Category: News

JUST one nurse has been provided to the Clare Mental Health Services under the € 35 million ringfenced in the budget for development of community mental health services.

According to a Clare member of the HSE West Forum, the money that was earmarked for recruitment within the under-resourced service has provided just one staff nurse to the child and adolescence psychiatric service in the county.

Cllr Tom McNamara (FF) has called for more services in Clare to be supported from the funding.

Minister of State, with responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch said the funding would primarily be used to strengthen community mental health teams in both adult and children’s mental health services.

Over 400 additional staff are to be recruited to support initiatives under this package. It is intended that the additional resources will be rolled out in conjunction with the scheme of appropriate clinical care programmes currently being developed.

It is understood that the € 35 million is to be released over three years.

Cllr McNamara said that he was disappointed to learn that to date just one appointment has been made in Clare under the scheme.

THE people of Doolin will hit the big time later this week as the town features in an hour-long programme to be broadcast on Sky TV. A number of local people and musicians were interviewed during the recent Micho Russell Memorial Music festival in the village, with many of these interviews to feature on the programme.

The programme, which is entitled ‘Out and About in Ireland’ will be broadcast on Sky channel 201 this coming Thursday, March 8, from 9pm and repeated twice on Sunday and Monday, March 11 and 12, at 11pm.

It is not clear as yet which local people have made it into the final cut for the programme, but it will feature something from local musicians Kevin Griffin, Adrian O’Connor, Albie Grace, Donal Murphy, Pat Ryan, David Crowe, Tom Delaney, Matt Burke and Christy Ennis, as well as an interview with Sean Keane who was in Doolin performing for the weekend.

“It is always an honour to be invited back to perform in front of people that really appreciate and understand the music,” said Keane about the Russell Memorial Festival.

“I love coming down to Doolin. Micho Russell has a legendary place in traditional music and I think this weekend embodies the emotion and spirit of his music.

“There is something about Doolin and the music of Clare that is magical and I am sure people will really enjoy this programme.”

The programme focuses on the Russell Memorial Music Festival, describing it as one of the “hidden gems” of the Irish traditional music calendar.

While the festival already attracts musicians and music-lovers from all over Ireland, it is hoped that the exposure gained from the television programme could attract new audiences to the festival for 2013.

The programme was made for Sky by a film crew from an Irish television company who will also be streaming the programme online at www.irishtv.ie from this Thursday.

It is presented by Pierce O’Reilly and, besides focussing on the traditional music of the area, it also looks at some of the leading local artisan food producers in the area, including the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna and Linalla Ice Cream in New Quay.

PATIENTS and visitors to the Mid West Regional hospitals in Ennis and Limerick will have to leave the hospital campuses and walk to the roadside if they plan to light up.

From May 1, all hospitals in the midwest, including the maternity hospital, will become smoke-free, following in the footsteps of other HSE West hospitals.

Sister hospitals in Galway have been smoke-free for more than two weeks, although not everyone is a fan of the new regulations that must be imposed in all Irish hospitals by 2015.

Chairman of the HSE West, Pádraig Conneely (FG) asked if the HSE had gone a step too far by banning smoking on all hospital campuses.

“Is it not a far walk all the way down to the road?” he asked, referring to the tree-lined avenue of Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, where last week’s meeting of the HSE West took place.

The Galway councillor also raised unease at the sight of patients in their pyjamas and dressing gowns standing on the side of the main road, out- side the walls of the University College Hospital, Galway.

He asked who would be responsible if a passing car knocked one of these patients down.

The HSE West chairman also raised concerns about policing the new ban. “How are you going to stop people outside accident and emergency in an inebriated state who are smoking, or a person dealing with a tragedy who wants to go outside to smoke,” he said.

Clare representative to the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said he agreed with the policy, but raised concerns about hospitals like the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis, which has a psychiatric unit. “It is more than a dependency for people with psychiatric problems,’ he said.

He asked if the HSE now plans to extend the practice of allowing unhealthy behaviour on campus, by ceasing to sell sugary foods in its hospital shops, given the rise in typetwo diabetes.

