Category: News

JUST under € 1.8 million has been collected so far in Clare via the household charge, new figures from Clare County Council show.

The information was given in response to a notice of motiwon from Labour councillor Pascal Fitzgerald requesting a breakdown on the total amount collected in the county to date.

In his reply Niall Barrett, Head of Finance, stated that the latest information from the Household Charge Bureau that there were 17,819 household registrations processed for payment as at 9am on Tuesday, April 24. This corresponds to the sum collected for the county to date.

He continued, “Nationally there are an estimated 220,500 household charge declarations which have been made through the post and over the counter in local authority offices that are being processed by the Household Charge Bureau.

“The County Clare portion of the unprocessed declarations is not included in the above figure as the county/city breakdown is not yet available in the figure.

“In addition, 15,159 declarations nationally have been received by the household charge bureau where a waiver from payment of the house- hold charge is claimed and these declarations are not included in the figure.”

He added, “This gives a total number of 921,101 household charge declarations made nationally.

“The amount collected for Clare will increase as applications on hand are processed by the Bureau.”

Cllr Fitzgerald asked if householders living in unfinished housing estates who have paid the household charge could be provided with services by Clare County Council?

He also asked the council to clarify their position for the residents in these estates.

Mr Barrett stated that there are no proposals at the present time to change established arrangements for the provision of services to estates in the county.

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) called for Minister for State Jan O’Sullivan, who he said represented 5,000 people in Clare, to attend a council meeting.

Director of Services Ger Dollard said the introduction of the household charge has not changed the way the council deal with unfinished estates.

He said the council is currently dealing with a number of unfinished estates in Clare.

“We are working very hard to get through that,” he added.

THE Irish Taxi Driver’s Federation has insisted that Ennis taxis remain one of the safest modes of transport available.

The national body issued the reassurance after an Ennis driver was given a two year suspended sentence at Limerick Circuit Court for assaulting a passenger.

Martin White, who is the Clare representative for the federation and has 30 years experience driving in Clare, said he had never heard of a taxi driver attacking a passenger before this incident.

“The number one priority for a taxi driver is the safety and well being of the passengers,” he told The Clare People .

“This was a one off incident and I had never heard of it before. He shouldn’t have taken the law into his own hands. He should have called the Gardaí if he thought there was an issue with the passenger and the fare.”

Mr White said that all taxi drivers undergo Garda checks.

“As drivers we are there to bring passengers home safe and I believe taxis are still the safest form of trans- port.”

Meanwhile taxi driver Okechukwu Utuke (44), of Dun na hInse, Ennis, received a two-year suspended sentence after he was found guilty of assaulting passenger Michael L’Estrange and fracturing his collarbone in a row over a € 15 fare on April 25, 2010. The case was heard over three days in Ennis.

During the case Mr L’Estrange told the jury that he had gone for a few drinks in town and left for home at around 1.30am. He said that he had started to walk but when he got to Country Pine, he “flagged” down a taxi.

He asked the driver to bring him to his home at Gort na mBlath. Mr L’Estrange said he stopped a short distance from his house as he never got a taxi directly to his home “because you don’t know who’s who”.

Mr L’Estrange said that after the car came to a halt in Gort Na mBlath, he disputed the fare of € 15, adding that it usually cost between € 7 and € 8.

The court heard that Mr L’Estrange dropped € 10 onto the front passenger seat and left the car.

He said that the driver followed him from the car, knocked him to the ground and started digging him with his fists.

THE number of people born on Clare soil swelled by one in the early hours of Friday morning when baby Eirinn Christina Robbins Logue came into the world on the side of the road in Corofin. Eirinn’s parents, Caralyn Robbins and Phil Logue, were about to drop their two older children at their aunt’s house at Laghtagoona in Corofin before carrying on to hospital in Galway, when Eirinn decided that her big moment had arrived.

The momentous birth took plance on the road outside Caralyn’s sister Crystel’s house, with dad Phil acting as a more than capable midwife.

CLARE County Council yesterday put itself forward to play a major role in the steering group which will implement the separation of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority.

County Manager, Tom Coughlan, yesterday outlined the local authority’s plan for influencing the restructuring the management of the airport, but said that the steering group must be established immediately if it going to succeed.

Speaking at yesterday’s May meeting of Clare County Council, Mr Coughlan put forward a timeline for change to take place at the airport saying that the steering group should be up and running, and making reports to government before the end of the year.

