Category: News

AN East Clare ent repreneur is hoping a new online guide can spark a r ush i n tourist bookings n t he Banner Count y.

Eoin O’Hagan recently met with Gover nment ministers to highlight the potential of his website, www. clarevi r t ually.ie.

The website was launched at the end of August 2011 as Eoin saw the potential for a new and innovative way to promote tour ism products, in Clare and t hroughout t he rest of t he count r y.

The prospective visitor logs on to t he site, clicks on t he relevant l ink and watches a 60-second video tour of the selected B&B. He/She gets to see the exterior and interior of t he premises, including some shots of the bedrooms, sitting rooms and dining room.

But, accordi ng to Eoi n, t he most i mpor t ant par t of the video is when t he potential visitor is greeted by t he owner or manager wit h a smile and céad mí le fáilte.

After viewing the video tour, the prospective visitor can then book the product through t he link to the provider’s website. The t agline for the site is ‘Look Then Book’.

Eoin believes the video tours take away any doubts that t he prospective visitor may have about booking accommodation, rest aurants or ot her tourism products through a website.

The father of three, who lives in Scariff, believes the project could also generate employment local ly. He explained, “There is the poten- tial for the creation of highly skilled positions within t he organisation. Trai ned camerapersons, editors, IT and suppor t staff wil l be requi red as the site grows to include the 25 other counties i n the Republic.”

He added, “There is the possibility of 600 video tours in Clare alone. When t his is multiplied by t he other 25 counties, there would be many thousands of videos showing the tour ism products in a way t hat prospective visitors to Ireland would really appreciate.”

Eoin, who is involved in t he Clare Tourism For um, stated that there is huge potential to fur ther develop vi r t ual tours of Clare.

Earlier this mont h, he met with Mi nster of State wit h responsibility for Transpor t, Tourism and Spor t, Michael Ring and Clare Labour TD, Michael McNamara.

In a subsequent meeting wit h Minister of St ate Alan Kelly, Eoin and Deputy McNamara discussed tourism in the mid-west and specifically the potential for promoting angl ing on Lough Derg and sur rounding areas.

A NEW report has highlighted the high rate of male unemployment in Clare. As of December 2011 there were 10,368 people unemployed in Clare. 6,291 men of all ages are unemployed compared to 4,077 women of all ages.

The figures are contained in Clare VEC’s Adult Education Service Annual Report for 2011. The report states that the priority for training and education places should be given to young people under the age of 25 among other groups. The report states that the high rate of male unemployment raises a challenge for adult education services in Clare.

It states, “An analysis of the number of people on the live register in Clare over the past five years shows a high rate of male unemployment which mirrors national statistics. As time goes on the move into very long term unemployment becomes more likely.”

Unemployed people without a Leaving Cert, people on the live register for more than a year and people under the age of 25 are identified in the report as priority cohorts who are most at risk of drifting into very long term unemployment.

The report states, “The high levels of male employment and the markedly low educational qualifications of this cohort are a definite consequence of the downturn in employ- ment specifically within the construction sector and related areas and this raises a challenge for us as an Adult Education Service to develop specific programmes aimed at raising the educational qualifications of men”.

The report cites communication in foreign languages; digital competence; mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology as among the key skills for employment.

According to the report, 4,352 learners attended programmes provided by Clare VEC Adult Education Service in 2011. 263 attended full-time programmes while 4,089 attended part-time programmes of one or more modules up to a maximum of 400 hours during the year.

In addition, 3,803 clients accessed the Clare Education Guidance Service. The report continues, “Externally we are in the midst of a period of social, political and economic transition while internally our service is preparing itself for structural changes entailed in both the amalgamation of the VECs into Local Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and the emergence of SOLAS, the new further education and training authority.”

Back to Education Initiatives were delivered in 13 locations throughout Clare in 2011. The report states that programmes were delivered to 900 students. Over 40 students sat the Leaving Certificate. The report notes the achievements of an 81-year-old woman who scored an A1 in history. According to the report, the woman is believed to have been of the oldest to have sat the exam in 2011. VEC member Michael Corley praised the work of the adult education services. “It’s amazing the amount of people that are accessing the service,” he added.