Fellow Clare representative Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) asked about the size of the hospital campus and was told it was a 150-acre site.

“If there were 1,5000 acres, would you have the same rules? Where does it stop?” he asked.

Regional Director of Operations HSE West John Hennessy said it was “somewhat of an anomaly if we have banned cigarettes in pubs and public places and allow them on hospital grounds. I just can’t see us going back on an inevitable move.”

Tony Canavan, General Manager, Galway Primary Community and Continuing Care (PCCC), HSE West, added that “in a small number of cases, patients will be allowed to smoke in consultation with their doctor.”

GOVERNMENT cutbacks in youth services that are set to be implemented over the next three years now means that frontline services provided throughout the county by the Clare Youth Service will be closed.

That’s the warning that has been issued by both the chairman and chief executive of the Clare Youth Service, as they front up a new fundraising campaign to try and stave off the forced closure of key services that will be brought on by budget cuts.

These fears for the future of Clare Youth Service operations have been sounded out in a letter, secured by The Clare People this week, in which chairman Michael Byrne and chief executive Margaret Slattery launched their appeal to members of the public to row in behind a fundraising campaign for youth services throughout Clare.

“We’ve responded to the cutbacks of recent years by pay reductions, restructuring and changing the way we work. This has helped us maintain core services,” the letter outlining the current financial well-being of Clare Youth Service states.

“However, we’ve now been informed of the scale of cuts to our grants up to 2015. There will be more significant reductions each year to the extend that internal savings will not allow us to maintain a reasonable level of service.

“Unless alternative income in generated, frontline services will close,” it adds.

Clare Youth Service has a huge network of services throughout the county, providing 68 projects in 25 locations for up to 3,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 25.

Clare Youth Service had its beginnings in 1969 when it was established as Clare Regional Youth Council. Over the years it has changed and developed to become a leader in the field of youth services.

The range of services includes youth clubs, certified training, music projects, youth cafés and education programmes.

To ensure that services can be maintained, people around the county are being asked to become “a patron or a friend” of Clare Youth Service.

“Individuals and companies can become a patron for a donation of € 50 or become a friend for € 20. There is no ongoing commitment. Friends will receive a car sticker, whilst patrons will receive a certificate for their premises or home in addition to the sticker,” the letter adds.

A STATE-OF-THE-ART dementia unit, which was refurbished two years ago by the HSE at a cost of almost quarter of a million euro, remains closed to the county’s 1,300 Alzheimer’s patients.

While HSE management said it is committed to the opening of the unit, staffing issues mean the unit on the grounds of St Joseph’s Hospital, Ennis, is likely to remain closed for the near future.

Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing issue within the Clare health services.

Between January and October last year, there were 303 Alzheimer’s patients being care for by the older people’s psychiatric team in the county.

However, there are a further 380 new patients referred to the service but still not seen.

The 15-bed specialised unit in St Joseph’s was designed to provide 13 residential beds to seriously ill patients, as well as two respite care beds.

These patients are currently being cared for at Cappahard Lodge, Ennis, while the unopened Alzheimer’s unit at St Joseph’s is being used as a temporary home for patients displaced due to essential fire and safety upgrades at the hospital.

Bernard Gloster, Area Manager Mid West PCCC, said, “It is expected that these (fire and safety) works will be completed by June 30, 2012 and, following the final transfer of the older persons back to the units in St Joseph’s Hospital, unit 5 (the new Alzheimer’s unit) will be available to the Mental Health Services.”

The health manager admits, however, that staffing the unit will pose difficulties.

“It will be a challenge for the Mental Health Services to staff this specific dementia unit from within the reduced staffing resource available to the service following the retirement of a substantial number of nurses from the service.

“However, management of the Clare Mental Health Service will endeavour to reorganise its service delivery to enable this dementia unit to be utilised for dementia patients,” he said.

Meanwhile, the HSE plans to remove all patients from Gort Glas to other units within the mental health services and in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland (ASI) build a dementia-specific day centre and the Psychiatry of Old Age Outpatient Service on the site.

