Category: News

A POPULAR new stone sculpture in Ennis will aid tourism in the town, according to the Mayor of Ennis.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said last week that the Market Day, installed in the market roundabout last week, has already generated huge interest on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Speaking at the March meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Guilfoyle said, “We need all the attractions we can get in this town at the moment”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) described the piece as a “fantastic piece of sculpture”.

He added, “The amount of people getting their photos taken is amazing. It’s going to become a major tourist attraction”.

Made from granite, the near 20 tonne work depicts the two farmers discussing the purchase of a cow. The sculpture was installed on the market roundabout earlier this month as a replacement for the Icarus statue, which has been re-located to the Rocky Road roundabout.

The piece was designed and built by local sculptor Barry Wrafter. Market Day was commissioned by the Ennis Sculpture Initiative who also covered the cost of transporting the sculpture’s pieces to Ennis.

The Ennis Sculpture Initiative has installed numerous sculptures along the riverside in Ennis, as well as creating street furniture in the town centre. The sculpture trail takes many forms depicting cultural, historical and sporting events as well as more

abstract pieces.

In recent years, the initiative has spent close to one million euros on sculptures in and around Ennis in recent years.

Noel Crowley, Chairman of Ennis Tidy Towns, said there has been a fantastic response to the sculpture.

He also paid tribute to the efforts of the Sculpture initiative in ensuring the project was completed. “We commissioned it and paid for the transport.

“The Council paid for the re-enforcement of the roundabout so it could be installed there”.

ST PATRICK has his work cut out for him if he ever decides to return to County Clare, with reports of grass snakes in the Ennis sewer, corn snakes in a Kilmihil graveyard and a 14-foot anaconda living in one Clare council estate.

According to the Clare Dog Warden, Frankie Coote, the Clare snake population has ballooned in recent years and, with no laws or licensing system in place for snakes, there is little that can be done to control the numbers being introduced into the county.

While the number of poisonous snakes in Clare is believed to be low, Frankie has urged snake owners to be vigilant and ensure that their animals are not allowed to escape. A number of snake escapes have been reported in recent months, most recently a corn snake which was discovered in Kilmihil and has since been returned to its owner.

“The county has become a lot more cosmopolitan when it comes to animals and there are a lot of different types of pets in Clare these days. There were a lot of people, during the boom time, who started buying exotic pets like snakes,” said Frankie.

“The problem is that because they are so new, there is no law for them. It is against the law to go down the road with a Jack Russell if he’s not on a lead, but it is not against the law to walk down the road with a big snake or a tiger.

“We had an incident in Ennis recently where someone was leaving his snakes out to play as people were on their way down to bingo – in the middle of the town centre. People were getting worried and phoning me but it turned out there was nothing against the law going on.

“We had one snake that lived in the drains in Ennis for six months. It was found in the back of Paddy Quinn’s pub in the market. It had been seen by several people going in for a drink but no-one believed them, they thought they had drank too much. We managed to find the owner for that one.

“I am also aware of one particular man who had a 14-foot anaconda in a council estate in Clare.”

The corn snake, which was found at the Kilmihil Graveyard, had lived there for six months and survived by hunting mice and rats at the graveyard.

THERE have been calls for the 60 jobs created by the construction of a controversial new road maintenance depot near Ennis to be ring-fenced for Clare people.

40 jobs will be created during construction of the facility at the old GAMA site adjacent to the N18 motorway on the outskirts of Ennis. 20 permanent jobs will later be available at the 6, 500 tonne salt barn facility, which will be run by the National Roads Authority (NRA).

Details of the jobs were outlined at a meeting between officials from the NRA and Clare County Council last week.

The NRA will take charge of maintenance of the country’s motorway network with the proposed Tulla Road depot used to service the motorway in Clare and parts of Galway and Limerick.

Clare County Council has applied for planning permission to develop the site, a move that has attracted strong criticism from some local councillors.

The matter was raised at yester day’s monthly council meeting. Former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said the county was already adequately served by salt depots at Beechpark.

He said Clare County Council could tender to operate the facility at Tulla Road and maintain the region’s motorway network.

He said, “Clare County Council carried out this work all along. Why should we have to tender. It’s a downright disgrace.”

Cllr Brennan added, “I still think this is another quango set up by the government.” He called for all jobs created by the project “to be filled by people in this county”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the junction layout near the proposed road depot should be re-designed to allow for proper on/off access to the M18.

He told the meeting that the current 100-metre access road was too short for buses and trucks to reduce their speed from 120 km/h to 30 km/h when they exit the motorway.

