Category: News

CLARE County Council should seek to tap into the wealth of expertise that exists among retired workers in order to generate ideas for job creation.

The idea was put forward by West Clare councillor Gabriel Keating at the February meeting of Clare County Council. Cllr Keating (FG) proposed that the council seek to tap into the “wealth of experience and knowledge” amassed by the “many active retired, highly qualified and talented individuals residing in Clare”.

Cllr Keating said the council should engage with people who are willing to volunteer, advice, mentor or share their skills. He told the meeting that people with ideas for job creation should be encouraged to bring their proposals to the council. He said 30 good ideas could generate 300 jobs over a period of 10 years.

Cllr Keating said people would also be encouraged to provide some financial backing to their proposals. He added that he did not want the initiative to become a “talking shop”.

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) encouraged the council to facilitate people who can provide a role commensurate with their skills.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said a broad invitation should be given to a wide section of the community. “There is a wealth of talent that can be tapped into,” he added.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said Cllr Keating’s motion should be sent to the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government to see if grant funding is available for the proposal.

In his reply, Director of Service Ger Dollard pointed to the high number of people who volunteered in Clare last year. He stated, “By the end of 2011, 731 volunteers were registered with Clare Volunteer Centre and had volunteered for 9,342 hours. The Clare Volunteer Centre, which opened in 2008 as part of a national network of volunteer centres, confirms that reduced opportunities had resulted in community and voluntary sector organisations focusing on more innovative ways to involve volunteers.”

Mr Dollard continued, “Clare County Council has a tradition of engaging volunteers in an advisory capacity with the community and voluntary sector such as voluntary housing, development of community recreation and sporting facilities including playgrounds, tourism initiatives, consultation process’ through focus groups when developing policy and identifying actions to implement policy.”

Mr Dollard told the meeting that the high number of retired people seeking to volunteer their time and expertise has emerged as a significant issue. He said the council would examine Cllr Keating’s proposal.

CONSERVATION work on a section of what is believed to be Ireland’s oldest house is nearing completion in Ennis. Scaffolding was taken down from Ms Irene Clune’s house (better known as McParlands) last week to reveal the building’s historic triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney for full viewing for the first time in three years.

The building’s triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney has been an icon of medieval Ennis for centuries. The house has undergone necessary structural repair work in recent months. It has been estimated that the works will cost € 170,000 to complete.

Conservation and repair work at the site has revealed that the building’s timber frame interior dates back to the 1500s.

Conservation officer Dick Cronin explained that work on the building’s exterior is almost complete. He said, “We believe it’s the only half-timber frame house left in Ireland. We have to do dendrochronological analysis of the timber. Once it is tested, we will be able to trace it back to the exact year when the tree was cut down.”

Mr Cronin added, “They are doing work on the shopfront which dates back to the 1800s and that is almost finished.”

It has been suggested that the building could be used as a museum but, according to Town Manager, Ger Dollard, the building will be returned to its former use as a home. He explained, “Our priority is to complete the works under the Dangerous Structures legislation and allow Ms Clune go back to her home as soon as possible. There are no other plans for the use of the building other than returning it to its former use as a dwelling.”

During October 2011, the gable and chimney were carefully taken down and stored. The Conservation Contractor, Tom Howard, claims it was “the most dangerous and precarious job I have ever undertaken as a builder but thankfully everything went to plan”.

CLARE Fine Gael backbencher Pat Breen yesterday questioned the credentials of Fianna Fáil when it comes to their recent protestations regarding the Government’s programme of asset disposal.

The West Clare TD said that concerns by members of the Fianna Fáil party, particularily concerning the workers in Moneypoint and Ardnacrusha, as “ringing very hollow”.

“It was Fianna Fáil who engaged Dermot McCarthy in July 2010 to undertake a review to consider the potential for the sale of state assets, including Commercial State Bodies, so any protestations now about this Government’s programme of asset disposal by Fianna Fail rings very hollow,” he said. “Our Government has reached an agreement on an asset disposal programme, as required under the EU/IMF Programme and provided for in our Programme for Government. The targeted proceeds from the programme is € 3 billion; and we have secured agreement from the Troika that a third of this € 3 billion can be reinvested into the economy to stimulate growth and jobs.

