Category: News

THIS year’s Fleadh Nua festival has been billed as a hugely important test of Ennis’ ability to stage large outdoor festivals in light of ongoing efforts to host Fleadh Cheoil Na hEireann.

As part of the 2012 Fleadh Nua, plans have been announced to transform the centre of the town into a large open-air concert. As well as a proposal to use Abbey Street car park for an outdoor concert, there are also plans to pedestrianise parts of the town for the Irish music festival, which runs from May 20 to 28.

Details of Fleadh Nua 2012 were outlined at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council. Town clerk Leonard Cleary told the meeting that the council would consult with local business and the public on plans for the festival. He explained, “Pedestrianisation during festivals such as Fleadh Nua and indeed generally is designed to enhance the visitor and customer experience of Ennis. The overall aim is to present Ennis in the best possible light to customers in order to maximise business benefits to the economy of Ennis.”

In a report to councillors, Mr Cleary stated that it is important that the success of the Fleadh Nua will be built upon in the future. “Specifically, Ennis Town Council has expressed its high expectations that Comhaltas will lead the goal of achieving the All Ireland Fleadh for Ennis for 2014 onwards for up to three years.”

Fianna Fáil councillor Peter Considine told the meeting that a successful festival would boost Ennis’s bid to land Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann.

He said, “We have to show that we can do concerts well in the town centre. This is the ideal exercise.”

Ennis narrowly missed out on the right to host the 2012 Fleadh while a decision was taken by the local branch of Comhaltas not to bid for the 2013 event.

It has been estimated that up to 200,000 people would visit Ennis for the festival, generating up to € 20 million for the local economy.

Cllr Considine said the Fleadh Nua offers the perfect chance to show what Ennis can do. He added, “The knock on benefits for the following year would be enormous.”

Councillors yesterday approved a grant allocation of € 5,000 for the Fleadh Nua.

This Fleadh has taken place in Ennis every year since 1974. This year’s event will feature 120 different events and is expected to draw visitors from around the world.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) urged organisers to ensure that street performances from musicians were included in order to enhance the atmosphere of the event.

SHANNON Airport can become the saviour of the mid-west region in the same way that the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) saved the Docklands area of Dublin and became the great engine for Ireland’s growth during the last economic recession.

This will be done by giving Clare’s restructured international airport tax breaks similar to those that made the IFSC such a success story, thereby opening up a new “very exciting” and “very innovative” chapter in Shannon’s storied history.

That was the central message delivered by the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, to business leaders in Clare on Friday when he said the new Shannon Airport would “very much in tune with the early pioneers in aviation in this region”.

While stopping short of announcing a new management blueprint for the airport, Minister Varadkar gave guests at Shannon Chamber of Commerce spring luncheon in the Oak- wood Arms the inside track on what his proposal to Cabinet for Shannon will be.

“When I think of what envisaged – the closest example I can think of is the IFSC,” the minister said. “The Dublin Docklands was in decline during the last severe recession and a decision was made to develop it as an international financial services centre and put in place the structures and the tax incentives necessary to attract investment.

“The IFSC is now a phenomenal success, generating loads of revenue for the State and employing tens of thousands of people. That’s the model that we’re likely to propose for Shannon.

“The development of an international aviation based services centre in the region, based around Shannon Airport and the land around Shannon with a view to attracting new industry, industries that currently don’t exist in Europe, industries like aircraft re-fitting and aircraft recycling in addition to other industries,” added Minister Varadkar.

This decision was originally due to be announced prior to Easter, but has now been delayed until late April, but ahead of that Cabinet decision on the future of the airport, Minister Varadkar has also confirmed the new blueprint will have a state and private sector involvement.

“It will need some private sector involvement and investment,” he said “and I do think that overall public ownership should remain in place and the Government will need to have step-in powers to intervene in the unlikely event that things go badly wrong”.

FINE Gael councillor Mary Howard was one of the first delegates to speak at the party’s Ard Fheis in Dublin at the weekend.

The Ennis town councillor who comes from one of Ennis’s bestknown Fine Gael families was keeping the rights of children and young people to the fore of the Government’s mind when she presented the motion of the Michael Howard Branch, Ennis.

She called for the Ard Fheis to support the ongoing reform of Ireland’s child and family services, and in particular called for an increased focus on family support so as to protect children and to seek, where possible, to prevent children from being taken into care.

“The Child Care Act 1991 stipulates that children should, in the first instance, be supported to remain with their families. Children should only be taken into care where the HSE has identified abuse or the risk of abuse, including neglect that cannot be prevented or resolved without the child being received into care,” she told delegates on Friday night.

“In 2010, 1,251 children were admitted to care due to various factors resulting in a parental inability to cope. In the main these children are received into care on the voluntary request of their parents,” she added.

She called for these families to be given the support they need.

“The various factors which can result in parental inability to cope include: physical or mental health problems, disability, drug or alcohol addiction problems, and in some cases financial difficulties. However, a parental inability to cope financially is on its own not a reason for a child to come into care. Family support services work with parents where there are difficulties with budget management to support them provide a stable family situation for their children,” she added.