“The project is on the HSE Capital Plan for 2012. Currently, the design and costings are being examined and decisions are pending to ensure that the project progresses within the funding resources available to the ASI and the HSE,” said Mr Gloster.

Clare representative on the HSE West Forum, Cllr Tom McNamara (FF) expressed his fears that the release of staff from the closure of Gort Glass and the downgrading of the HSE facility at Dalganish, Shannon, will not be sufficient to open the Alzheimer’s unit in Ennis.

“The opening of the residential and day-care service has to be a priority,” he said.

A LOCAL sculptor has rejected criticisms made online about his recent work, which was unveiled in Ennis last week.

Barry Wrafter says he doesn’t care what critics think of his Market Day sculpture. The piece, which comprises two farmers, a cow and a dog, pays a tribute to Ennis’ market tradition.

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 last Tuesday as a replacement for the Icarus statue, which has been re-located to the Rocky Road roundabout.

The statue has attracted plenty of attention from passers by. However it also provoked a string of both positive and negative comments on social networking and news websites such as Facebook and Broadsheet.ie.

Some critics claimed the statues are too bland. But Barry says he’s not bothered by what people think of his work. “I don’t really care about the negative stuff. People were giving out about the cost of it and saying we shouldn’t be spending money on things like this when the economy is the way it is. It’s Ennis Town Council and the Sculpture Initiative who paid for it. I did a year’s work on this for nothing. What I got paid only covered the cost of it.

“Anytime I’m up around the market people are saying fair play to you. There were two people on Facebook who were negative about it. I went on to respond and as soon as I did a lot of people started putting up messages in support. That gave me great heart.”

The piece was commissioned in 2009 and is a joint initiative between Ennis Town Council and the Ennis Sculpture Initiative. The Newmarket on Fergus based artist has been working on the piece for past 12 months.

Barry explained, “It is two men of the land meeting on some fine day in the past to come to an agreement on the purchase of a cow. This is the moment in time literally set in stone that the deal is made the way deals were made back then with the gesture to spit on the hand and then a firm handshake and always with the right hand.

He added, “I’d like to thank Ennis Town Council for facilitating this sculpture and Keatings for the work on the roundabout especially Michael Murphy. I would also like to single out Tommy Scott for praise and the Halpins for the handling of the stone and lastly to Al, Alex and Neo for the inspiration to keep going at this.”

Barry who documented the making of his work on his website www.barrywrafter.com.

PATIENTS and visitors to the Mid West Regional Hospital Ennis will soon have to leave the hospital campus and walk to the public roadside if they plan to light up.

Despite the purpose built covered shelter which is in place for smokers on the grounds and just yards from the main entrance of the Ennis hospital, smokers will have to leave the hospital grounds to light up according to new regulations.

This raises the distinct possibility of patients in dressing gowns, pyjamas and fluffy slippers being visible to passing traffic and the elements if they must smoke.

From May 1, all hospitals in the midwest, including the maternity hospital in Limerick, will become smoke-free, following in the footsteps of other HSE West hospitals.

Sister hospitals in Galway have been smoke-free for more than two weeks, although not everyone is a fan of the new regulations that must be imposed in all Irish hospitals by 2015.

Chairman of the HSE West, Pádraig Conneely (FG) asked if the HSE had gone a step too far by banning smoking on all hospital campuses.

“Is it not a far walk all the way to the road?” he asked. He also raised concerns about policing the new ban.

“How are you going to stop people outside accident and emergency in an inebriated state who are smoking, or a person dealing with a tragedy who wants to go outside to smoke,” he said.

According to the most recent figures available, the annual security costs at the Ennis facility are € 34k.

Clare representative to the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said he agreed with the policy, but raised concerns about hospitals like the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis, which has a psychiatric unit.

“It is more than a dependency for people with psychiatric problems,’ he said. He asked if the HSE now plans to extend the practice of allowing unhealthy behaviour on campus, by ceasing to sell sugary foods in its hospital shops, given the rise in typetwo diabetes.

