Category: News

THERE is a lively readership in West Clare. That is how one county councillor put it when he learnt that the number of people using their local library service has increased.

The membership of the five branches serving west and mid Clare increased by 125 in 2011, but the number needing the internet service at the local library has decreased.

County librarian Helen Walsh said this may be due to more home usage as lines become faster and less costly.

There was a drop of 346 members of the Kilkee library in 2011 however, with the number of books issued dropping by 6,210. There is an explanation for the drop however from the county library offices.

“During this time Kilkee library dropped membership, issues and internet usage due to the building works associate with the new Cultúrlann Sweeney,” said Ms Walsh.

The largest number of new readers was recorded in the Kilrush library, with an increase of 74.

Miltown Malbay increased its membership by 47 in 2011 while Kildysart went from 311 members in 2010 to 315 members in 2011.

Kilmihil showed a decrease in its membership of 78.

The five libraries continue to provide services despite cuts to their budgets and staffing levels within Clare County Council.

Ms Walsh explained that all development at the libraries is on a phased basis over a five-year period and according to the priorities and objectives laid out in the Library Development Plan 2010 to 2014.

“All objectives are budget and staff dependent and there is a real challenge in maintaining present stand- ards whilst striving to improve services in the present climate. The book fund has decreased from € 279,600 in 2009 to € 257,160 in 2010 to € 217,160 in 2011 at a time when the county population is increasing,” she said.

“Demand for other formats of book provision, downloadable and foreign language, also results in a further stretch on an ever decreasing book budget. The non-replacement of staff retiring or availing of various kinds of leave entitlement puts further stresses on the services regarding maintaining opening hours. An audit of opening hours in all branches will be undertaken this year,” said the county librarian.

“It is imperative that we keep these services. What is good we hold,” said Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind).

“The statistics are telling us of a very lively readership in Clare, “ he said.

RYANAIR wanted to pay out just € 1 per passenger it brought into Shannon in return for maintaining a low-cost hub at Clare’s international airport, a leading travel agent has claimed ahead of this Friday’s visit to Shannon by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar.

The claim was made by Tony Brazil of the Irish Travel Agents Association at an economic and policy meeting of Limerick City Council last week as he revealed how Shannon Airport chiefs refused to bow to Ryanair pressure on landing fees, despite the fact that the decision has resulted in a meltdown of traffic at the airport over the past four years.

“Ryanair did a deal with Shannon to land passengers for € 2 each when the norm was € 8 per passenger,” said Mr Brazil. “They landed 1.8m passengers when the deal was they should have landed two million. When the deal came up for renewal, they wanted this reduced to € 1, but they were only bringing in 400,000 passengers,” he added.

Ryanair spokesperson Stephen McNamara has said that the reason for the collapse of Shannon’s traffic of over 55 per cent from 3.6m passengers in 2007 to 1.6m last year was down to “the DAA’s refusal to extend Ryanair’s low cost base at Shannon, the Government travel tax and a 33 per cent increase in passenger fees at Shannon last November, even as the DAA’s traffic was collapsing”.

“It is the high DAA monopoly costs at Shannon Airport that have ‘driven out’ these lusted-after “foreign carriers” from Shannon and it is these same high costs that keep them out of Shannon.

“Maybe Shannon should start this process by addressing their high costs, facing up to the mistakes they have made and looking forward for a solution to the traffic collapse at Shannon, instead of backwards with the sole purpose of trying to blame others for their failure,” he added.

THREE people are due to appear in court in Ennis tomorrow in relation to their alleged roles in an incident at a primary school in the town last Tuesday.

Conor Mahon (21), Rose Mahon (22) and Laura Molloy (21) are charged with alleged offences arising out of an incident at the Holy Family Junior School, Station Road, Ennis on March 20.

All three appeared before Ennis District Court last Wednesday.

Conor Mahon, of Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis, is charged with possession of a slash hook at the school contrary to the firearms and offensive weapons act and with engaging in threatening and, or, abusive behaviour.

Conor Mahon’s wife, Rose Mahon, a mother of two, also of Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis, is charged with causing € 1, 500 worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle belonging to Thomas Sherlock on Station Road.

Her sister, Laura Molloy, of 21 An Pairc, Bruach na hAbhainn, Ennis, is also charged with causing € 1, 500 worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle belonging to Thomas Sherlock on Station Road.

Both sisters are also charged with provoking a breach of the peace.