A SHANNON man has received a six-month prison sentence for offences committed while on bail last year. Martin O’Callaghan (23) with an address at 156 Cluain Airne, Shannon, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal damage and theft at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

O’Callaghan was charged with damaging the fly window of a car at Dun na Rí, Shannon on November 1, 2011. O’Callaghan was also charged with taking a wallet, valued at € 55, from the car.

On the same date at Bothar Na Luachra, Shannon, O’Callaghan was found by gardaí to be in possession of a screwdriver with the intention that it could be used in the course of, or, in connection with a theft.

Insp Tom Kennedy told the court that the cost of the damage to the car was € 150. He said that O’Callaghan has 52 previous convictions.

The court heard that the offences were committed while the accused was on bail.

Solicitor Turlough Herbert said that his client had been in the grip of a serious drug addiction at the time.

The court heard that O’Callaghan is currently serving a sentence for his role in an aggravated burglary committed in Sixmilebridge in January 2010. Mr Herbert said that O’Callaghan had not been in contact with drugs since going into prison. He said his client had made admissions to gardaí and had returned with them to the scene of the car break in to help look for the discarded wallet. He said that O’Callaghan, a father of two, wished to apologise to the owner of the car.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy stated that as the offences had been committed while the accused was on bail, then any sentence would have to run consecutive to the current prison term.

In respect of the criminal damage charge, Judge McCarthy imposed a six-month sentence to commence on the lawful termination of the threeyear sentence currently being served by O’Callaghan.

IT TOOK a jury just 36 minutes to acquit a man who shot competitively for Clare, of being reckless to the safety of others when he discharged a semi automatic shotgun during a morning when “the whole community was under siege”.

Dominic Moloney of 38 Cappa Lodge, Sixmilebridge, had admitted discharging the firearm on September 21, 2009, but had pleaded not guilty to “being reckless to anyone being injured or not”.

After a trial that took place over three days at Ennis Circuit Court, Mr Moloney greeted the unanimous not guilty verdict with a mouthed “thank ye, thank ye” to the members of the jury.

The 47-year-old had been charged with discharging a firearm contrary to section 8 of the firearms and offensives weapons act 1990, after he fired three shots – one into the air and two at a wall during an early morning attack on homes in the estate.

Witness for the State Jessica Kelly, who was part of the group of three attacking homes that night, claimed that she had been hit by pellets from one of these shots.

The court heard that on the morning in question a group of “thugs” who were staying at number 57 attacked properties and people, including a disabled woman, using hurleys, bars and slash hooks.

Mr Moloney said he left the housing estate with his wife at 5.50am to go to work in Shannon.

He dropped her to work in Element Six before travelling on to his own job at Fabricated Products also in Shannon.

He was welding for five to ten minutes when his daughter Ciara called him asking him to come home.

He told the court that when he arrived back on the estate there was a van parked in his usual place so he went to the end of the cul-de-sac to turn.

“My intention was just to come back up and go into my house,” he said.

He said he then saw one man come from his left hand side and heard the window of his car break from the right. There were two men carrying bars.

He accelerated, left the estate and returned having driven past the Garda station.

When he arrived back in the estate he said he saw his neighbour Aaron Doherty, better known as Dots.

“Dots came out of his house. He walked down past me and as I came out of the car he said Mary’s windows have been broken and she is bleeding,” he said referring to Mrs Maxwell, who had been attacked and burgled by the gang.

He then saw two men – Gerard and Michael Lynch coming towards him, he said. “They shouted at me ‘We are going to kill you baldy B’.”

Mr Moloney ran inside and got his gun. He put three cartridges suitable for shooting game in it, which had been on the table since the night before. “As I was going out Dots was coming in the door,” he said.