Fellow Clare representative Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) asked about the size of the hospital campus and was told it was a 150-acre site.

“If there were 1, 5000 acres, would you have the same rules? Where does it stop?” he asked.

A WALL of fame celebrating local musicians should be erected in Ennis, a meeting has heard.

The suggestion was put forward by Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) following a motion submitted by Cllr Mary Howard (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Cllr Howard called on the council to erect name plaques to recognise the role of contributors to the musical life of Ennis.

She said unsung heroes such as Micho Ball and Flan McMahon had made enormous contributions to cultural life in Ennis.

Cllr Neylon suggested that a wall bearing the names of musicians could be constructed in the grounds of Waterpark House. Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) told the meeting that an area along the new inner relief road near Madden’s Furniture, formerly Paddy Cons Hall, would be a suitable site.

However Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) cautioned against the proposal. He said the council would be opening a “hornet’s nest” if it started listing the names of local musicians. He told the meeting that there would be a danger that someone could be left out.

Town manager Ger Dollard acknowledged the risk of leaving someone out from the process.

Cllr Brennan recalled the popularity of the bands and singers that used to perform in Paddy Con’s Hall and other venues in the sixties and seventies.

“The first singing pub in Ennis was McEvoys. I’d say all the groups in town sang in McEvoys.”

Town Clerk Leonard Cleary said the contribution to of musicians has promoted by groups such as Clare Tourism Forum, Promote Ennis and Shannon Development.

FAMILY Carers throughout Ireland have participated in the second annual Caring for Carers Ireland poetry competition, the winners of which were announced at the Ennis Book Club Festival in County Clare during the weekend.

The nationwide poetry competition asked Family Carers to compose poems on the theme of ‘Springtime’, representing renewal and new life.

Noelle Dalton from Askeaton in County Limerick received first prize for her poem ‘Twilight’. Runners up included Gaia Charis from Castletownshend, County Cork, Tracy King Kinlan from Caherush, Quilty, County Clare, Terri O’Mahony from Ballinacurra Gardens, Limerick City, and Barbara Roche from Glenina, Ennis, County Clare.

Brigid Barron, Research and Program Manager with Caring for Carers Ireland, explained that the purpose of the competition is to highlight the significant contribution made by thousands of Family Carers to Irish society.

“Recognising the role of Family Carers in the home is crucial,” Ms. Barron said. “This form of care is the foundation of formal health and social care systems. Family Carers are a distinct group who provide care and also, very importantly, require care themselves.”

Ms. Barron continued: “Family carers spend a lot of time caring at home and that often gives them time for reflection. The poetry submissions received by Caring for Carers and our co-organisers, Clare County Library and the Ennis Book Club Festival, have been excellent, very touching and expressive.”

According to Helen Walsh, Clare County Librarian: “The library is delighted to have been able to support this initiative. Caring for Carers Ireland carries out invaluable work throughout the country and the County Library has a particular interest in socially inclusive events such as this.’

THE leading agency linked with the proposed public-private partnership takeover of Shannon Airport has heard the whole process to chart a new future for Clare’s international airport described as “a complete farce”.

Condemnation of the Booz and Company report into the future of the airport, which was commissioned by transport minister Leo Varadkar and published last Wednesday, has come at Clare County Council level.

Councillors and officials delivered a withering response at a specially convened meeting of the local authority’s Special Policy Committee on Enterprise and Tourism.

“The report before us is a complete farce,” blasted former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).

“They are treating us like mushrooms – keeping us in the dark and feeding us you know what,” said Cllr PJ Ryan, amid fears that the local authority might pull back from a commitment to embrace a takeover of the airport.

“What are they trying to keep back from us? Did they keep back stuff from us about the figures? Did they keep back from us how the DAA were milking Shannon over the years? What is the real story? We don’t really know,” added Cllr Ryan.

These fears have been backed up by Clare County Council Director of Service, Ger Dollard, who said “the biggest issue” was that “all financial data is effectively taken out of the report, which it makes it very difficult to make any type of assessment whatsover”.