“The sale of a minority stake in the ESB will not now go ahead and the Government is committed to the retention of the ESB as a vertically integrated utility in State ownership, in spite of our decision to dispose of some of its non-strategic assets.”

“Both Ardnacrusha and Moneypoint are strategic power generating stations here in the County Clare. Ardnacrusha was the ESB’s first power station, opening in 1929, and today it continues to provide two per cent of the ESB’s total capacity.

“Moneypoint is one of the largest employers in West Clare, employ- ing up to 600 people depending on the number of contractors on site at any one time. The entire economy in West Clare benefits from having the ESB’s largest generating station based in the West.

“The workers live in Kilrush and the surrounding areas and this has a knock-on beneficial affect for local businesses and is helping to keep jobs in West Clare. Following the oil crisis in the 1970s, the generating station at Moneypoint was built in order to increase the level of ESB output and ensure that the country could become less reliant on oil imports.”

A MAN is due to appear in court again today in connection with a seizure of drugs near Ennis last week.

Trevor Gargan (31) with an address at 179 Cregayn Street, Belfast, Antrim, Bt6 8NI, was brought before Ennis District Court on Friday.

Detective Garda Seamus McMahon gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court that he arrested Gargan in Ennis on Thursday February 23. He said the accused made no reply after caution.

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. An estimated value of the drugs was not given in court or outlined in court documents. Solicitor John Casey told the court that he had no questions at the moment. An application for legal aid for Gargan was approved.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy remanded the accused to appear again at Ennis District Court on February 28.

Asked by Judge McCarthy if was going to make a bail application, Mr Casey said he was not. Mr Casey explained, “Hopefully we’ll be in a position to make a bail application” at the next court appearance.

PLANS are underway to recognise three Clare people who were passengers on Titanic.

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Belfast built cruise liner.

Over 1,000 people died in the tragedy and now an Ennis councillor has called on Clare County Council to commemorate the Clare people who were on board the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

In a motion submitted to last Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Mulqueen called on the council to mark the “memory of the two Clare men who lost their lives on board the Titanic and also remembers the relations of Mary Agatha Glynn who survived this huge loss of life 100 years ago.”

Cllr Tony Mulqueen told the February meeting of Clare County Council that two men – Martin McMahon from Cragbrien, Ennis, and Daniel Keane lost their lives when the ship went down in the North Atlantic.

However, one Clare woman, 18year-old Mary Agatha Glynn from Flagmount, survived the sinking after being rescued from one of the ship’s lifeboats.

Cllr Mulqueen told the meeting that the council should commemorate Clare’s links with the Titanic by erecting a plaque in memory of the passengers.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), said plans are already under- way in east Clare to remember Mary Agatha Glynn. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) backed proposals to erect a memorial plaque.

West Clare councillor, Christy Curtin (Ind) said recognition for the three Clare passengers would be appropriate.

He said Clare is a maritime county with a strong association with the sea. County Secretary Michael McNamara said the council is open to receiving suggestions about how best to mark Clare’s link to the Titanic.

ORGANISERS say there was a high turnout at a protest against new Government taxes and charges in Ennis on Saturday.

An estimated crowd of 200 people attended a protest march, according to the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT).

The rally was organised as part of a national day of protest. Recent meetings held around Clare have highlighted growing public opposition to the new charges

CAHWT organiser Chris Quinn explained, “Protest marches were planned to go off all over the country at 2pm, which is why we planned the same start time.

“It was initially my idea to gather at the O’Connell monument and go from there, with the organising committee assembling earlier to pass out a few leaflets and pass out protest posters/placards. Just before 2pm, I got a phone call from the Limerick organisers wishing us well and letting me know they had roughly 450 at their march.”

He added, “My colleague Pamela Rochford first addressed those assembled, followed by Brian O’Coillin as the rest of us distributed the 70 or so placards we had.