“The steering group must be established immediately and must include representatives from the local authorities,” said Mr Coughlan.

“The terms of reference of the steering group must be concise and a clear time line must be set, within the current year, for the reporting of the steering group, for decisions by government, for legislative change and for the implementation of Government decisions.

“The steering group must focus on achieving an increase in passen- ger traffic and a mechanism must be identified to achieve this objective in the short, medium and long term.”

The county manager also poised a number of questions that needed to be clarified before the proposed reorganising of Shannon Airport can be completed. These include some uncertainty about the workers at Shannon Airport, will the airport remain an “international” airport or will it be re-designated as a regional airport and will Clare County Council have a role to plan in the plans being drawn up by organisations such as the IDA and Fáilte Ireland.

HUNDREDS of walking enthusiasts from all over Ireland will descend on Ballyvaughan this Saturday for the fifth ever Clare Burren Marathon Challenge.

The walking marathon, which has quickly established itself as one of Ireland’s premier walking events, could raise as much as € 300,000 for the local economy, with scores of people expected to stay in the Burren area for the weekend.

The marathon, which is organised by the Ballyvaughan/Fanore Walking Club, will this year take place on Saturday, May 26, and will coincide with a host of events taking place as part of the Burren in Bloom Festival.

“The marathon has been a great success, not just for Ballyvaughan but for the whole area. Taking place in May, it is a great chance to see the Burren as it is just getting into full bloom and it has definitely been a great boost to the tourism businesses here over the years,” said Geraldine Linnane of the Ballyvaughan Tourist Information Point.

“It is a great way of introducing people to the Burren. The walk takes people to parts of the Burren that a lot of people just wouldn’t see otherwise. A lot of people would see the Burren from the back of a tour bus and this gives them a totally different experience of the place.

“I would say that a lot of people who get a taste for the area during the walk come back at other times. The local tourism businesses certainly get a big boost out of it.”

This year’s event will feature three courses – the full marathon, the halfmarathon and the mini-marathon. The routes take participants both on and off roads, into some of the most breathtaking Burren terrain.

The event is made possible with the kind permission of the local landowners, Clare Sports Partnership, Logues Lodge in Ballyvaughan and the Burren in Bloom Festival.

Full details of this year’s event, including entry options and a training schedule, are now available on www. clareburrenmarathonchallenge.com or by calling 087 7779714. TO CELEBRATE volunteers and the great community spirit alive throughout the county, the Clare Volunteer Centre is launching its first poetry competition. Anyone over the age of 8 is invited to submit a poem, no longer than eight lines, on the theme ‘together we can make a difference’. Sharon Meaney, Manager with the Clare Volunteer Centre, explained

where the idea for the competition came from.

“Part of our role in the Clare Volunteer Centre is to promote the important role that volunteers play in all our communities.

“We are asking people to really think about the ways in which volunteers contribute to our communities and to the people who live within those communities.

“The theme ‘together we can make a difference’ is a recurring theme we use in the Clare Volunteer Centre as we witness, on a daily basis, how volunteers are affecting change through individual action.”

Supported by Clare County Council and Clare Local Development Company, application forms can be obtained from any of the local libraries around the county or by contacting Clare Volunteer Centre.

Dolores O Halloran, Volunteer Placement Officer, with the Clare Volunteer Centre, gave an insight into how the competition will run. “We are asking people to submit their poem, along with an application form by midnight on June 11. The winner will be announced on July 2 and we plan to do something a little different with the winning poem.

“The overall prize is an Apple iPad, which was kindly sponsored by Action Point Technology Group. The 10 runners-up will receive a € 50 voucher, sponsored by local businesses.”

Sharon Meaney added, “There are three categories Junior (8-12), Young (13 – 17) and Adult 18-plus. We encourage schools and clubs to get involved and spread the message – together we can make a difference.”

Contact the Clare Volunteer Centre on 065 68 66 800 or visit their website www.volunteerclare.ie to obtain an application form.

THE new Shannon Airport company will be debt-free, but the write-off of € 100m plus that it owes will be at the price of Aer Rianta International (ARI) being lost to Shannon forever.

This quid pro-quo arrangement has been heralded by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, despite a demand from interest groups in the mid west region that Shannon be given a slice of ARI’s profits.

“ARI originated in Shannon,” admitted Minister Varadkar, “but what it will do is remain part of the DAA group which is going to be re-named. It started in Shannon, but moved beyond Shannon a long time ago.