She paid tribute to her party colleague Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald saying she is working to ensure that there should be no case in which children enter the care system due to financial need rather than cases of neglect, abuse or the risk of abuse.

WHEN it’s finally revealed, the Government blueprint to secure Shannon Airport’s future won’t be devised with the sectional interests of Clare County Council or Shannon Development in mind – the two bodies that are expected to be given a lead role in the new management structure.

“The plan for the airport is not to please local authorities or government agencies or interest groups of any sort,” warned transport minister, Leo Varadkar when announcing a new timeframe for delivery of a decision on the airport’s future.

“The plan for the airport is to develop it for the region, to arrest the decline in passenger numbers and to bring employment and investment into the region for the benefit of everyone. That’s the plan – it’s not about satisfying interest groups of any sort,” added Minister Varadkar.

The Booz Report, which was published in redacted form in March, put forward five separate options for Shannon, with the most favoured of these being a recommendation that Clare and Limerick county councils, together with Shannon Development be part of a new holding company that would manage the airport.

It was expected that a decision rubber-stamping this recommendation would be delivered by the end of next week, but now this has been deferred to later in the month.

“These things can be quite complicated,” said Minister Varadkar. “It won’t be before Easter but we can bring an outline proposal to government in April and then we can work on business plan in subsequent months.

“The response to the Booz report has been very good. People are being very positive about what can be done and there’s a good understanding that things can’t go on the way they did before.

“The reality is that there are a lot of players in the region. They all need to be included and involved and consulted, but the reality is that very few of them are willing to come on board in terms of capital and finance. That’s understandable because they’re in a difficult financial position too.

“What we’re doing at the moment is the due diligence. Shannon Airport is involved in this; the DAA is involved in this; Shannon Develop- ment is involved in this; four government departments and various government entities as well, so we have to put all sorts of detailed things like loan agreements, debt issues. When the decision is made by the Government on the roadmap, then there will be progess.

“We will spend a few months after that with an interim board and an interim task force perhaps developing the detailed business plan and working out the necessary legislative change that will have to made. I want to be able to do that very quickly,” he added.

THE New Quay/Bellharbour branch of Fine Gael was championing the cause of Shannon Airport at the party’s Ard Fheis at the weekend.

Speaking on the motion, “This Ard Fheis calls for the Government to develop a viable plan for the future ownership and operation of Shannon Airport over the next few months,” branch secretary Eric Keane said all executive and strategic decisions for the airport are made by the DAA.

He warned that while the airport remains under the DAA, it would be an after-thought after Dublin and Cork.

“This structure does not make com mercial sense. Shannon Airport can succeed provided it is given autonomy, which will allow for the best interests of the mid-west to be targeted and promoted. The mid-west needs an airport authority based in Shannon that can dedicate all its energy to marketing the airport and integrating with companies in the Shannon Free Zone, Limerick, Galway and beyond,” he told delegates.

“The most critical piece of infrastructure in the whole mid-west is Shannon Airport. It is essential to the mid-western economy. As we look to promote Ireland around the world to our diaspora and others, Shannon provides easy access to some of our country’s most popular tourist sites,” said Mr Keane. “If Shannon Airport is put on a sound footing, where it is able to innovate on its own, compete as it wants and recognise the true potential it has, then the whole mid-west is better off. Shannon Airport has a glorious past. It was the first airport to have a duty-free in the world; it was the first airport to get pre-clearance for passengers flying to the US. And if it can achieve the goal of having a pre-clearance for cargo going into the US, to paraphrase Michael Noonan “it will take off like a rocket”.

THE Dublin Airport Authority siphoned off the profits of the Shannon Airport inspired and headquartered Aer Rianta International (ARI) for a generation in a move that has been described as “an absolute scandal” and a major contributory factor to the current ills of Clare’s international airport.

This claim was sounded out by former ARI executive Michael Hanrahan on Friday, as he highlighted the local case for profits from the multinational arm of the Dublin Airport Authority to be channelled into Shannon.

“Everyone thinks that Shannon is losing money, but I have a different view. Shannon is making a considerable amount on money, particularly through Aer Rianta International,” said Mr 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 added before he rounded on the DAA highjacking of the ARI brand.

“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.

“That went into the monstrosity they have built in Dublin Airport. All the surpluses of Aer Rianta International have gone to Dublin from the very outset. That’s about € 560m to date.

“The DAA have taken all the surpluses that they have made from profits they made on the hotels. I believe they made € 260 or € 270m from the sale of the Great Southern Hotel Group.

“Why should be Aer Rianta International be based in Dublin. The chief executive of Aer Rianta International was based in Shannon for 23 years and all of a sudden the chief executive is now based in Dublin, together with the head of finance. Shannon is just being denuded,” he added.

In response, Minister Varadkar warned Mr Hanrahan not to “forget the accumulated losses that Shannon have made in the last 15 years and what they add up to.

“You have to ask yourself what profits, when it was making profits, would Shannon have made if the Government passed a law forcing people who didn’t want to land here, to land here. If there wasn’t a law forcing people to land here the acculumated losses would be enormous, much more enormous than they are now,” he added.