Mr Moloney, who has shot competitively for Clare seven times, told how one of the two men were at his gate and coming in when he fired his gun into the air. The men retreated.

Mr Moloney, his daughter Ciara and Mr Doherty then walked up the road. Mr Moloney told how the men were leaving the garden of number 57 again when he shot at the wall.

He said he fired the third shot because they were going across to Mary Maxwell’s house again “saying they are going to finish the bitch”.

“The girl was inside the house. I fired at the bottom of the wall, again to keep him in, not to hurt anyone,” he said referring to Jessica Kelly.

He said he did not believe he hit her with pellets from the gun.

“Everyone was in fear. I never saw anything like it and I hope I never do. I was in fear of my life,” he said.

Asked by barrister for the prosecution Stephen Coughlan, “Why did you arm yourself. You knew the gardaí were coming. Why not go back into the house and lock the door?”

Mr Moloney said, “They were going to break up the house. I was in fear of my life.

“The only reason I got my gun was because I was in fear of my life and my child’s life.”

“I wanted to keep them inside the wall to keep people safe.”

Mr Coughlan said, “You should have retreated, but you stood your ground. Your ego wouldn’t let you retreat,” to which Mr Moloney replied, “No.”

“They came at me. I didn’t go at them. I had no choice.

“What was I going to do? I was afraid they were going to cut me up,” he said.

Mr Moloney also admitted to cleaning his gun and changing his jumper after the incident.

A FORMER Clare footballer was hit with a glass in the face during a “melee” in an Ennis pub 14 months ago, a court has heard.

Des Molohan, who last played for the county team in 2010, required treatment for cuts to his face, forehead and the area around his eye when he was struck with a glass in Knox’s Pub on December 18, 2010.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, Ronan Nalty (34), with an address 5 Sandfield Mews, Ennis, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm contrary to section three of the non-fatal offences against the person act.

Molohan told the court that he had been standing on the stairs in Knox’s when he was punched in the face by another man.

He said Nalty then followed over the man’s shoulder with the glass. Molohan said that he then hit the other man. He said he had made a full recovery and that the assault had left him with “minor scars”.

Insp John Galvin stated that jurisdiction had been accepted in the matter.

Solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that another man, who has not been brought before the court, had been involved in the incident.

She said her client never intended to hit the injured party with the glass and had become caught up in a “melee situation”.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy replied that the glass had not jumped out of the accused’s hand and hit someone in the “face of its own accord”.

Ms Godfrey said Nalty, an unemployed blocklayer with no previous convictions, had made a full apology. “This is something he regrets hugely,” she added. The court heard that Nalty is a talented golfer and golf coach.

Ms Godfrey asked the court to acknowledge, that, given her client’s “lifestyle”, there is “a very low risk of him re-offending”.

Judge McCarthy said the act of striking a person in the face with a glass is “an extremely serious matter” that the court cannot ignore. Imposing a four-month suspended sentence, he ordered the accused to be of good behaviour for a period of two years. Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

AFTER four years at the helm of the largest farming organisation in the county, Ennis farmer Michael Lynch has called time on his period as Clare Chairperson of the IFA.

At last week’s IFA AGM in Ennis, Michael handed over the reins of power to Ardnacrusha farmer Andrew Dundas.

Over the last four years, Michael has overseen some of the most interesting times in Irish farm history. After taking over from long-term IFA stalwart Seamus Murphy in 2008, he was immediately put to work dealing with falling commodity prices, disastrous weather conditions and pressures both from Brussels and the WTO.

“I think 2008 and 2009 were the most difficult years. We had very difficult weather conditions in those years and a collapse in prices, especially in 2009. It was a very expensive year, feed was scarce and the weather was so bad. A lot of farmers lost a lot of money in that year,” said Michael.

“There has been so much going on in farming over the last few years and a lot of challenges. Even when the prices and the weather started to improve, we had the cutbacks in all the schemes – in the REPS, the Retirement Schemes and the Installa- tion Aid for new farmers.

