Category: News

A COVERED market and the possible use of NAMA-owned properties for community spaces are among the proposals put forward in the latest phase of the Ennis 2020 initiative.

The community visioning exercise is the product of a partnership between Ennis Town Council and the University of Limerick.

The main objective of the project is to support the development of a participatory plan for Ennis as a hub town in line with the National Spatial Strategy. Researchers sought the views of people in Ennis when compiling phase one of ‘Ennis 2020 – Planning Beyond Recession’ which was launched last November.

Two public meetings took place in Ennis in recent weeks and a new report outlining the main priorities for economic development in the town has been prepared. The plan proposes a renewed focus on the night-time economy and on developing greater use of riverside locations.

It proposes developing an Ennis venture fund supported by various coordinating agencies that would “provide a one stop shop in one building in the town to support businesses”.

According to the report, businesses should be encouraged to produce low carbon outputs and to explore potentials in areas of waste, water, rain and water harvesting.

Establishing Ennis as a craft food open market to promote local businesses is among the suggestions outlined as part of a potential marketing plan. It states a feasibility study should be carried out to “pursue the idea of a covered market on a specific street or car park and including used of covered areas for more than just markets”.

In the area of Tourism Product Development, Ballyalla Lake should be promoted as a wildlife sanctuary; disused sections of the West Clare railway could be used as walking or cycling routes while the Post Office field should be developed as “natural tourist amenity”. More art galleries street festivals and an outdoor drive in cinema and the use of the historic Abbey for concerts would be of benefit to the town.

The report examines a number of key areas including tourism, the en- vironment, amenities, heritage, culture and accessibility.

In order to make Ennis more accessible, the report states, pedestrianisation should be promoted and developed along with a bus-parking plan. Research should also be conducted into age-friendly parking.

The report also proposes developing a common space for community activity “e.g. a Community Innovation Centre – shared office space, shared meeting spaces, space to informally network, share, co-operate and pro mote community development.”

Sites owned by the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) could be used for this purpose, according to the report.

THE inspiration for the establishment of Shannon Development in 1959 was Clare’s international airport which then enjoyed the status of the hub of the aviation.

Now, over half a century on and in a complete role reversal, the flagship development and tourism agency in the mid-west region has been challenged to play its part in securing the future of Shannon Airport.

The Booz and Company report, in outlining the advantages of sepa- rating the airport from Dublin Airport Authroity control, has said that Shannon Development would have a huge role to play in helping develop “niche business opportunities” under a new operation model.

This would envisage a model that would see control for the airport vested in a holding company made up of public/private interests.

“The airport lacks sufficient integration with the surrounding land bank, with the current management having no function in developing alternative ventures with a mixed aero-industrial complex,” the Booz and Company report states.

“The airport covers an area of 2,000 acres of which 25 per cent is development land, and the airport is adjointed by the Shannon Free Zone.

“There is also a business and technology park of around 600 acres that is also owned and managed by Shannon Development.

“Other benefits are linked to its geographical position and roles as an airport that provides 24-hour operations each day of the year,” the report adds.

The consultants’ report has highlighted the need for “the Govern- ment to better integrate the airport with surrounding industrial developments, and in particular the Shannon Free Zone, which is currently owned and managed by Shannon Development”.

And, the prospect of Shannon Development parting with some of its sizeable landbank if private interests are to be attracted to investing in the airport.

Booz and Company say that for an airport like Shannon “to be attractive to private sector participation, investors could be granted assets that can generate income, such as develop- ment land or commercial property.

“In this context, the viability of Shannon would be enhanced via a structure that enables the better utilisation of development land within the current boundary estimated to be around 5,000 acres, as well as in leveraging the adjoinging Shannon Free Zone,” it adds.

Shannon Development Company has declined to comment on the contents of the Booz and Company report, only to say it was “currently reviewing the redacted version of the report and has no further comment at this time”.

SENIOR staff at the Maternity Hospital Limerick are hopeful that the looming staffing crisis will be averted as the HSE promises to fill 16. 5 midwifery positions vacated by recent retirements.