Acknowledging concerns over “compact junctions” along a stretch of the M18, county engineer Tom Tiernan said he was not aware if the NRA planned to address these issues through the development of the road maintenance depot.

He said the transfer of responsibility for the maintenance of Clare’s motorway network to the NRA would reduce the council’s workload by 10 to 15 per cent.

However he added that there was still a significant network of secondary and regional roads in the county to cater for.

In response to a question from Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald (Lab), Mr Tiernan said that he did believe the NRA’s new functions would have any impact on existing jobs at Clare County Council.

A FORMER All-Ireland-winning Clare hurler has scored a victory against Tesco in a defamation case taken over the purchase of a bottle of wine.

Scariff man Patrick Moroney (33) was awarded € 7, 500 and costs at Ennis Circuit Civil Court last Thursday.

However, Judge Donagh McDonagh granted a request from Tesco’s legal representatives to have a stay placed on the order for a period of 10 days in the event of an appeal.

Mr Moroney, who played wing forward on the Clare minor hurling team that won the All-Ireland title in 1997, took the case for defamation following an incident at Tesco, Corbally, Ardnacrusha on November 28, 2010.

The court heard that Moroney and his girlfriend, Claire Hayes, were on the way to his parent’s house when Ms Hayes suggested that they purchase a bottle of wine.

Ms Hayes, a trainee solicitor who was then aged 25, was refused purchase of the wine because she did not have identification.

Mr Moroney, a solicitor for Moroney Meehan Solicitors who have offices in Scariff and Limerick, was then refused the wine by Tesco employee Ann Devlin.

In refusing to sell the wine to Mr Moroney, Ms Devlin, it was claimed, said, “you might as well be buying it (wine) for the children on the street”.

This was disputed by Ms Devlin. However, in his judgment, Judge McDonagh found that “these words or words to that effect were used” by Ms Devlin.

He described the words as “inflammatory and unnecessary” and seemed designed to “put him (Moroney) in his place”.

Counsel for Tesco, Ronnie Robins SC, had previously told the court that Tesco were presenting a defence of qualified privilege.

He had stated that qualified privi- lege failed when malice is shown, claiming that Mr Moroney had failed to prove that there had been malice.

Judge McDonagh said he was satisfied that Mr Moroney’s reputation had been “impugned” and that Mr Moroney had discharged the appropriate proof.

He said that he had raised concerns over accepting jurisdiction of the case.

Judge McDonagh said no evidence had been given of “serious or any damage” to Mr Moroney’s reputation.

He added, “As defamation goes, it is not a serious defamation”.

He said the appropriate damages are € 7,500.

Noting that Tesco clearly recognise their responsibilities regarding the sale and supply of alcohol, Judge McDonagh said that the retail firm should also train their staff in the “limits of language”.

The court had been told that damages of up to € 50,000 could have been awarded by the court.

SHANNON is one the verge of a major rat infestation with no specific funding currently available to tackle the growing pest problem in the town.

This has come to light following an official request from local Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind), at this week’s meeting of Shannon Town Council, that there’s no funding be found to tackle the problem. Shannon Development has previously provided some funding to tackle the problem but it was confirmed at the meeting that no specific source of funding was in place to tackle the situation.

“I requested that Shannon Town Council source some funding for this and this need to happen. Up to September of 2004, Shannon Development made funding available for pest control in the town. Unfortu- nately, this is no longer the case and no funding has been put in place by Clare County Council for this,” said Cllr Flynn.

“Shannon is a unique place, there are a lot of wetlands here. A lot of people are ringing me about difficulties with pests and they are surprised to learn that there is no funding set aside by Clare County Council for pest control. I am not happy with the reply and I would hope that you might find some funding for this.”

Speaking at the meeting, Shannon Town Manager Bernadette Kinsella said that pest control in Shannon was paid for out of the normal Clare County Council’s central budget.

“I know Shannon Development used to take care of this and it’s a pity that they didn’t transfer over the funding as well,” she said.

“The first point of call when there is a serious infestation is here, at the Shannon Local Offices, there is no specific budget from Clare County Council for dealing with pest control in Shannon.”

Meanwhile, Shannon Town Council will continue to host the Shannon.ie website after a heated debate on the subject in last weeks meeting. It had been proposed that the web address, which is the property of Clare County Council, was to be taken from the local authority and held in reserve for a new unified website about Shannon – when funding became available to create this site.

“I’m not happy with changing the name. What does Clare County Council intend to do with the existing name? I don’t understand why is it going to take so long to develop this unified website?” said Cllr Cathy McCafferty (Ind).

“This is the same council that wants to take over running of the airport and it’s going to take them six moths to develop a website.”