Garda Trevor Shannon gave evi- dence of arrest, charge and caution in respect of Conor and Rose Mahon. Garda Bríd Troy gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in respect of Laura Molloy.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that the State were objecting to bail for all three accused on a number of grounds.

Judge Patrick Durcan refused bail applications for Conor Mahon and Laura Molloy.

They were remanded in custody to appear at Ennis District Court on March 28.

He granted bail to Rose Mahon subject to a number of conditions. She was ordered not to have any direct or indirect contact with a named family; to stay away from the Holy Family School, environs, staff and students; stay away from certain housing estates in Ennis; reside at Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis; observe a curfew from 9pm to 7am and to sign on twice weekly at Ennis Garda Station.

Judge Durcan remanded Rose Mahon on bail to appear in Ennis District Court on March 28.

A DOOLIN ferry owner charged with passenger “overloading” has been told to pay a contribution to the Royal Lifeboat National Institution (RNLI).

The charges were brought against Bill O’Brien of Lickeen, Kilfenora, by the Department of Transport at Ennis District Court on Friday.

Mr O’Brien, who has operated a ferry business in Doolin since 1970, was charged in relation to two passenger vessels in his ownership, ‘The Queen of Aran’ and ‘Tranquility’.

The charges state that in failing to comply with the conditions and re- quirements of the Merchant Shipping Act, the owner did cause the vessel to contain a number of passengers exceeding the maximum number as required.

Captain Neil Forde, a nautical surveyor with the Department of Transport, told the court that a colleague had observed “overloading” on ‘The Queen of Aran’ and ‘Tranquility’ on August 18, 2011.

Capt Forde explained that 101 people were on a ship that had a maximum capacity of 96. In the other incident, Capt Forde explained, 103 passengers boarded a ship with a maximum capacity of 93. The court was told that Mr O’Brien has no pre- vious convictions.

The court was told that Mr O’Brien and his crew operated a clicker system to record the number of passengers that board ships. Under questioning from solicitor John Callinan, Capt Forde agreed that the overloading occurred as result of a breakdown in the clicker system.

The court heard that the business has now moved to a position of issuing individual boarding cards rather than group boarding cards.

Capt Forde told the court that both boats had sufficient lifesaving equipment and lifeboats on board. He explained that one of the dangers of overloading was that, in the event of an emergency at sea, rescue crews might not take into account extra passengers.

Mr Callinan said Mr O’Brien had operated a “very significant” familyrun business in West Clare for over 40 years.

Judge Patrick Durcan said that overloading could lead to a “tremendous tragedy”. Noting Mr O’Brien’s guilty plea, his good record and his prescience along with that of his crew in court, Judge Durcan ordered him to pay a sum of € 1, 500 to the RNLI. He also ordered him to pay costs to the Department of Transport, bringing the total to € 1,855. No conviction was recorded against Mr O’Brien.

EVERY morning Agnieszka Abramczyk goes to work at 8am in the Holy Family School, Ennis.

The dinner lady loves her job, especially working with the children.

Very few people are aware however that the jolly mother of two is one of the 35 people awaiting a kidney transplant in Clare.

Mrs Abramczyk has been on dialysis since March 2006. This is a date she is not likely to forget, as her life changed forever.

Since then she travels to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick four times a week for dialysis, which takes up to four and a half hours.

Three of the sessions are at night and one in the afternoon.

The most difficult part of the process for the young woman is the tiredness.

Most weeks she finishes her dialysis at 5.30am, comes home to Ennis and then gets ready for work at 8am.

“I sleep when I get home at 2pm,” she told The Clare People .

She loves her job though as it allows her to escape from her thoughts about her illness.

“When I was diagnosed first I was waiting every day to hear the phone ring from the transplant team. Now I just forget about it and think about living,” she said.

Agnieszka is on the transplant list for two years, but with many waiting for up to three years she is not waiting on tender hooks for the allimportant call any time soon.

Her family are very supportive of the lady that made Ireland her home seven years ago.

Husband Piotr was willing to give the love of his life one of his kidneys. However when he was tested it was discovered that their blood was not compatible and the transplant could not go ahead.

Her 18-year-old son Adrian has already signed up as an organ donor and carries a card everywhere.

Daughter Natalia is just 14 but she tells The Clare People that she cannot wait to turn 18 so she too can sign up to be an organ donor.

While she does not know the day or the hour she will receive a new kidney, Agnieszka is hoping that in the interim she can go on home dialysis.