“It has been contributing to the DAA group, but the justification we have to take the debt off Shannon is the fact that Shannon did contribute to the development of ARI,” he added.

The case for Shannon ownership of ARI, which is considered the jewel in the crown of the DAA, was made vociferously to Minister Varadkar as recently as last March by former ARI chief, Michael Hanrahan.

“Aer Rianta International started in May 1988 – we had an initial capital of € 1.2m and that came from the surpluses of Shannon through the ‘80s. Minister Varadkar indicated that this money came from Dublin – it came from Shannon,” he said.

“The concept that Shannon owes € 100m is to me an absolute scandal,” he blasted.

“Aer Rianta International invested in Birmingham Airport and that investment was £30m sterling. That came from the surpluses of Aer Rianta International. The DAA disposed of the investment Birmingham and made a profit of € 270m,” he added.

“ARI is a subsidiary of the DAA group and belongs to the state. It doesn’t belong to Shannon and what we are giving Shannon is independence,” Minister Varadkar has countered this week.

“We are giving Shannon the ability to set its own charges, we are giving it a situation where it is going to start off debt free and hopefully some cash in the bank and maybe cash incentives and other tools to make it a huge success.

“It’s because Shannon contributed so much to Aer Rianta International, in recognition of that it’s not going to have to carry any debt from the DAA.

“The exact mechanism about how that’s going to work will be part of the steering committee’s remit.

“What I want is the new company to have cash in the bank – cash to carry out investments that are needed and also to absorb any losses that might occur in the first year or two,” Minister Varadkar added.

VICTIMS of clerical child sex abuse or those with knowledge of abuse that has been perpetrated against children in Clare have this week been urged to step forward and alert the relevant authorities of these crimes.

The move that has been signalled as part of a new clerical child sex abuse awareness campaign being mounted by the Diocese of Killaloe throughout the county during the month of May.

This campaign was launched in the past week, just as the Catholic hierarchy was rocked by fresh abuse allegations surrrounding the investigation of notorious paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth, that has left future of Cardinal Sean Brady as primate of all Ireland hanging in the balance.

As part of what the diocese has called “the importance of safeguarding children”, those who have suffered abuse in Clare have been urged to alert the Garda Siochána, the Health Services Executive or the Killaloe Diocese directly.

Throughout Clare those “concerned that someone you know is at risk in relation to a child safeguarding concern, or you wish to raise a matter from the past” have been told to come forward immediately.

“If you have grounds for concern about the welfare of a child you must act immediately to the statutory authorities and/or diocesan designated persons as soon as possible,” the Diocese of Killaloe has said.

“The designated persons will liaise with the statutory authorities – the Gardai the HSE and also the Bishop and the National Board for safeguarding children,” the diocese has added.

Since 2003, over € 2m has been paid out to victims of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Killaloe. Money given victims are labelled as ‘Special Payments’ in the annual diocesan accounts published every year.

CLARE rugby great Keith Wood launched an end-of-life care programme, which is being rolled out in hospitals in the mid-west, including Ennis, in an effort to ensure that dying patients receive the best possible care.

Hospitals in the region are now part of the Network of Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HFH) which has been developed over the last five years and includes 25 acute and over 30 community hospitals.

The HFH Programme is in operation in the Mid Western Acute Hospitals Group in Limerick, Nenagh, Ennis, the Regional Maternity Hospital, the Regional Orthopaedic Hospital, Croom, and St Ita’s Community Hospital in Newcastle West.

In the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, there are an average of 450 deaths each year, ranging in cause from road traffic accidents involving teenagers to complications arising from respiratory complaints among patients aged 90 years of age and over.

Up to 4,500 bereaved people are affected by these deaths.

Keith Wood officially launched the programme which aims to support frontline staff who are delivering end-of-life care, sometimes in very challenging conditions. Speaking at the launch, he said, “According to popular belief, an acute hospital is somewhere where people with various complaints go to get better and a hospice is a place where people go to die.

“Most of us want to die in our own homes. But most people now die in some form of hospital and 48 per cent of us will die in an acute hospital. The challenge facing the acute hospital system is how to train and assist all staff to provide a quality service for all patients at the end of life and also to help their families to cope.”