THE Killaloe Search and Rescue service have put emergency procedures in place to allow them to continue to patrol Lough Derg, despite the theft of two engines last week.

The theft, which was yesterday described by rescue service founder Tony O’Brien as a “crime against the whole community”, took place late on Wednesday night last in Killaloe. A group of thieves made away with two 90-horsepower Honda engines, each of which is worth € 15,000.

“It is devastating to think that people would go so low as to take equipment that could be used in a rescue operation. This is more than a theft from a person, this is a theft from the whole community. These engines were funded and paid for by the communities of Killaloe and Ballina and that makes it so, so disappointing,” said Mr O’Brien.

“We are a resilient group and we have put in place emergency procedure so we will be able to respond if there is an emergency. But these two engines will have to be replaced. I don’t know how we will do that.”

It is understood that the people involved in the theft were aware that the engines being stolen belonged to the volunteer rescue service.

“There is no question that they knew. The boat is quite clearly marked and the people who did this crime knew exactly who they were taking this from and what they were doing. It is sad that people would stoop this low,” continued Tony. “This is stealing material that would help to safe someone’s life down the line. If the people involved do find their conscience, if they leave the engines, someone we will go and collect them.”

The theft was also criticised by local Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) who described the theft as “outrageous”.

“It is awful what happened. Crime is getting bad out here in East Clare. It is simply outrageous. To take something like this from a voluntary group and put lives at risk in the process is just outrageous,” said Joe.

Anyone with information on the theft is asked to ring the gardaí in Killaloe on 061 620540.

THE last traces of the old Golf Links Hotel in Lahinch was demolished on Friday, as the area known as the “pump-house”, located on the southern most point of Lahinch beach, was removed by Clare County Council.

The structure, which has stood on the Lahinch seafront for more than 120 years, was originally built to service the old Lahinch Gold Links Hotel in 1890. The concrete pumphouse was used to pump fresh sea water to the hotel, which was then used to provide hot and cold, saltwater baths for its guests.

The hotel itself, which was located at the highest point in the village of Lahinch, was built to cater for the large number of tourists who flocked to play on the famed Lahinch Golf Course. It burned down in suspicious circumstances in the 1920s and the pump-house was all that remained of the historic structure.

Despite countless storms and high tides over the last century, the pumphouse has survived everything that the Atlantic Ocean has thrown at it over more than 120 years. The location, which could be accessed by a narrow cliffs side path, has been a popular teenage hangout for decades.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council confirmed that it has been concerned about the locations safety in recent times.

“The structure has become dangerous due to coastal erosion. Local groups have on numerous occasions in the past requested the council to remove this structure as it had become a gathering place for groups of youths and posed a serious health and safety risk to the general public,” said a spokesperson.

“So the works involved the removal of a serious health and safety risk.”

Over the last decade the pump- house has become a favourite hang out for the scores of local surfers who live in Lahinch and the surrounding area. A number of local surfers have expressed their disappointment that the structure has been removed.

It has also been suggested that one of the locals waves could be named in honour of the pump-house.

The old Golf Links Hotel was constructed a large tract of land which covered, in part, the area currently occupied by the Lahinch playground. It was build in close proximity both to the Golf Course and the Lahinch stop on the West Clare Railway, which is located on present day Station Road.

A NORTH Clare fisherman, whose customers have included Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin, has earned a reprieve in a bid to keep his business on Liscannor pier.

At Ennis District Court on Friday, Judge Aeneas McCarthy ordered Clare County Council to cut through the “red tape” to facilitate William O’Callaghan (72), a man he described as having made a “major contribution to tourism in North Clare”.

Mr O’Callaghan, who has operated an angling tour business on Liscannor pier since 1984, was brought to court by the council for failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice served in 2009.

The case relates to a mobile home on Liscannor pier used as an office by Mr O’Callaghan. The court heard that the Council received a complaint about an unauthorised structure on Liscannor pier in April 2009.

Anne Colleran, executive technician and planning enforcement officer, told the court that the structure was deemed unauthorised as it had been put up without planning permission.

Ms Colleran said Mr O’Callaghan failed to comply with a notice from the council ordering him to remove the structure. She said that while there is no registered owner of Liscannor pier, Clare County Council is responsible for the maintenance of the area.

Ms Colleran said Mr O’Callaghan had applied to the land registry to take possession of the area of ground where his business is situated. The court was told that Mr O’Callaghan pays commercial rates to Clare County Council. Ms Colleran said the payment of rates did not “regularise the situation”. She said the council accepted that Mr O’Callaghan had operated a suc- cessful business from Liscannor pier for 27 years. She added, “He has our sympathy and he’d have our support if he went to an authorised structure.”