This would mean that she would not have to leave home for her weekly treatment.

The Polish native is also full of praise for the medical staff who have been treating her for the last six years.

CLARE will have a huge say on whether disgraced Fianna Fáil politicians will remain within the party following the findings of the Mahon tribunal, as three of the members of the party’s Special Ard Chomhairle hail from the Banner county.

Party Vice-President Timmy Dooley TD and Gareth Greene, one of the Committee of Twenty, said they would have voted to expel former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former minister Padraig Flynn had they not resigned, and will be supporting the motions to throw the other disgraced members out.

The third Clare man on the party’s national executive secretary of Clare’s Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil Cheantair Gerry Reidy said he would be follow- ing the direction of the leadership and the committee on the motions.

Of Mr Ahern, Mr Reidy said, “What he has done (in resigning) is a very honourable thing as it allows the party to move on without any divisions. He was very well received in Clare and did a lot for the county while he was Taoiseach.”

Mr Greene said that he feels his association with the party has tainted him after the findings of Mahon.

“It is that that informed our determination to put a clear distance between those people and ourselves,” he said, referring to those to come before the Ard Comhairle for expulsion. “There isn’t a doubt in the world that the reputation of the Fianna Fáil party has been prejudiced by a small number of people. There is a sense of hurt and pain to thousands of good and decent members who are struggling to man- age household budgets.”

Deputy Dooley described the findings of Mahon as a “bitter pill to swallow”. He said, “While all the evidence was coming out, you always had a view there was something else there to mitigate against them.

“I am disappointed with the facts throughout all of this. I had assumed there would be an explanation but obviously the judge who heard all the evidence found Bertie Ahern untruthful.”

The Clare TD said there was no doubt that the former Taoiseach had to be expelled from the party.

He maintains, however, that while Fianna Fáil has been damaged by the revelations of the Mahon Report, history will provide a kinder report. He said he believes history will point to a lot of good the party has done, while mentioning the corruption.

UP TO 50 councillors past and present formed a guard of honour on Saturday night to bid farewell to one of the former first citizens of Clare.

Former chairman of Clare County Council Seán Hillery had passed away on Thursday morning following a short illness, and thousands gathered in Shannon over the weekend to pay tribute to the former Fianna Fáil councillor.

Born in Miltown Malbay, he took a number of odd jobs after graduating from St Flannan’s College in Ennis, before moving back to his native town to take up a position in the West Clare pharmacy.

After serving two years in the working pharmacy, Seán went to university in Dublin and qualified as a pharmacist in 1963.

He then moved to Sixmilebridge and opened a pharmacy there.

After a number of years he relocated with his family to Shannon where he opened two new pharmacies.

A community activist, Mr Hillery was elected to Clare County Council in 1985 and served as a councillor and as chairman at different intervals until 2004.

He served on Shannon Town Council from 1994 to 2009.

The 76-year-old was also the first Chairperson of the Clare County Development Board and was President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) between 1982 and 1984.

Mr Hillery was a first cousin of former President of Ireland Dr Patrick Hillery and serving Clare County Councillor Michael Hillery (FF). Cllr Michael Hillery described Seán as a man that was very active and full of energy.

“He had great foresight and vision. Years back in the council he was talking about Radon gas in houses and the dangers before anyone else was. He was ahead of his time.”

Cllr Michael Hillery also paid tribute to the late pharmacist’s love of his native Miltown Malbay. “He came back whenever he could,” he said.

Sean Hillery was a keen sportsman, having played football with Miltown and was involved in one of the team’s last county final wins.

A strong swimmer, he served as a lifeguard in Spanish Point in his early years, and continued to be involved with water, boating and swimming.

He was also a keen golfer and enjoyed the social interaction of the sport.

Mayor of Clare Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) paid tribute to his dedication to elected politics and said, “Sean was well known and respected throughout Shannon and the wider county. He also was held in high esteem by colleagues as evidenced by his election as President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.”

Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan added, “Sean was a very popular public representative who will be remembered by those who knew him for his work ethic, humility and sense of humour. The fact that he held the office of Mayor in both Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council is something I know both he and his family were very proud of.”

Sean was predeceased by his wife Paula, and is survived by his sons Barry, Feidlim and Shane and his daughter Majella.

THERE are more Clare people attending the private Galway Clinic in the last year than ever before, despite six per cent of Irish people giving up health insurance.