“As more people gathered, we were asked to briefly delay our start time as more people were making their way to join us. Finally, we felt we could delay no longer, and set off from our start point at 2.15pm. We had, by my estimation, more than 200 with us at this stage, of all ages. As we headed up O’Connell Street, more joined our march.”

Chris explained, “After swinging through the Market Square and then up Parnell Street, we returned to our start point. I, along with the others at the head of the march, began to place our posters around the plinth, and others followed suit. By my estimation, we had at least 325 to 350 likeminded people with us.”

Chris believes the protest spirit is alive and well in Clare. He hopes that Saturday’s march can be the spark to organise other protest movements around the county.

He added, “I thanked all the marchers and asked for a round of applause for themselves, which was thunderous. Any and all people that wanted to volunteer were invited to present themselves to us so we can begin to organise in as many areas of the county as possible.”

THE VOICE of one of Clare’s greatest living traditional musicians is set to appear in a revolutionary new album – which has been composed entirely from a series of spoken word interviews with some of the leading lights in Irish music.

East Clare fiddler Martin Hayes will feature on a new record entitled ‘The Speech Project’ which is the brainchild of Mancunian fiddler, composer and producer Gerry Diver.

Diver has taken a series of interviews with Hayes, as-well-as the likes of Christy Moore, and Damien Dempsey and harnessed the technical cadence of their speech patterns and composed melody lines to complement the musicality inherent in their words.

This revolutionary new way of composing music has led to a number of interesting discoveries – not least of which being the fact that Martin Hayes speaks in the key of G-minor.

According to Diver, Martin Hayes’ Clare brogue “drips with musical- ity”.

“There was even some parallels between Hayes’ words and music. A lot of his tunes are in G minor and Martin speaks a lot in G minor, too,” said Diver.

“Really, this all started as a happy accident. I heard an interview with Galway accordion player Joe Cooley and just happened to notice his voice pitch. There was no grand plan.

“Some of it was about the speech melody – taking the pitch and rhythm and putting those into a musical context by finding the musical and melodic contours that are there. For me, the parts that tended to stand out were where the interview became quite emotionally charged.

“So, for example, when Christy Moore talks about something that was quite emotional for him, he tended to go into D minor. So there’s a link between emotion and the more tonal parts of speech.

“I think people might listen to The Speech Project at different levels. They might listen to the content – to what is being said, but, in terms of the context, there’s more of a slight of ear pattern happening as well. Music sometimes expresses things which words can, and I hope that I’ve managed to find that balance between content, emotion and context.”

After spending decades based in America, Martin Hayes returned to East Clare last year. He has recently released his second album as part of the Triúr group which also includes Peader O’Riada and Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh.

BUSINESSES and residents have been urged to dig deep to fund a € 10,000 “fighting fund” for the next phase of the campaign against a planned retail park on the outskirts of Ennis.

A public meeting in Ennis last night heard that € 3,000 had been spent by business groups so far against plans by Michael Lynch Ltd to build a 70,000 foot retail park.

The developers have appealed Ennis Town Council’s decision to refuse planning permission to the proposed development at Tobertascáin / Clare Road to An Bord Pleanála.

Local businessman and former En- nis Chamber President, John Dillane said towns such as Naas and Tralee had been “completely decimated” by out-of-town retail parks

“We are not afraid and we do not object to competition but we’re afraid of our town being destroyed,” he added.

He called on street leaders to appeal to businesses to donate money to the “fighting fund”.

He told the meeting that Tesco, the anchor tenant for the proposed development, would operate a “mini town under one roof” which would have disastrous consequences for jobs in Ennis. He added, “It should be a matter of pride that we’re not going to be steamrolled by them.”

Architect and planner Michael Leahy, who prepared Ennis Chamber’s submissions against the proposed development and planned changes to the Ennis Development Plan, told the meeting that An Bord Pleanála would likely deal with the appeal through an oral hearing.

He explained that the council re fused permission pending the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant at Clareabbey and pending the implementation of the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme. He said it was “quite likely” that the Board would accept the developer’s suggestions to deal with wastewater treatment.