STAFF shortages, overcrowding and continuous cuts have resulted in “dangerous conditions” for patients and staff at Ennis General Hospital.

Early last week one nurse was left alone to care for 22 acutely ill patients in the county hospital, while care assistants replaced nurses in vital areas of care. The under pressure staff are also dealing with overcrowding at the hospital, as 12 to 15 patients are regularly cared for over-night in the medical assessment unit.

Nursing staff have to be taken from other wards to care for patients in the unit, which was added as part of the hospital reconfiguration programme and is supposed to be closed at night. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Association described the situation as unacceptable stating “this level of care is dangerous for patients.”

Sources close to staff at the hospital told The Clare People that they are concerned for patients and frustrated that they do not have the time to care for patients the way they should and would like to.

INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Mary Fogarty explained there is an acute shortage of nursing staff at the Ennis hospital since the monitorium was put in place. This has been exacerbated by recent retirements.

“We are very concerned about the standard of care across the system,” she said. While the staffing freeze does not allow vacant nursing posts to be replaced, the HSE is employing care assistants through an agency at € 12 per hour in an attempt to fill the widening staffing gap.

“While care staff have a vital role to play they cannot replace nurses. They do not have the education or experience,” she said.

Ms Fogarty was also critical of the reconfiguration process that took 25 beds out of Ennis General Hospital without having replacement infrastructure in place. “This is a very inefficient way of managing,” she said.

LEONORA Carey said she was thrilled to be re-elected to Fine Gael’s Executive Council during the party’s Ard Fheis this weekend.

The Clarecastle woman is no stranger to the world of politics. Not only is she from the Carey family that has produced two Clare TDs to date, she has a vast experience in the world of party politics having been elected to the executive council three times.

The current vice chairperson of the Clare Constituency she was first elected to the council in 2004 while a member of Dublin Central.

As a member of the constituency of the late Jim Mitchell she worked hard to build the party in Dublin central from a constituency with one councillor to one with a TD and two councillors.

In 2007 she returned to her native Clarecastle to work as an occupational therapy manager.

Since then she has been re-elected to the national executive council with the support of the Clare branch of Fine Gael.

She was active across a range of constituencies in devising strategy and preparing for the 2011 General Election.

It is this activity that saw her succeed on to the north west section of the executive.

Ms Carey told The Clare People that she was particularly greatful to all of the Clare delegates who travelled to Dublin and supported her election.

“It is great to say you are re-elected from your own county,” she said.

Asked if she one day hoped to stand for elected office, in her home county or elsewhere, the daughter and sister of politicians, said she didn’t know.

“I wouldn’t say yes and I wouldn’t say no,” she added admitting with a laugh that she already sounded like a politician.

“I enjoy doing what I do at the moment. I enjoy developing and maintaining the party across the large area of the north west.”

TRAFFIC at Shannon Airport is now at a 15-year low with figures for 2012 so far showing an alarming loss of 20 per cent for the same period in 2011 – a hemmorhage of that if it continues will see passenger numbers decline to under 1.3m by year’s end.

This alarming decline of passenger traffic at Clare’s international airport was hammered home by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar on Friday as he warned once more that Shannon is on its way to being overtaken by Knock Airport and relegated to the fourth biggest airport in Ireland.

“The trend at the moment isn’t good,” said Minister Varadkar. “Shannon has less passengers now that it had back in 1997, where in that same period Knock has increased its passengers by 350 per cent. Even though both airports operate in the same country and the same economy, the trend in Shannnon is down while it’s up in Knock.

“Numbers are already down 20 in Shannon on what they were this time last year and Knock is still growing and it is only a matter of time,” Minister Varadkar warned. “The trend in Knock is upwards, so if one trend is upwards and another is downwards, sooner or later they’ll cross. It will happen sooner or later, but that’s not what I want to happen,” he added.

Minister Varadkar rejected the notion that state aid for Knock amounts to positive descrimation for the Mayo airport at Shannon’s expense, pointing to the hefty subvention for Shannon through the DAA.

“Knock does receive exchequer support and Shannon doesn’t,” Minister Varadkar admitted, “but Shannon directly receives support for the DAA group and the financial transfers from the DAA group to Shannon are nearly three times the exchequer’s contribution to Knock,” he added.

“It’s state-owned and Shannon is a huge asset and it’s very important for the region and our objective is to arrest that decline and Shannon a growth for investment and employment again.”

MOVE over men of Clare, it’s now the time of Mná an Chláir – all because for the first time in 140 years there are officially more females than males living in the county.

That’s one of the many changes to emerge in the 2011 Census of Population for Clare, details of which were revealed last Thursday by the Central Statistics Office with the publication of the first in a series of official reports on population trends nationally.

The county’s population now stands at 117,196 – the largest it has been since 1901 – with females out numbering males for the first time since 1871, with 58,898 females to 58,298 males in Clare. The number of females in the county grew by 4,098 in the past five years, while male numbers only grew by 2,298 in the same period.