The Banner county has surpassed Mayo in providing the clinic’s second largest number of patients, now making up 16 per cent of the hospital population. In 2008, at the peak of health insurance ownership, just 12 per cent of the hospital’s patients were from Clare.

Asked why 4,426 Clare people opted for the services of the Galway Clinic in 2011, Business Development Manager Mark Sheehan said the main reason was its locality but the reduction of health services in the area also played a major factor.

“Many of the 4,426 patients were seen at our Emergency Department which has extended its hours of service now daily from 10am to 7pm,” he said. 24-hour accident and emergency services at Ennis General Hospital closed in April 2009, and acute services were later moved to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick.

Mr Sheehan said that demand for cancer services in the west also far outstrips supply, so when the hospital opened its new unit, beds filled up immediately. “In 2009, we expended the range of cancer care services available at the Galway Clinic. This expansion comprised of a new linear accelerator for the provision of radiotherapy, a new oncology day unit and two new inpatients wings comprising of 46 beds. The new floors were im mediately full.”

People are also staying longer at the private hospital, with the average stay increased from 3.6 days to 4.3 days. The extended stay is due to an increase in the range of treatments and diagnosis.

The numbers of surgical cases performed in the Galway Clinic has seen a slight decrease, which can be attributed to the cessation of the NTPF (National Treatment Purchase Fund), according to Mr Sheehan.

“With occupancy levels of 91 per cent last year, the fall off in surgery has not impacted the demand for services. We are currently developing a new multi-storey car park, which will be complete by December 2012. We are also considering building a whole new accommodation wing comprising of approximately 70 single rooms and a new 20-bed ICU department,” said Mr Sheehan.

And while the Galway clinic is looking to expand, Irish health insurers are slow to reveal a county-bycounty break down of the number of people cancelling their insurance.

George Field from VHI told The Clare People that the state-supported health insurer could not reveal the exact number of people from Clare that discontinued their insurance due to commercial sensitivities, but the number was down.

THE loss of the Sky Ride Etape Hibernia cycling race has been described as a “devastating blow” for the Clare tourism and cycling sectors.

The event, which has generated more then € 2 million for the local economy over the past two years, will not take place this year after race organisers, IMG Challenger World, decided to end their involved with the race.

The event attracted more then 3,000 cycling enthusiasts to Clare over the past two years with stars such as Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly and British Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis taking part.

According to Patrick O’Donoghue of the Burren Cycling Club, a new event should be organised to fill the gap left by the Etape.

“|t is a devastating loss for the Clare cycling community but it is more of a loss for everyone involved in tourism in the county,” he told The Clare People .

“What we need now is for Shannon Development and Clare County Council to come together with the Clare cycling clubs and between us we can come up with an event to take its place and build on the momentum which has been built up over the past two years.”

These sentiments were echoed by Shannon Development’s Tourism Marketing Manager, Paul Ryan.

“We are disappointed with the news that IMG Challenger World will no longer be involved with the event. However, Shannon Develop- ment and Clare County Council will work with the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau to secure a similar cycle event for the county,” he said.

“We understand that IMG Challenger World, although acknowledging that the event attracted significant numbers of cyclists and their families to Clare, felt the number of participants didn’t reach their projected levels and therefore was not commercially viable for IMG.

“The 2010 Lonely Planet Travel Guide named County Clare in the top 10 super cycling routes in the world. This is testament to the amount of work that has gone into the development of the tourism cycling product in the region in recent times. We will continue to build on the county’s growing reputation as a cycling destination.”

In August of 2010 the inaugural Sky Ride Etape Hibernia became Ireland’s first ever closed road mass participation cycling event. A similar event organised by IMG in Scotland attracts more than 5,000 participants each year.

A MAN alleged to have wasted Garda time in Ennis last summer has been returned for trial. Bernard Flaherty (37), with an address at 3 Lifford Lodge, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court last Wednesday.

It is alleged that on June 24, 2011, at Ennis Garda Station, Flaherty did knowingly make a false statement tending to show that he had information material to Garda enquiries and thereby causing the time of the Gardaí to be wastefully employed. It arose out of a three-week Garda search for a missing man in Ennis last June. The court previously heard that the person died of natural causes.

Sgt Catherine Houlihan told the court that she had served the book of evidence on Flaherty. Insp John Galvin said it was appropriate for this matter to be returned for trail to the next sitting of Ennis Circuit Court. He said the State did not have any objection to bail. Judge Patrick Durcan remanded Flaherty on bail to appear at Ennis Circuit Court in May.