Category: News

MANAGEMENT at Ennis Golf Club have moved to further improve security measures after a spate of recent break-ins.

The club, which has around 1,300 members, has been the target of three break-ins in recent months.

On Wednesday, February 22, the club was broken into by breaking a window. Nothing was stolen on that occasion.

On February 12 the cash register was stolen from the club shop when a person gained access to the premises by breaking the side window.

Damage has been repeatedly caused to windows at the club shop, a situation one committee member has described as “very annoying and frustrating”.

The premises is covered by CCTV and now management at the club have improved lighting at the front and rear of the club in an attempt to ward off intruders.

Honourary secretary John Cullinane said, “We have had three at least since last December. We don’t keep cash in the bar, the restaurant or the golf shop. Recently the breakins have been at the golf shop. The policy there is that we leave the till open so people can see that there is no money in it.”

Last year the club installed a new security system aimed at ensuring greater protection for staff and members. Members must now type in an access code at the main entrance door in order to gain access to the clubhouse at night. The measures were introduced last summer following incidents where intruders broke into the golf club.

Mr Cullinane continued, “10 days ago some guy broke the window but the alarm went off and he ran away. The guards told us that he faced into one of the cameras so they got him on CCTV. We’re looking at what else we can do in terms of security. The CCTV has been fairly good but when they get to the building they are ducking and diving trying to avoid it.”

He added, “There is a cost to the club every time that something happens. There is replacement cost to replace a window every time they break it. It’s very frustrating and annoying. We’ve had to replace the window several times.”

CLARE County Council won’t have to come up with funding to run the day-to-day operations of Shannon, because the local authority won’t be given responsibility for running affairs of Clare’s international airport.

That’s the message from the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, as he has moved to clarify what Clare County Council’s involvement in Shannon could be when the Cabinet decides on a new airport blueprint.

“Local authorities may have a role to play in ensuring the future of Shannon Airport,” Minister Varadkar told Dáil Éireann, “but I do not believe it will be their role to subvent or run it,” he added.

“They do not have the skills to do this and it is not what was intended. When the consultants (Booz & Company) were examining this issue, they might have been thinking more of Manchester and Leeds-Bradford airports, but they are within the remit of very different local authorities for areas of population of one to four millon people,” continued Minister Varadkar.

This move, which effectively pours cold water on Clare County Council being a key driver in the new Shannon Airport, comes in the wake of concerns raised by a number of councillors last week that the local authority could be lumbered with responsibility for the airport without having the financial means.

“One cannot expect local authorities to find a fanciful pool of money in the current climate,” local TD and Fianna Fáil spokesperson on transport, Timmy Dooley said.

“The Minister is well aware that local authorities do not have the money required, neither does Shannon Development,” he added.

Responding Minister Varadkar said that “we can all agree that the status quo at Shannon Airport is not working well and that this year its passenger numbers continue to fall, particularly as a result of the reduction in the number of military flights.

“Two models have been put forward for Shannon,” continued Minister Varadkar. “One of these is the CIE model which is an option, but I am not yet satisfied it would result in sufficient change because an independent subsidiarity which requires another for subvention is not really independent.

“The other option is full independence, the detail of which must be figured out because I can only recommend it to the Government if I believe it will be financially viable. I am not willing to do anything that I do not believe in my heart will be a success.

“The whole point of the process is to make a success of an airport which has been in decline for some time. Whatever happens I assure anyone with concerns that the airport will stay open,” he added.

THE campaign by Clare turfcutters to continue what they say is their “age-old right” to cut turf at Tullaher Lough Bog in West Clare now moves to Brussels and will be won.

That’s the battlecry from chairman of the Clare branch of the Turfcutters and Contractors Association, Padraig Haugh, following last Thursday’s march on Leinster House and the passage of a private members motion in the Dáil in support of turfcutters in Special Areas of Conservation.

“I was up in Dublin,” said Mr Haugh, “and people were saying to me that I was hitting my head off a stone wall and there was no point going to Dublin marching and protesting, but we have achieved a lot.

