Category: News

A “SIGNIFICANT” number of school-goers in Clare could be affected in September by changes in the school transport policy, a meeting has heard.

Chief Executive Officer of Clare VEC George O’Callaghan was speaking after the matter was raised at the July meeting of Clare.

Responsibility for post primary school transport was transferred from VECs to Bus Éireann in January.

The issue was raised at last Thursday’s VEC meeting by Councillor Cathal Crowe, who requested an overview of the policy.

Mr O’Callaghan told the meeting that children would now only be eligible for bus transport to the nearest post primary school. He said students would have to pay or find other means of transport to travel to other schools.

He explained, “A lot of people won’t notice the change but a significant number will.”

According to Bus Éireann, from the commencement of the 2012/13 schoolyear, the use of the Catchment Boundary Area (CB) System as a means of determining eligibility will cease for all pupils newly entering post primary school.

From the 2012/13 school year, school transport eligibility for all pupils newly entering a post primary school will be determined by reference to the distance they reside from their nearest post primary education centre having regard to ethos and language.

To be considered eligible for school transport, pupils must reside 4.8 kilometres or more from and be attending their nearest post primary education centre, as determined by the department and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann state that pupils who are not eligible for school transport, under the above criteria, may apply for concessionary transport subject to a number of terms and conditions. These concessionary pupils will not be exempt from paying the annual charge, nor will they count for the establishment or retention of a service, the company say.

HUNDREDS of jobs are set to be created in the North Clare area in the coming months following the Government’s decision to go ahead with the completion of the M18 motorway from Gort to Tuam.

The decision to complete the motorway, which currently stops at Gort, is expected to create 2, 500 jobs over three years of constructions – with 500 of those jobs coming in local services sector.

The proposal is conditional on the Government securing private investment to match funds from the National Pension Reserve Fund and a € 170 million loan for the scheme secured from the European Investment Bank.

The announcement was broadly welcome in Clare with Clare County Council, the Ennis Chamber of Commerce and all saying it will drive employment in the county. Providing private sector investment is forthcoming, construction on the motorway should begin in early 2013.

“This project will further enhance the road infrastructure in the West and Mid West providing further access to County Clare and playing an important role in attracting more customers to Shannon Airport,” said Rita McInerney, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan described the Gort to Tuam motorway as “critically important” for the development of the county.

“Like the Gort-Crusheen scheme, a project that Clare County Council was centrally involved in, the Gort to Tuam motorway will further enhance regional connectivity between Limerick, Shannon, Ennis and Galway,” he said.

The Director of Shannon Airport, Mary Considine, described the goahead for the completion of the M18 as a “significant boost” for Shannon Airport.

“The completion of the motorway to Galway and further to Tuam will significantly enhance travel times to and from Shannon Airport for our existing catchment and also open up a wider market for our services,” she said.

“Today we remain the only airport on the entire western seaboard with transatlantic services and connectivity into one of Europe’s four major hubs, Heathrow so this improvement in the road network will benefit many people accessing our services.”

A BUSINESSMAN has reached an agreement with Clare County Council over fire safety concerns at an apartment block in Ennis.

Oliver Moylan, with an address at Golf Links Road, Ennis, was brought to court after failing to comply with a fire safety notice issued by the Council in January.

The notice was issued to rectify deficiencies at a 10-room apartment building owned by Mr Moylan on O’Connell Street, Ennis.

The court previously heard that an inspection of the premises highlighted a number of deficiencies including inadequate means of escape and the placing of cooking facilities adjacent to doors.

The court had heard that individual apartments were not fitted with fire alarms while there was no central fire alarm for the apartment block. Both systems are required under fire safety regulations. Mr Moylan, who owns the Ennis Cash Company, had been given until last week to agree a schedule of works with the Council.

On Friday, Ennis District Court heard that an agreement had been reached between the parties.

