Category: News

A WEST Clare councillor has called on retired public servants in the county to play their part in the national recovery, saying that they are ideally suited, thanks to years of experience to put their shoulder to the wheel for the good of the county.

Fine Gael councillor Gabriel Keating has sounded out the calling by saying that the raft of public service retirements in the county should now be used to harness a recovery of the county’s economic fortunes.

“This presents an opportunity for County Clare to harness the wealth of experience amassed from their careers for the benefit of the economic and social revival of the County,” Cllr Keating said this week.

“There are a lot of people, who will be retiring this year; who have gained valuable experience in the field of Healthcare, Education, Business and Tourism and who still have a lot to offer.

“I believe that many of these retirees would love to be able to impart their knowledge and experience which they have built up over the years and would be willing to volunteer if there was a process or forum set up which would facilitate this useful exchange of ideas.”

“That is why I am calling on Clare County Council to formalise a way in which these people can contribute and participate fully in the economic and social recovery of this county,” Cllr Keating added.

In expanding on his new blueprint for economic recovery, he said that volunteerism has a huge part to play over the next couple of years. “In seeking opportunities for volunteerism we must start looking beyond the traditional roles, such as Tidy Towns or local charities,” he said.

“However, in order to fully utilise the skills which these people possess, and to make sure that we just do not end up with another ‘Talking Shop’. It is important that the process or forum which is set up is active and that the ideas and proposals which are formulated in the process are fed into Local Authority System so that they can be acted upon.”

“Whether people have retired from the public, private or tourism sectors or whether they are self-employed retirees they have a vested interest in County Clare; they live here; their children or grandchildren are living here and they have the energy and enthusiasm to contribute to making this County a better place for all of us to live and work in.”

“It is an economic reality that we are where we are, and if we are to move forward recovery has to begin at grass root level. By participating in this initiative, I believe that these individuals will be displaying the true spirit of Clare patriotism and they will be making an enormous contribution to the future of their own county,” he added.

A MOTHER took items from a jewellery shop in Ennis to pay off moneylenders, a court has heard.

A six-month prison sentence was imposed on Mary Ann Jackson at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

Jackson (39) with an address at 35 Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra, Limerick, had previously pleaded guilty. The court previously heard that Jackson, who has 118 previous convictions, entered Collins Jewellers, O’Connell Street, Ennis, on January 18. She took a tray of bracelets, placed them in her handbag and left the shop. The court heard that Jackson was stopped by the owner who called the Gardaí. The accused admitted taking the bracelets, which were all recovered.

Insp John Galvin told the court that the bracelets were valued at € 1,800 and were fit for re-sale.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client had borrowed from moneylenders to pay for fuel for her father. He said she had taken the bracelets, as she had no way of paying the money back. He said that Jackson, a mother of one, “was under huge pressure to pay back these people”. The court heard that the accused suffers from diabetes and serious heart problems.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy noted that the accused does not have a good record. Acknowledging Jackson’s plea of guilty and other mitigating factors including the accused’s health, Judge McCarthy imposed a six-month sentence. He said the sentence is to be served concurrent to a nine-month sentence Jackson is currently serving.

ORGANISERS of a public meeting in Ennis at the weekend are hoping to tap into mounting public anger at new taxes and cutbacks to services.

Members of the public are being invited to attend ‘Organising Resistance – Fighting Against Injustice And Inequality’, which takes place upstairs in Brogan’s Bar, Ennis, on Saturday, February 18, 2pm.

Kieran Allen of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the United Left Alliance (ULA) will give a talk on organising protests and activism.

Opposition to the new household charge will be among the topics up for discussion, according to one of the event’s organisers, Brían Ó Cualáin.

Brían, a member of the SWP, explained, “There is a push on against the household charge. And we’re hoping this meeting will give people an incentive to come out and hopefully inspire them to get involved.

“It’s not necessarily just about the household charge. We want people to talk about the issues that are affecting them in their community. That could be cutbacks to education, a lack of facilities for young people.”

He believes more and more people are looking for a way to express their anger at a time of economic uncertainty.

He said, “It is definitely building. There is an appetite there and people are looking for ways to express their anger and change the agenda for the little people, the people who are on the margins.

“This is affecting us all. Hopefully it will help create a bit of movement and we can capitalise on that movement and anger.”

The meeting is the latest in a series held in recent weeks around the county aimed at encouraging greater protest and activism.

Brían explained, “There were around 250 people at the Old Ground Hotel for a meeting on the household charge.

“There was a meeting in Kilmihil where around 80 people attended. We had about 80 at a meeting in Shannon and there were 50 or 60 at a meeting in Scariff.”