Solicitor for O’Callaghan, Micheal Glynn, told the court that his client had met with the council in 2009 in an attempt to resolve the matter. Mr Glynn said his client’s previous customers included world leaders such as Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton and former President of Ireland, Patrick Hillery.

Mr O’Callaghan, a former schoolteacher, told the court that he had represented Shannon Development at major tourism conferences around the world. He said he had recently spent € 540,000 on a top of the range angling boat. He said he required an office on Liscannor pier to carry out safety exercises with customers. Mr O’Callaghan added that it was also vital to maintain a prescence on the pier during busy periods to prevent vandalism. He added, “If Clare County Council develop the pier, I’d be willing to surrender what I have as long as I am accommodated.”

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said that at a time when tourism is of such importance to the Irish economy, it would be in the interests of the local community, society and Clare tourism for Mr O’Callaghan to be accommodated. He said, “This man has made contacts all over the world, he is known all over the world.”

Judge McCarthy said the council should come up with some sort of plan to develop Liscannor pier to “circumvent the red tape”. He adjourned the matter until September 28.

THE felling of the last tree in the village of Ballyvaughan has provoked an angry row within the local community – with a number of local groups claiming that it was cut down illegally.

The tree was located in front of L’Arco’s Italian Restaurant in the village – a premises owned by former Clare TD, Madeline Taylor Quinn, and her husband George Quinn.

Clare County Council confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that no permission had been sought for any tree felling work to be undertaken in Ballyvaughan on or before February 29, when the tree was cut down.

A spokesperson from the Ballyvaughan Tidy Towns committee said the people of the town are furious that the tree was removed.

“There is a lot of upset and anger among the people up here.

“Every member of the Ballyvaughan Tidy Towns Committee has been inundated with calls about it so we decided to contact Clare County Council and see what could be done,” said a committee member form Ballyvaughan Tidy Towns.

“The council agree that the situation needs to be rectified. People are really very angry about this situation and want this rectified.”

A spokesperson from the Ennistymon Area Office of Clare County Council contacted the Ballyvaughan Tidy Towns Group last week, confirming the council intention to seek to restore a new tree to the site on the village main street.

In a statement released to The Clare People yesterday, the Ballyvaughan Community Development Group said they were very “upset” that noone in the village was notified before the tree was cut down.

“We are very upset that the tree has been cut down.

“The Community Development Group are surprised and upset that this happened and also with the manner in which this has taken place,” said the statement.

“We now want to work with everyone involved in this situation and insure that a solution is found which would see a tree being reinstated for the village.”

The tree itself was planted more than 25 years ago and is the last of more then a dozen trees which were planted in the village at that time.

A LEAVING Cert student from Clare has won the national Doodle 4 Google Competition. Last evening (Monday), Patrick Horan from Clonlara was announced as the winner of the competition.

A desire to turn back time and see how people lived in the past has won Patrick the fourth Doodle 4 Google competition. Patrick, a sixth-year student at St Munchin’s College in Limerick, looked to the past for his inspiration.The theme of this year’s competition was ‘I wish…’.

Commenting on the inspiration for his doodle, Patrick said, “Many of us look towards the stars to make a wish. I wish I could turn back time to see our world in past times. My doodle shows the mechanisms inside a clock slowly turning back the hands of time, making my wish come true.”

Patrick’s doodle will be seen by millions of users when it appears on the Google Ireland homepage on Friday, March 16. Patrick’s school will be awarded a € 10,000 technology grant, while both Patrick and his teacher will receive a personal laptop.

This is the second time a student from St Munchin’s has won the com- petition – Evan O’Sullivan-Glynn won the very first Doodle 4 Google competition in 2009.

Sophia Foster-Dimino, an official Google doodler, travelled from Google’s offices in Mountain View, California, to present Patrick with his award at a special prize-giving ceremony in Google’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin.

“This is my first visit to Ireland and, with over 2,300 entrants, it is obvious that Ireland’s reputation as a cultural and artistic leader in Europe is well deserved. The creativity exhibited by all of the five group winners was fantastic. I really struggled to pick the overall winner. I can’t wait to see Patrick’s doodle on the Google Ireland homepage.”

John Herlihy, Head of Google Ireland said, “The Doodle 4 Google competition shows the power of imagination and how talented Irish children are. Everyone involved should be extremely proud of their achievements. Google is committed to encouraging creativity and innovation amongst the next generation and the standards shown by this year’s entrants confirm that Ireland’s future is in safe hands.”