Solicitor for the Council Rachael Leahy said the proposal put forward by the defendant’s engineer was “perfectly acceptable” to her client. She told the court that the fact that the building was now vacant meant the safety notice had been met.

The court heard that the premises are not to be occupied until approved by the fire officer. Ms Leahy made an application for costs. Judge Durcan struck out the matter with no order for costs. Judge Durcan had previously criticised evidence given in court by a Council witness.

Speaking on Friday, Judge Durcan said, “I was very unimpressed by the evidence of Clare County Council. I was quite appalled.”

A MAN described as a “good skin when he’s not fuelled up on drugs” has been sentenced to five months in prison for the theft of power tools from a garage in Kilrush earlier this year.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Jonathan Kenny (23), with an address at 1 Elm Drive Kilrush, pleaded guilty to theft of the items from a shed alongside a family home at Cappa Road, Kilrush on April 4.

Detective Garda Donal Corkery of Kilrush Garda Station told the court that Mr Kenny was spotted entering woods in Kilrush with items taken from the shed.

All of the property was recovered and Mr Kenny made a full admission to gardaí. The court heard that the garage was unlocked at the time.

Detective Corkery said that Mr Kenny has a total of 41 previous convictions. Solicitor Michael Ryan said the offence had been carried out in a “haphazard and disorganised” manner. He said that all of the items had been recovered. Mr Ryan said the murder of his client’s older brother in Kilrush in 2009 had a major effect on him. He said that Mr Kenny has a “very serious drug habit.”

He added, “When Jonathan Kenny is not fuelled up on drugs he is a relatively good skin, and I think the gardaí would agree on that point.”

He told the court that his client’s personal circumstances had been made more difficult by the availability of drugs in Kilrush. Mr Ryan said that despite the best efforts of gardaí in the West Clare town, “there is a willing availability of drugs”, a point acknowledged in court by Detective Corkery.

Mr Ryan added, “Given the circumstances, I do think the deck was stacked against him.”

He said there are situations in Kilrush where dealers are coming to people’s doors to push drugs on them.

“And then you get into trouble when you don’t have the money to pay for them”, he added. He urged the Court in passing sentence, to consider offering Mr Kenny “some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Judge Patrick Durcan said that he did not view life in terms of tunnels. “I see life in terms of day and night and in terms of good and evil”, he said. Judge Durcan said people are entitled to live their lives in peace and tranquility and to leave their tool sheds unlocked.

Referring to Mr Kenny’s offence, Judge Durcan said, “He was very anxious to get the goods that he had had stolen and he was eager to get them out of the way.”

He imposed a five-month prison sentence. Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

Judge Durcan added, “I want the message to go out, not to the good skins of Kilrush, but to the bad skins that they will be met by this court with the harshest of penalties.”

BEACH users in North Clare have been asked to be on the look out for a rare barnacle which could revolutionise how some of the most complicated surgeries are carried out.

The rare goose barnacle, or Lepas anatifera, produces what has been described as a “natural underwater superglue” which could significant- ly change how surgeons approach operations if it can be synthetically produced.

A team of scientist from the Zoology Department at NUI, Galway are studying the barnacles adhesive properties – which allow it to attack itself to any surface, even a non-stick pan, in a wet or underwater environment.

The difficulty is that the Lepas anatifera live and breed in open wa- ter and living specimens are rarely found close to the shore. However, the research team has discovered a number of the barnacles alive on Fanore beach in North Clare.

It is as yet unclear why the barnacles seem to favour the beach at Fanore but the NUI, Galway scientists are appealing to anyone using the beach to be on the look-out for the rare animals. The barnacles emit a substance which hardens into a “strong cement” – consisting of a mixture of several proteins. The scientists hope to study the glands which the barnacles use to produce these proteins.

“We humans haven’t managed to create glues that can be used successfully in wet environments, but nature has done it over and over again,” said Jaimie-Leigh Jonker, who is involved in the research.