Frank Gunter, whose sister-in-law died in MWRH Dooradoyle in January 2012, said, “This was a most difficult time for the family, experiencing a tumult of feelings, denial, fatalism and helplessness and I’m sure that unconsciously we probably were a nuisance to the staff. But we were never made to feel that way. The medical and nursing staff were kind, understanding, respectful in all their dealings with us and they kept us informed every step of the way. They provided a safe environment for family to express their grief and sorrow.”

End of Life Care Co-Ordinator at the Mid Western Regional Hospi tal, Miriam McCarthy, commented, “What it boils down to is that we are trying to ensure the best possible care for the patient when they are reaching the end of their life’s journey, so that patients die with dignity and respect. It’s not as easy as it sounds in a busy acute hospital with all its hustle and bustle but staff have shown tremendous interest and families have also appreciated the initiatives that have taken place since we began in January 2011.

“We are organising a remembrance service in June for the families of those who have died in the previous twelve months, and developing plans for the physical upgrading of facilities. End-of-life care matters, and we are working hard to ensure that our hospital culture, the way we do things around here, reflects this.”

SHANNON Development is no longer an international airport – instead it’s a dying institution because of the “dead hands” of the Dublin Airport Authority and now Shannon Development, which threatens to be “more of the same”.

That was the stinging verdict delivered by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary in the wake of the government decision to separate Shannon Airport from DAA control by creating a new holding company comprising of Shannon Development and the old SAA to take control of the airport’s destiny.

“The last thing you’d call Shannon is a dynamic international airport,” blasted Mr O’Leary. “It is a dying airport, because it is being run by the dead hands of the Department of Transport. We have a solution to this and it’s to put Shannon up for sale.

“We’ve had lots of smoke and mirrors from the Department of Transport talking about reform, when all they’ve done is move Shannon from the DAA which is a failed quango, into SFDCO, which is no better.

“The private sector across Europe – the airlines have been privatised, the airports have been privatised, but in Ireland we have the world’s largest international airline, banging on for years about selling off airports.

“What do we do? We move the deck chairs on the Titanic. Transferring Shannon Airport to SFDCO isn’t going to recapture the two million lost passengers that Shannon has suffered in the last five years under DAA mismanagement,” he added.

In continuing his broadside, Mr O’Leary described the government announcement, which was made on the back of the Booz & Company report that put forward five possible recommendations for Shannon’s future, as “more of the same” and “drivel about a world-class aviation industry” in Shannon.

“The minister will form a steering group – a high level committee, consultation with stakeholders and another two years of fudge and dither while Shannon continues to lose traffic and lose jobs.

“We’re here fudging Shannon out of the DAA into SFDCO – why don’t we put Shannon up for sale? We’ve nothing to lose. We might get € 100m for it that might go down to pay government debt and would bring in new management and a new vision. Moving Shannon from the dead hands of the DAA to the probably the deader hands of SFDCO is not change, it’s not reform, it’s just moving the deckchairs on the Titanic,” he added.

LIFE IS returning to normal today for the family of an East Clare farmer who, after becoming trapped in his own slurry tank on Saturday, was rescued without suffering serious injury.

The man, who is in his 40s, was cleaning the slatted house on his farm in Aughrim, just outside Scariff, on Saturday when a manhole cover gave way.

The man fell into the 10-foot-deep slurry tank which, luckily for him, was only half-full at the time. The man was discovered by his mother when she heard him shouting and contacted the emergency services.

Two neighbours were able to res- cue the man before the arrival of the emergency services, lowering a ladder into the pit and allowing the man to climb free. The fire service’s first responders assessed the man in his home and established that he did not require hospitalisation.

According to East Clare farmer and Clare President of the ICMSA, Martin McMahon, it will take the man and his family some time to get over this traumatic experience.

“It is a big shock to the whole community. When you hear about an incident like this, with a man falling into a slurry pit, well my sympathies do go out to the man and his family,” said Martin.

“I am sure they are all overjoyed that he was able to come out of this alive but his confidence will have taken a knock.

“The biggest problem for farm safety in Clare now is farmers work ing on their own. Too many farmers have no choice but to be alone. They could be out of contact with anyone for six or eight hours at a stretch and, no matter how good or how careful you are, something can always go wrong.

“There is always a risk, you can always slip. That’s why it is so important for farmers to keep their mobile phones with them at all time. A lot of farmers in Clare are part-time farmers at the moment, so there may not even be a neighbour in the vicinity to hear you. You could be working three or four miles from the nearest other person, and that is dangerous.”