“We have climbed the first hurdle against the directive from Europe which says that we cannot cut turf on Tullaher Lough Bog anymore. There are about 50 people who cut turf there,” he added.

Mr Haugh became chairman of the local branch of the Turfcutters and Contractors Association after a public meeting was staged in Garrihy’s of Moyasta last November and since then has taken the campaign to keep Tullaher Lough Bog open to turf cutters in west Clare.

“There is a high bog area and it’s very small and we are very happy to keep that preserved,” said Mr Haugh, “but there was another portion added into the Special Area of Conservation that’s 1400 hectares and there was no necessity to do that, because the EU is denying people a right to do what families have been doing for hundreds of years there.

“As turf cutters we are determined to fight for the right to cut turf. I’ve cut turf every year since 1948 and we are hopeful that these people in Brussels will see that what we’re looking for is only a small thing.

“We’ve already got concessions from the Government in that they are giving another € 1,000 onto the € 1,000 and a new top up payment of € 500. That’s down to the campaign and we won’t stop until we are allowed cut turf on Tullaher Lough again,” he added.

A GERMAN woman who developed a heroin addiction after moving to Ireland has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for drugs offences.

Imposing the sentence at Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Judge Aeneas McCarthy described Annette Hausmann (34) as a “dealer in heroin”.

Hausmann, with an address at Clare Villas, Clare Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to having heroin for sale or supply in Ennis on August 12 (2011) and possession of heroin on November 4 (2011).

Insp John Galvin said gardaí carried out a search of the accused’s apartment under warrant last August. He explained that they discovered 36 deals of heroin with an estimated value of € 1,128. He said the accused was also found in possession of heroin during a Garda search of her home in November. Insp Galvin said Hausmann had previous convictions for drugs offences.

Solicitor Tara Godfrey said that it appeared that Hausmann had been sharing heroin with serious heroin addicts. She said that on none of the occasions had her client been found with a weighing scales or a tick list.

She added, “My client did not appear to be enriching herself at all from the sale of heroin”.

The court heard that Hausmann had moved to Ennis with a good work ethic and clean of drugs. Ms Godfrey explained that her client appeared to have “acquired a very serious habit in Ireland”. She said Hausmann had made every effort “to rid herself of this pernicious addiction”.

She added, “Her family have become exhausted by her addiction and appear to have distanced themselves from her”.

Ms Godfrey said that in attempting to distance herself from other heroin users, Hausmann had seen her property damaged and suffered offensive graffiti near her home. Judge McCarthy said, “This is a serious matter. This lady is dealing in heroin”.

He imposed two sentences of seven months to be served consecutively. Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

CLARE faces an uphill battle if it is to regain the international tourists that have been lost to the county over the last 10 years. According to the Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan, who was elected national president of the Irish Hotel Federation last week, a new cooperative approach to tourism in Clare will need to take place before we start winning back the international tourists. “Tourism has been declining in Clare for seven or eight years now. This decline has been masked a bit by the buoyant domestic market but the flight situation has really made the situation worse,” said Michael. “We need to link our walkways, our cycling routes, our surfing holidays and package them more so that when people come into the county, they can get a real sense of the different touring loops that offer the tourists a whole package for the area.” Fáilte Ireland is currently piloting a project entitled ‘The Wild Atlantic Ways’, which Michael Vaughan hopes could be a major benefit to Clare once it is rolled out. “This is a series of iconic road-trips all along the west coast that will tie into festivals and other things happening in a locality. “The idea is to map out a few iconic routes through the county and provide people with a plan that tourists could follow. “So if a tourist was to base himself in Doolin, let’s say, he could see very quickly that there were two more days of activities for him to do in the area and plan like that,” continued Michael. “It is that type of awareness of product that we need to get better at in Clare. This is about tying together what we already have in the county. It’s about looking at things and packaging them in a different way. “Tourists in Germany plan in this way but they won’t go to a place until they know that there is an experience to be had in that area. We need to give them that information about Clare. “Fáilte Ireland are rolling this plan out on a pilot basis in Connemara next year but I know that Clare is being looked at very closely by them and is prime for this sort of investment.”