“Underwater adhesion is a largely non-existent technology and would be of particular benefit in medicine.

“In the course of surgical procedures mechanical attachments such as staples and stitches are often used, but strong glue that could be used in a wet environment and not damage living tissue would be far more suitable for many procedures.”

Anyone who comes across a suspected live goose barnacle is asked to call 091 493191 or visit facebook. com/TheAmazingGooseBarnacle.

SAINT Joseph’s Education Centre in Ennis was the scene of a new programme for Channel 5 shortly before the unit closed last month under Government financial restrictions.

Staff and students were chuffed to be hosts for the television crew along with Paddy Doherty, celebrity Big Brother winner, and Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, who are central characters in the production. It is being filmed also in Hungary, Spain and Malaysia.

Paddy and the entire company visited other parts of Ireland meet- ing Travellers and researching his heritage in the course of filming. In the Ennis centre, which has been for many years a dedicated facility for Traveller training and education, there were takes such as showing his culinary art in the kitchen.

Paddy and his wife of 34 years, Roseanne, live in England. They have five children and fifteen grandchildren. He says his Irish roots are part of him. The centres in Ireland for Traveller education intrigued him, arousing a desire to get involved with some of the classes.

It was an exciting day at St. Joseph’s and Paddy was very popular among staff and students.

The Channel 5 programme will be screened in September, looking at Traveller and gypsy community life. Last August, Paddy was the third person to enter the ‘Celebrity Big Brother 2011’ house. He made it to the final and was crowned winner, beating Kerry Katona.

In January of this year he appeared in a two-part Channel 5 documen tary, ‘When Paddy met Sally,’ with former Big Brother housemate Sally Bercow.

The Ennis Traveller’s Training Centre was the first in the country. It started as part of a Combat Poverty Programme in 1974. At that time, it was located in the grounds of the Holy Family School, Ennis. In 1982 the centre moved to new building at the Gort road industrial estate.

St Joseph’s, which is located in the Gort Road industrial estate, will close as a traveler only training centre on June 29. The building closed as a traveler only training centre in May.

It is intended that the building will become the first all-purpose skills unit in Ennis.

CLARE Vocational Educational Committee (VEC) has expressed an interest in becoming patron of a school in Shannon. Shannon has been identified as one of 44 areas nationwide to be surveyed with a view to determining parental preferences regarding school patronage.

Chief Executive Officer George O’Callaghan told the July meeting of Clare VEC that the schools in Shannon to be divested have not been identified.

He said the VEC had previously expressed and interest in the patronage of two primary schools – Mol an Óige (Ennistymon) and Raheen Wood (Tuamgraney).

Committee member Flan Garvey proposed that Clare VEC apply to seek patronage, saying, “We are well capable of being patrons. It would be better than having an outsider coming in that does not have the same experience.” The proposal was seconded and formally adopted.

In response to a question from Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) on the potential for clashes between Boards of Management and parents over patronage, Mr O’Callaghan said the process “would probably be driven in the main by parental preference”.

He added that Boards of Management would also have a role.

Mr O’Callaghan told the meeting that the survey process would take up to 12 months and that any patronage application would be taken up by the new Local and Education Training Boards, that will replace VECs.

In June, Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn announced an action plan in response to the report of the Advisory Group to the forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector.

In a report to members of Clare VEC, Mr O’Callaghan, explained, “It is proposed that surveys will be conducted by the department during the autumn in 44 identified areas with a view to determining parental preferences regarding school patronage in those areas.”

Mr O’Callaghan said that the department is now inviting expressions of interest from bodies who are not already patrons of schools in the 44 areas. He told the meeting that the process is also open to individuals.

He continued, “It will be assumed that all existing school patrons in these areas will wish to continue in this role unless they specifically notify the department to the contrary.”

Expressions of interest should be with the Forward Planning Section on Friday, July 27.

CLARE VEC has been urged to request the Minister for Education and Skills to employ local developers in school construction projects.

