Marie Keane says the rise can be attributed to the type of divorces being negotiated as well as the age profile of couples getting divorced.

“The vast majority of divorce cases are now being settled before going to court, with both parties consenting. From my experience I would guess up to 95 per cent of cases settle in this manner,” Marie told The Clare People on Monday.

“There is also a definite trend of divorces amongst mature people, couples who have their children reared so custody of children no longer remains an issue,” she said.

“In a lot of cases these couples have been separated for a long number of years and are only now seeking actual divorce decrees in order to remarry, finalise wills, pensions etc,” she added.

“Couples in their fifties are probably the most common divorce applicants in Clare.

“They are older, have more life experience and very often have lived through separation for the past fifteen or twenty years,” she told us.

A couple must be living apart for four of the previous five years before a divorce can be granted.

According to Ms Keane, who is a member of the Family Law Committee of the Law Society of Ireland, cost is not really an issue amongst the vast majority of couples seeking a divorce.

“The average cost of a divorce is usually somewhere in the region of € 3,000 plus VAT when consent exists between the parties involved.

“The huge figures mentioned occasionally in the media are the very rare occasions when divorces go through lengthy court proceedings. That would be highly unusual in Clare,” she stated.

FOR Dan Furey, set dancing was a way of life and a labour of love – something that will be celebrated once more in Labahsheeda this weekend when the 18th annual festival bearing his name will be staged.

“We would have been one of the first set dancing weekends around the country,” says Liam Woulfe of the organising committee, “and like last year, we’re holding the festival in the last weekend in August before the school holidays end.”

Dan Furey’s dedication to set dancing was legendary in Labasheeda and beyond, with his dedication in passing on the dances of the Labasheeda area over six decades winning him a permanent place in the history of traditional dancing in Ireland.

He is best remembered by dancers for having given us the Paris Set, and the Labasheeda Reel Set, and also some solo dances such as The Priest and His Boots, Single Time and the Gabhairin Buí.

“To bring the festival about each year, there is a lot of community effort. A lot people help out. This year’s festival will be opened by Fr Tom McGrath who spent over 40 years in Kenya as a missionary priest.

“Stephen McDonagh is a local his- torian who, along with Heritage officers from Clare County Council, will give a talk on the Battery Fortress in Kilkerrin – around now is the 200th anniversary of the erection of the Napoleonic fort.

“There is usually an impromptu céili at The Battery on Sunday morning, re-enacting the tradition of locals going there to dances hosted by the British soldiers based there. It’s a unique part of the festival and there’ll be a good crowd there, with people travelling through the fields to get to the point,” he adds.