Consultant obstetrician Gerry Burke said he and his colleagues are “delighted that the 16. 5 WTE mid wives are going to be replaced, but he said that for the hospital to operate as safely as possible, the nine additional midwives lost to retirement before the scheme and through death must also be replaced.

“We also need a sensible flexible attitude when it comes to maternity leave,” he said.

There are currently 31 midwives absent due to maternity leave, and seven due to long-term illness.

As the majority of staff in the hospital are females, many in their thirties, Dr Burke said maternity leave is inevitable and the HSE must be flexible when dealing with the issues.

“I do not think it is a safe way to practice to have to rely on locums,” he said.

He said he was now satisfied that the local HSE management understood the issues and it was a work in progress.

Last week the HSE announces that it would be filling 123 essential posts in the HSE West in the area of midwifery, neonatal care and intensive care.

Dr Burke said he hopes to see the new appointments in place in the next two months.

“The matter is now being taking seriously from the Minister down. They are working hard to try to make it right,” he said, adding he was particularly grateful to Clare Deputy Joe Carey (FG) who had taken a lot of interest in the matter.

Deputy Carey, whose young family availed of the hospital’s services in the last few weeks, said that maternity-staffing levels must be maintained, regardless of any current recruitment embargoes.

“I welcome the fact that HSE management has put a plan in place to provide for the full replacement of the 16. 5 WTEs that will leave at the end of the month. I note that Dr Burke and others have expressed their satisfaction with this approach, and that once this matter is resolved, that management will also examine solutions to the other 31 absent staff members.”

THE Ennis 2020 project sets out to consult with members of the public to chart a path for Ennis beyond recession. The community visioning exercise is the product of a joint initiative between Ennis Town Council and the University of Limerick.

The UL Practicum is working with the Ennis hub plan committee to gather ideas from the citizens of Ennis. So far UL students of the MA in Technical Communication and E-Learning and students from the Politics and Public Administration Department assisted during the community visioning exercises that took place in Ennis last April and May.

The main objective of the project is to support the development of a participatory plan for Ennis as a hub town in line with the National Spatial Strategy.

The findings can now be viewed online or in a specially designed electronic newsletter. An e-comic has also been produced for school children.

Three UL students – Susan Rice, Sherona O’Donnell and Avril Seery – played a central role in collecting, compiling and presenting the report’s findings.

School children and teenagers are being encouraged to interact with ‘Ennis 2020 People, Place, Potential, phase one of which was launched last November.

The first report on Ennis 2020 – People, Place, Potential, presents perspectives on what local people think Ennis will look and feel like in 2020; the strengths and assets on which it can build; how the image of Ennis might be improved and how Ennis might be developed further as an inclusive town.

In a section focusing on how improved infrastructure can enhance Ennis, the report found, “The related theme of pedestrianisation was undoubtedly one of the most prominent issues to be raised with all of those mentioned it advocating pedestrianisation of some sort or other, ranging from gradual or partial pedestrianisation to an all out approach taking in al of the town centre.” Parking also emerged as a key concern for people in Ennis.

LOCAL interests can’t be trusted to run Shannon Airport properly, because the move to give Clare County Council, Limerick County Council and Shannon Development control of the county’s international airport could bring about its “closure in a short few years from now”.

That’s the warning that has been sounded out by local Fianna Fáil TD and front bench spokesperson on Transport, Timmy Dooley, who has railed against the main recommendation contained in the Booz and Company report.

“This would be hugely damaging,” Deputy Dooley has told Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, who commissioned the report on the future of the three state airports from the team of international consultants at Booz and Company.

“According to Booz, the new air port model will also be based upon developing the land bank at the airport and developing cargo along with passenger traffic,” continued Deputy Dooley.

“We are in the worst economic crisis since the 1920s and there will not be any revenues from the land bank for 10 years and we are way off developing cargo, so before there is an upside from these in 10 years time, the airport could be closed before there is a recovery in the economy.”