NO PAIN. No gain. That was certainly the case for one Ennis schoolboy who was the centre of attention yesterday as he proudly showed off a rugby ball signed by Irish international Ronan O’Gara. The ball was an unexpected souvenir from eight-yearold Oliver Cassidy’s first visit to an Ireland rugby match.

The Clarecastle National School student was with his father David, cousin Damien Reidy and uncle Peter Reidy for Ireland’s victory over Scotland in the Six Nations Championship in Dublin on Saturday.

The group were sitting behind the goals at the Aviva Stadium watching the teams go through their pre-match warm-up when Oliver was struck in the nose by a ball kicked by Irish flyhalf O’Gara. Oliver was brought across the pitch to the medical centre for treatment. His nose was bloodied but not broken.

Afterwards, as Oliver and his family celebrated Ireland’s 18-point victory, they were informed by a match stew ard that Oliver would be receiving the match ball signed by Munster legend O’Gara.

Oliver was presented with the ball after the game. It was signed ‘To Ollie, Best Wishes, Ronan O’Gara’. Dad David said Oliver, who plays for Ennis Rugby Club’s under-9s team, was over the moon with the gift.

“He brought it up to rugby training and soccer training. He brought it into school today to show it off. It was his first International game. He’s been to a few Munster games.”

Oliver’s brush with kicking king O’Gara was even recognised by the visiting Scottish fans as he walked to the medical centre at the Aviva Stadium. Mum Edel explained, “He was walking across the pitch after he was hit and one of the Scottish fans spotted him with the blood on his face. He said to him, ‘Here’s a fiver for being so brave’.”

A sports enthusiast, Oliver plays for Ennis Rugby Club and Ennis Town Soccer Club.

IF implemented, one of the options for the future operation and management structure to govern Shannon that has been put forward by the team of international consultants hired by the Government would mean little change for the airport.

That’s according to Booz and Company themselves, after the final report, which has been part-published by the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, outlines that one of the two options favour by the consultants would not give Shannon its independence and instead place control of the airport’s destiny in the hands of a new holding company.

“State control of Shannon would be maintained, but would be given the status of an independent subsidiary within overall airport group,” says the Booz and Company blueprint.

“The independent airport board would set the strategic direction for the airport and appoint individual management teams with responsibility for developing tailored business plans and marketing strategies,” it adds.

Booz and Company also say that “if properly structured, the primary benefit of this approach is that it would provide the airport with enhanced autonomy at local level”, enabling Shannon “to develop policies and processes that will enhance airport competitiveness with their specific market”.

However, the downside to this option is that it amounts to a watered down version of the current status quo where Shannon is concerned. In theory, Shannon would be given equal status to Dublin and Cork, with all three airports being subsidiaries of a new Ireland Airports Corporation (IAC), but could still be the junior partner of the IAC because of having the smallest number of passengers.

That these pit-falls exist have been confirmed by Booz and Company’s admission that “a risk of this approach is that increased competitiveness of one airport could have a detrimental effect on another airport within the group by diverting traffic away from one or both of the other airports.

“The holding company may therefore choose to impose restrictions on the subsidiary boards to ensure a group-focused approach to financial risk management.

“This would undermine the key benefit of separation and lead to outcomes that are similar in reality to the current situation, but it would create a structure more suitable for future separation.

“Under this approach, there would also be some additional costs associated with creating extra governane at the national level, and through duplicating some management roles at the airport currently performed by the DAA,” Booz and Company add.

A MAN facing charges on alleged drugs possession has been granted bail.

Trevor Gargan (31) with an address at 179 Cregayn Street, Belfast, Antrim, Bt6 8NI, appeared at Ennis District Court last Tuesday.

According to court documents, it is alleged that Gargan was in possession of cannabis for the purposes of selling or otherwise supply to another at Ballymaconna, Barefield on Wednesday, February 22.

Gargan is also charged with the unlawful possession of a controlled drug, to wit, cannabis, at Ballymaconna, Barefield on Wednesday February 22.