He said an oral hearing would allow specialist evidence to be given on flooding and wastewater issues. Mr Leahy said the likely cost of the appeal process would be € 10,000.

The purpose of the meeting on Monday evening was to inform the business community and others of the appeal process to An Bord Pleanála, which has a closing date of Friday, March 2, for acceptance of submission.

The meeting in the Old Ground Hotel also heard calls for a more community-orientated form of protest. One Ennis resident said businesses should be “cultivating” customers to adopt the same position as them.

A spokesperson for the Ennis Development Forum said that in a recent meeting, all of Clare’s four Dáil TDs had backed the business community’s position on the proposed development.

A NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS man remains in a serious condition in hospital following a weekend car accident in which his 33-year-old cousin was killed.

Wayne Fitzgerald was the passenger in the green Toyota Corolla that crashed on the main Tulla to Ennis Road on Friday night last.

The 22-year-old is believed to have sustained serious head and neck injuries during the single-vehicle accident.

The driver, his cousin Michael Maloney Jnr, was fatally injured in the accident.

Originally from Glencinnane, Kildysart, Michael had played under-age hurling for his county.

He captained the Clare under-16 hurling team, and had been involved with Clarecastle GAA club in his early years. Sport came naturally to him, according to local people, as he enjoyed both football and hurling.

The eldest of a family of three, Michael was the only son of Tina and Seán Maloney, and brother to Fiona and Lisa.

He is to be buried today (Tuesday) following a private ceremony.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Ennis are appealing for information about the accident.

The tragic incident occurred at approximately 7.50pm at Clooney, Quin, on the main Ennis to Tulla road, not far from Clooney Church.

The green Toyota saloon, which contained just the driver and passenger, collided with a wall and a tree.

The scene was attended by local emergency services and both occupants were taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where Mr Maloney died from his injuries.

Gardaí are now appealing for witnesses to come forward.

“The key times of interest to the gardaí are between 7pm and 7.45pm. Did anyone see this car in the Clooney-Quin area during these times and did they notice anything about this car which should be brought to the attention of the gardaí?” a Garda spokesperson said.

NORTH Clare has lost one of its iconic local businesses with the closure of Crosbies shop in Ennistymon after 21 years in operation. The shop, which was located in a prime retail spot at the Square in Ennistymon, closed last month with the effects of low-cost air travel being blamed for the demise.

According to proprietor Robert Crosbie, the shop was already facing difficulty before the beginning of the recession. Robert, who is also one of the driving firces behind the Project Ennistymon local business iniatitive, believes that a mixture of Irish people holidaying abroad and tourists having more restricted baggage allowances has put pressure on many high-end gift retailers.

“The viability of shops such as Crosbies was already threatened in due part by low-cost air travel. Cheap flights out of Ireland meant a lot of Irish people were going abroad for holidays, thus not spending at home,” said Robert.

“This, you might say, was balanced by tourists coming to Ireland but, because of luggage restrictions, these visitors did not have the same capacity to spend. And this was happening long before the recession hit.”

The window displays created by Suzanne Crosbie have been a local highlight for many years. Accord- ing to Suzanne, the fun of interacting with the local customers will be one of the things that she misses the most.

“We catered for the high end of the gifts and home accessories market and, as everyone knows, when money gets scarce, luxury goods are the first to feel the pinch,” said Suzanne.

“We loved the shop. and our customers. There wasn’t a day when you wouldn’t have a laugh about something. We are not young enough or old enough to stay in this type of business.

“I had always envisaged that by 2010 I would be able to ease up on working hands-on in the shop but the reality was that I was there six days a week, and after two years, I felt it was time to turn the corner.”

Crosbies first opened in June of 1991 and very quickly became an iconic feature of Ennistymon and North Clare. The high profile of the shop was in part due to Robert’s creation of the Folding Apple Basket, which was featured on the Late Late Show in 1994 and became an overnight success for the business.

The shop received the Best Traditional Shopfront Award from Clare County Council in 1995 and Robert and Suzanne won Clare Retailers of the Year in the FBD Excellence Awards for 2010.

Robert and Suzanne are currently looking at a number of new possibilities for the premises.