Mr Dooley has claimed that the locally-owned based model “would be disastrous for Shannon and the region” in an airport that’s currently making losses of between € 8m and € 10m a year has accumulated losses of an estimated € 100m.

“Under the model proposed by Booz, where will the money comes from? Clare County Council doesn’t have any money. Shannon Development also doesn’t have any money and its functions are currently being reviewed by Government,” said Deputy Dooley.

Shannon currently receives € 8m per annum in subvention from the Dublin Airport Authority.

AS MANY as 1,222 people have retired from the HSE West since last September, but the HSE said it will employ more than 100 “essential” staff to cover some of the loss.

The health service area, which includes County Clare, has lost 680 people mostly front line staff to the Early Retirement Scheme since the beginning of the year.

In the former Mid Western Health Board area, made up of Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, almost 300 staff had retired just one week before the cut-off mark of February 29. The majority of these staff – 205 – retired from the community sector, an area of health care that has been championed by the HSE as the way forward.

As many as 124 members of personnel retired from the Mid Western Hospital Group which includes Ennis General Hospital.

Four members of the ambulance service in the mid-west retired, with four more gone from corporate services.

At last week’s meeting of the HSE West regional forum, Clare member Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) asked if management had any idea of how the retirements would impact on services.

“Where are we going to have a staffing shortfall?” he asked.

Assistant National Director of HR Francis Rogers said that a robust contingency plans were in place to meet the shortfall.

Regional Director of Operations HSE West John Hennessy said the HSE “would be backfilling 123 post, particularly in midwifery, neonatal services and intensive care”.

CLARE County Council is to begin negotiations with its counterpart in Limerick and Shannon Development to explore the feasability of taking over the management of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority.

This move was heralded at a special meeting of the local authority’s Special Policy Committee on Tourism and Enterprise on Monday, which came together to discuss the publication of the censored Booz and Company report on the future of Clare’s international airport.

County Council Director of Service, Ger Dollard; Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes; Mayor of Ennis Michael Guilfoyle all backed the move to open up discussions between the key stakeholders in the region that the Booz and Company consultants say should take responsibility for running Shannon.

The move was sparked by Cllr Joe Arkins (FG), who questioned whether “any contacts, formally or informally, had been made with the other proposed stakeholders – Limerick County Council and Shannon Development.

“It would be advisable that you make contact with them, in order that Clare County Council might be able to find out what the position of Shannon Development and Limerick County Council is, or if there is an agreed position between all the stakeholders,” added Cllr Arkins.

“I would agree with Cllr Arkins,” said Cllr Richard Nagle, who is chairman of the SPC on Tourism and Enterprise. “There has to be consultation with the other bodies,” he added.

“We have had disjointed approach over the years. We haven’t fought a good battle as a region,” said Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes.

“The decision that’s made has to be in the long term future of Shannon Airport because the west of Ireland is very much at risk if we don’t get it right,” he added.

“I’d be concerned that Limerick didn’t make a submission,” said Mayor of Ennis, Michael Guilfloyle.

“We haven’t have had any discussions since the report was published,” admitted Ger Dollard. “I presume the next step will be for the Minister and the Government to decide what option that we should pursue on foot of the report,” he added before it was agreed that negotiations with the other stakeholders would be kickstarted immediately.

NORTH Clare businessman Marcus White will fly to Moscow next month to sign a deal that could bring tens of thousands of new visitors to Clare, through Shannon Airport, this year.

White and his father, James White, met with the head of Russian company Pegus Tours in Asia last week and have arranged a second meeting in the Russian capital for April 8 when, it is hoped, contracts can be signed.

Pegus Tours are one of the world’s largest tour operators and currently bring more than 100,000 Russian tourist on package holidays to Thailand each year. It is hoped that this contract could open the door for tens of thousands of Russians to visit Lisdoonvarna each year on wellness holiday tours.