The call was made at last week’s VEC meeting by Commitee Chairman, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).

He said the Minister should be contacted regarding the awarding of contracts for school building projects.

Cllr Brennan acknowledged that the department is subject to EU rules on tendering. However he said that “where possible local developers should be used”.

“We are supposed to be doing everything we can to try and get people back to work,” he added.

He told the meeting that a firm from Northern Ireland had been employed for a project in Ennis.

CEO George O’Callaghan said the Department is bound by regulations on tendering.

Clare VEC has been asked by the Department of Education and Skills to provide support and assistance to Scoil na Mainstreach, Quin, in relation to the construction of a major extension to the school.

Mr O’Callaghan stated, “While the school retains ultimate responsibility of the project the VEC will also provide a check and overview on the process.”

Mr O’Callaghan told the meeting that the VEC would provide technical assistance to the school.

He said the VEC is already engaged in a process for new school extensions at VEC schools in Ennis and Killaloe and Shannon Comprehensive.

Clare VEC will receive a devolved grant for the projects – a 2813sq/m extension in Ennis and a 1800sq/m extension in Killaloe.

The Department of Education has predicted that enrolment at Ennis Community College will rise to 740 students in the near future, while enrolment at St Anne’s is expected to increase to 750.

CLARE women are waiting longer than ever before to give birth to their first child with the average age of a first-time mother in the county now almost 31 years old. This means that Clare mothers are amongst the oldest in the country with only Galway and Cork City recording older first time mother.

New figures produced by the Cen- tral Statistic Office show that only 30 teenage births took place in the county last year with more mothers giving birth between the age of 30 and 40 than between 15 and 30.

According to the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, the number of babies born to teenagers has dropped by 44 per cent over the last 10 years. This represents the lowest level of teenage pregnancies since the foundation of the organisation.

“It is welcome that we are seeing a decline in the number of births to teenagers. This year for the first time, we have evidence from a number of sources that indicates why the birth rate for teenagers has declined,” said Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency.

“There have been improvements in sex education, the age of first sex is stable at 17 years of age for men and increased slightly for women to 18 years of age. Ninety per cent of young people are using contracep- tion when they have sex for the first time and 80 per cent of young people use contraception every time they have sex.”

A total of 1,748 children were born to Clare-based parents last year or just under five new babies per day. Of these babies 887 were male with just 861 females babies being born. The birth rate in Clare last year was 14.9, which was well below the Munster average of 15.5 and the national average which was 16.3.

ANGLERS, beach users and ferry operators in the North Clare area are on high alert following satellite imagery which shows a large swell of sea algae approaching the Clare coast. The large bloom contains a phytoplankton known as Karenia which makes the water appear a reddish colour and is harmful to shell fish and bottom feeding fish.

The bloom is harmless to humans but can cause major fish deaths by cutting off sunlight to shellfish and other species which live at the bottom of the water.

The bloom can also disrupt boats and sea anglers by tangling up turbines and fishing lines.

Unlike river or lake algae bloom, which are often the result of man made pollution or run off from farm land, blooms of sea algae are naturally accruing.

However, it is rare that a large bloom like this would come ashore on the Irish west Coast at this time of year.

The presence of this bloom is being blamed on the redirection of the Gulf Stream south of its normal position this year – a change which is also partially to blame of the unseasonable wet and cold summer that we have experienced to date.

The bloom last week forced the closure of two beaches in Donegal and North Clare locals are keeping a keen eye on the sea waters, especially in Galway Bay.

“The bloom is just another element of the unusual summer that we have had this year as a result of the Gulf Stream positioning itself more southerly than we would expect,” said James Linnane of the Lisdoonvarna/ Fanore Sea Angling Club.

“This has resulted in lower sea temperatures but also in increased onshore winds. These wind can create bigger than normal swells so the club has to be very very careful to study the weather before we host a sea angling event this year.”