“There are always problems but I guess that 2008 and 2009 were the busiest years – we were certainly kept going then. I had a very good team of officers around me, which makes it a lot easier, and a good staff as well.

“It was an enjoyable experience though. A lot of the time you might be cursing, trying to round up people to go to Dublin for a protest when people are busy and don’t want to do. It is demanding but there is great ca- maraderie with the people that you meet, both in Clare and at the national level.”

Michael also paid tribute to incoming chairman Andrew Dundas.

“Andrew is a good chap. He’s a good farmer and he has plenty of experience. The organisation is in very safe hands for the next few years,” he said.

“He is a very capable and intelligent guy who is a good operator himself and will make a great job of it.” In next week’s Clare People , Andrew Ha milton spea ks to the new IFA cha ir person Andrew Dunda s who will la y out his vision for fa r ming in Cla re over the next t wo yea rs.

SHOPPING in the county town of Ennis is not an experience that is open to everyone.

Wheelchair users in the county are limited in the main to one end of the town, and if they require to visit a premises on the other side they have to either drive for up to 20 minutes through a one-way system to get there, or just take their business elsewhere.

That is according to wheelchair users across the county.

Geraldine Gilligan, who works in the town, has ruled out having lunch out or shopping on her break as impossible.

“Dunnes and Boots is basically a one-stop-shop for me. The thought of going up to Carraig Donn is impossible,” she said.

The hills and cobblestones of Ennis town made it difficult for a wheel- chair user to navigate the streets alone, but the greatest difficulty is the width of the footpaths.

Making O’Connell Street a pedestrian street is the dream, according to Geraldine.

For now going past Boots towards the Daniel O’Connell statue is impossible alone.

Even bracing this main thoroughfare brings its problems.

A wheelchair user has to travel the whole length of one street to cross the road and then travel back down the other side to visit a shop directly across the road from where the shopper originally was.

She was also critical of disabled parking spaces branding some of them a disgrace.

The Corofin/Kilnaboy woman was particularly critical of a space on the corner of Abbey Street and Bank Place.

The space is so tight she explained that she “nearly got chopped off by traffic” while parking there herself.

Shannon native Padraic Hayes said he would visit the town more if it was accessible.

“You have oncoming traffic when you come out of Dunnes on to the street. I go as far as Boots, or I would go up the market or I would go as far as Hillbillies and that is it,” he said.

“Moving past Dunnes is too high up and trying to manage with traffic while you are in a chair is impossible and you have people coming against you too. Some people are okay they will move. Others will just stand there,” he said.

Ms Gilligan said that while there is little that can be done about the topography of the town, pedestrianisation of more streets, ramps and improved footpaths would open more of the town to wheelchair users.

CLARE farmers may be forced to assemble every animal on their farm for all future cattle inspections, should new inspections requirements being put forward by the Department of Agriculture come into force.

The new assembly rules were just one of the main sticking points when a team of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture met officials from the farming organisations in Portlaoise last week.

The other main point of conflict was unannounced inspections, with IFA Deputy President, Eddie Downey, strongly rejected the idea that any spot checks should take place.

“Unannounced inspections are totally unacceptable and IFA is demanding that no inspector arrives on a farm without reasonable prior notice. There need to be better coordination of inspections and the avoidance of duplication as well as increased tolerances, reduced penalties and a strict adherence to prompt payment deadlines. Farmers will not tolerate a repeat of last year, where applicants selected for inspection encountered long payment delays.” he said.

“The assembly of animals involves a major additional workload, creates undue stress, adds considerable costs, and is an additional and unnecessary farm safety risk.”

Downey, who described some of the new proposals as “way over the top” saying that the department inspectors should be able to obtain a reasonable sample of tags without the necessity to bring all animals into the farmers’ yard.

He also called on the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), to intervene to ensure a more farmer friendly inspection regime. Pressure is also being placed on the Minister for Agriculture to ensure that the delays caused by maps and digitisation not be repeated in 2012.