An estimated € 5 million was generated in North Clare last year as a result of the 6,000 German tourists who visited Lisdoonvarna as part of the Whites’ seven-day wellness trip to Clare operated with Trend Tours. It was confirmed last week that 16,000 German tourists had already booked to come to Ireland with Trend Tours for 2012, with a large portion of them coming to North Clare.

“We met a major tour operator in Asia last week and he already brings several hundred thousand Russians into Thailand each winter for sun holidays. We met the owner personally and we have another meeting for April 8 when, hopefully, we can sign contracts to bring Russians into Shannon or Dublin Airport,” said Marcus.

“Russia and China are the markets to go after at the moment. We always go after bulk business and, if we can get this Russian charter into Shannon Airport, then I think that everyone in the area will be very happy.

“This is something that we are do- ing completely off our own bat, without the help of any state agencies. We got the Germans in ourselves, myself and my father, and we now want to get the Russians into North Clare and to go after China after that. This has been done with absolutely no help from anyone else.

“If this starts off, we hope that everyone involved in the tourism business will come in and get behind it.”

James White, who is a former Fine Gael TD for Donegal, will meet with the Minister for Tourism, Jimmy Deenihan (FG), in the coming weeks to discuss speeding up the visa system for Russians visiting Ireland.

LIMERICK County Council says they stand ready to play a major role in the future development of Shannon Airport, should a member of the local authority be appointed to the new management structure for the airport.

Following the publication of the Booz Report into the future of Shannon Airport last week, it looks increasing likely that both Clare County Council and the soon to be amalgamated Limerick City and County Council will have a seat at the table when a future management structure for Shannon is announced.

According to the Cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council, Mary Harty (FG), a public voice on board of the airport will prevent it getting “wrecked” in a similar way to the local health services.

“I think it is important that the locally elected representatives have their say when it comes to something as important as the airport. We all know the difference it has made to the health system not to have a local say in how that operates and we don’t want the airport to be wrecked in a similar way to this,” she said.

“Shannon Airport is a massive driver for everyone in the mid-west, for Limerick and for Clare. We are very keen to have a role to play, Shannon Airport is the biggest gateway location in area and there is no question that it is vitally important to everyone in Limerick that it is made to work.”

Cllr Harty also dismissed the notion that councillors would not have the expertise to operate a complex facility like Shannon Airport.

“At the moment we don’t have the experience but we will never get the experience until we have a chance to work with all the other stakeholders and make our points heard,” she continued.

“This is such an important facility for the area it is vital that a local representative has a say in its future.”

EAST Clare could soon become Ireland’s destination of choice for canoe and kayak trails following new proposal to first map, and then open up the scores of rivers and lakes in the area to tourists.

North Clare canoe enthusiast and businessman, Fergus Brogan, is currently at an advanced stage of negotiations with LEADER and the Clare LDC and, all going well, a canoe trail could be up and running in area before this summer.

“There was a book published last year, the first major list of canoe trails in Ireland, and there was not one trail at all in Clare. That got me thinking. It is crazy that a place like Clare, that has so much water, has no real canoe infrastructure. There is 30 lakes within a 10 mile radius of Peppers Pub in Feakle – 30 lakes and not one of them has ever seen a canoe,” said Fergus. “That is just one area. This is a major major resource that is not being tapped at the moment. I would estimate that there must be more than hundreds of lakes in East Clare alone – along the path of the Scariff River. I am going to be the first person to paddle the full length of the Scariff River.

“I know that the English tourists would absolute love to come to East Clare and go canoeing with their family. I am talking about an area between the M18 and the River Shannon – this is an area which at the moment has very little tourism and something like this could really get it going.”

Fergus is hoping to begin by developing between 10 and 20 recognised canoe routes in East Clare. This would require mapping the routes as well as collecting some valuable information for the canoeists such as the distance and time needed for each route, a details description of the routes and any points of interest or facilities along the way.

“I have been talking to LEADER and they do seem keen about the idea. The beauty about this is that with a very reasonable amount of investment you could have a product in place and ready to go very quickly,” continued Fergus.

“You don’t need signpost or things like you might need for a walking trail. It would be very very each to get this off the ground.”