Insp John Galvin told the court that the State had no objection to bail of € 10,000.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy fixed bail and ordered that the full amount be lodged. Solicitor John Casey said that € 10,000 had been lodged with the court.

Gargan was granted bail subject to a number of conditions.

The court ordered that he must reside at 3 Figile Manor, Clonbullogue, Co Offaly and sign on daily at Edenderry Garda Station.

Gargan was also ordered to surrender his passport and undertake not to apply for another passport. Insp Galvin said that the State were awaiting instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Judge McCarthy remanded the accused in custody with consent to bail to appear at Ennis District Court on April 4 for DPP’s directions.

FIANNA Fáil’s Timmy Dooley TD was elected to the position of vice president of the party at this weekend’s Ard Fheis.

The man from Tulla was all but assured the position when former minister Éamonn Ó Cuiv TD pulled out of the race following his resignation from the deputy leadership of Fianna Fáil and his withdrawl from the front bench.

Deputy Dooley is currently Fianna Fáil’s frontbench spokesperson on Transport, Tourism and Sport, and he also serves as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

This is his second term as a TD for Clare and he previously served as a senator.

“The position of vice president will be a very challenging role but one which I am relishing. I will embrace the role and help in rebuilding the party and rejuvenating it across the country,” he said.

“Every member of the party will now have a say in the future of Fianna Fáil and it is vitally important that we reinstate the party back to being a strong and vibrant force in Irish politics. I would also like to congratulate Gareth on being elected to the Committee of 20.

“The positive atmosphere and the energy we saw this weekend is testament to the fact that Fianna Fáil has a strong and vital role to play in the future of Irish politics. I want to thank all of those from Dublin who attended the ard f heis and made their voices heard about the future of the party,” he added.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin TD said, “The positive atmosphere and the energy we saw this weekend is testament to the fact that Fianna Fáil has a strong and vital role to play in the future of Irish politics. I want to thank all of those from across County Clare who travelled up to the ard f heis and made their voices heard about the future of the party.”

THE creation of a new independent Shannon run by a holding company that’s fully separated from Dublin Airport Authority influence while still under State ownership is the best way forward for Clare’s international airport.

That’s the view of Booz and Company – the consultants hired by the Government to come up with a new roadmap to secure the future of the 75-year-old airport.

The consultants said that this model of governance “provides the best ap- proach to balancing the stakeholder objectives with the viable operation of the airport”.

In backing what’s termed “a concession model”, which would pave the way for the holding company to lease out the airport for up to 35 years, the consultants have warned that “the current state of affairs at Shannon has resulted in demand levels that are not sustainable for the airport”.

Continuing Booz and Company says “Shannon Airport is faced with a significant threat to its viability under current ownership arrangements and further separation from the DAA would offer greater opportunities for setting policies that encourage route development and traffic growth and for the development of niche business opportunities.

“Under this approach, the competition of the local authority holding entity could include Clare and Limerick county councils.

“The holding company could also include Shannon Development, as part of a move to integrate the airport with the nearby industrial land, as well as input from relevant commercial interests and public bodies.

“In addition, the local concession model is the preferred model of local stakeholders since it provides an opportunity for them to take greater involvement in the operation of the airport and in the development of the surrounding land.

Creating a separate entity at Shannon, if well managed, is unlikely to significantly affect the DAA’s relationship with its financiers,” the report adds.

However, Booz and Company have warned that “creating a viable airport business under separate ownership” at Shannon “requires the new airport operate to significantly improve financial performance and to be able to access sufficient funds to maintain and invest in the airport over a longer term”.

To ensure this, Booz and Company say “the Government may need to consider appropriate mechanisms for ongoing support”.

This, the consultants say, could be done by way of “integrating the airport with adjoining industrial developments (Shannon Free Zone, supported by the inclusion of Shannon Development in the new holding company structure) and appointing a concessionaire that is experienced in developing successful aero-industrial airport businesses, could better ensure sustainability of the airport and surrounding areas”.