“There is now significant advantages in submitting on-line SFP applications. Apart from the commitment to be processed and paid earlier by the Department, farmers and their agents can make changes to their applications and maps on line,” said Downey.

“Given the importance of direct payments to farm income it was vital that farmers make sure that their SFP application is made correctly and on time.

“This application is necessary for all schemes including the Single Farm Payment, Disadvantaged Areas, REPS 4, AEOS, Sheep Grassland, Suckler Cow Welfare, Dairy and Beef Discussion groups – it is absolutely essential that no mistakes are made.”

MORE than 700 jobs could be fasttracked to Ennis this year with a planned new private hospital set to circumvent the local planning sys- tem and gain planning permission in as little as 26 weeks. Construction work on a new € 60 million private hospital, which is proposed for the former Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital, could begin before the end of the summer should An Bord Pleanála classify the hospital as a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID). The project is being put forward by Ennis-based company Duesbury Ltd, which lists John and Allen Flynn of the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis as its company directors. Allen Flynn purchased the site with builder Martin Fitzgibbon and Paul Talty from Clare County Council for € 5.2 million in October, 2005.

A GROUP of colleagues went to Lisdoonvarna to the matchmaking festival this year for a day out – nothing note worthy in that.

Like so many others they travelled by bus and looked forward to a bite to eat, a few drinks and plenty of music and craic.

After a few beers and orange juices in a local establishment some members of the group needed to use the facilities, but soon discovered they couldn’t.

The facilities were working perfectly and others had been using them all day, but still the members of this group had to leave the public house and go to the other end of the town to use the toilets in a small café.

They went to another pub and once again, when they had to use the facilities they were forced to go outside in the cold September air and travel hundreds of yards to use the toilets in the same café.

The local primary school had agreed to allow the group to use their facilities and a local hotel would also have been available to them except it was closed on that day, but their comfort would have been disrupted in any eventuality.

So their day continued like this and all because they were dependent on wheelchairs for mobility.

This experience is not unique for people who rely on wheelchairs to get around County Clare, nor is it exclusive to the North Clare town.

Despite the change in laws and a growing philosophy of inclusiveness, wheelchair users are continuously penalised for needing mobility assistance.

The freedom to move around, use the facilities their tax euros pay for, and access buildings and social settings remains limited. One group of young wheelchair users who meet regularly on a Friday night, explained how their meeting places are limited, especially in Ennis, as access and space remains an issue. As the group spoke they explained how they have legally enshrined rights to integrate socially with everyone else yet they cannot. Shannon woman Majella Nihill explained how she likes to visit the Shannon shopping centre with the assistance of her mother. She said she can navigate the area quiet well but it is not without it difficulties as pointed out by fellow Shannon citizen Padraic Hayes. He does a lot of his shopping in the new Shannon Town Centre, as toilet facilities is an issue in many shop- ping centres.

“I go to the old one [Shannon Shopping Centre] in the Gort Road. That is the best one for me and my chair to get in and get out. The other one you can manage but there is a bit of struggle. I can get in but it is tight,” he said referring to the “disability toilets”.

“I go to Limerick a lot. O’Connell Street (Limerick) is a dream for me because it is so level even if shop accessibility is not great,” he said.

Connie Commane is a regular face in the county town of Ennis.

A proud wheelchair user she makes her way through town with purpose.

But all of the county town is not accessible to wheelchair users like Connie, and the shopping experience is often limited to lower O’Connell Street and the market.

Gerry Quain told how a coffee shop he use to frequent in the Tesco shopping centre in Ennis has since closed limiting the places he can meet his friends.

Ger Arthur from Shannon enjoys the freedom and space of the Friday night catch-up of young wheelchair users in Hassets pub in Barefield, where he can relax and have his pint without worrying about facilities, access and space. This he cannot do everywhere.

As the dinner was served in the Barefield bar last week and the group settled in to a night out, Padraic remarked “everyone has their own definition of accessibility”.

For this group of young people however the definition in Clare leaves a lot to be desired.