Organisers say that the reduction in the registration fee for septic tanks following a nationwide storm of protest offers a good example of the power of grassroots activism.

However, Brían says that one of the purposes of Saturday’s meeting is to encourage people to continue to hold the government of the day to account.

Pointing to the ongoing campaign for the retention of services at En nis General Hospital, Brían says, “We know that whatever government gets back into power down the road, they will roll back on a lot of promises.”

Originally from Inis Oirr, where he was involved with the island’s cooperative movement, Brían moved to Ennis 15 years ago.

He says, “I just feel that things have got to such a stage that I’m worried about my own kids’ futures.”

Opposition to the household charge and a new regime of septic tank inspection has been the focus of intense debate at meetings of Clare County Council in recent months. Last month, members met for a special meeting called in response to concerns expressed over the implications of the scheme for homeowners.

At the meeting a senior member of Clare County Council and former Dáil TD, Cllr James Breen (Ind) called for the people of Clare to engage in a period of “civil disobedience”. Around 300 people attended a public information meeting held in Ennis just before Christmas about new septic tank charges.

CLARE’S Irish Wheelchair Association is to lose two thirds of its Community Employment (CE) funding this year.

The organisation that supports people with limited mobility throughout the county has had its funding slashed by € 16,000, from € 24,000 to € 8,000.

As many as 16 people are employed through the CE scheme providing administrative assistance to the charity as well as driving the buses, organising events and courses and providing support and assistance to the service users.

Up to now the local IWA was allocated € 1,500 for each CE participant – € 500 for training and € 1,000 for materials.

Johnny Crawford, Supervisor with the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clare, explained that this funding provided a vital role in delivering services to IWA users.

“In our context we have quite a lot of mandatory training to do, especially relating to heath and safety, manual handling, adult and child protection. We have a menu of mandatory courses to do that pretty much eats into the training budget. Beyond that if there is funding left over we offer it to people for something they want to do themselves outside of the mandatory courses,” he said.

The € 1,000 allocation is used to help fund the running costs of the office, help pay the rent, put diesel in the buses and cover other material costs.

It is through this funding, and the work of the 16 dedicated CE workers, that the IWA in Clare can provide outreach services in Cois Na hAbhana, Ennis, on Tuesday, Miltown Malbay on Monday and alternate between Kilrush and Ennistymon on Wednesday. An outreach programme is also provided in the family resource centre in Killaloe and Friday night is the social gathering for the younger people.

“Everything we do is driven by desires of service users. It is their programme,” he said.

He added the cut in funding would put added pressures on the charity’s fundraising, which has already been affected by the recession. “The loss is huge and it will affect the services without a doubt,” he said.

The CE programme is designed to help people who are long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged people to get back to work by offering part-time and temporary placements in jobs based within local communities.

CLARE County Council’s water staff was last night encouraged by some members of the council to go on strike and bring the country to a halt.

The council was reacting to news of Government plans to give full responsibility for water supply to a new national body.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) told the February meeting of the council, “I feel it is time for Clare County Council to stand up and be counted and withdraw that service.”

Fellow Independent councillor Tommy Brennan said that if every council followed suit, it would bring the country to a standstill. Electricity and power rely on water too, he explained. Without these services, the country could not function.

The majority of councillors were concerned with the implications of a new Irish Water Company, as it would inevitably erode more of the local authority’s powers and more than likely lead to job losses within its water section.

Cllr Bill Chambers (FF) led the charge that the members of the council were opposed to having its responsibilities for water maintenance and provision transferred to the new Irish Water Company.

“The last thing we want now is another quango with high-paid officials,” he said.

Father of the council Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said he could not understand the Government making such a proposal given difficulties experienced in Northern Ireland during this winter.

“We can huff and puff about taking water from the Shannon, but if it is nationalised, they can make a canal and bring all the water to Dublin,” he added.

Former mayor Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said there was no indication of early consultation with the stakeholders. He also had reservations about the second phase of the process – the consultation phase.

“Are they going to listen to us or is it a courtesy exercise to appease the peasants?” he asked.

“This debate is coming too late. It would appear this is a fait de compli,” said Cllr McCarthy who raised concerns about council jobs if and when it was set up.

“By degrees we will have no function at all as councillors,” said Cllr Brennan.

County Manager Tom Coughlan said that there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the plan. Among his many concerns was the possible loss of council assets to the Irish Wa- ter Company but with the liabilities staying in the county.

“I have serious concerns in relation to the financial statement. I have concerns the council will be left in a worse financial state at the end of it.”

He said the council is carrying a € 13 million debt balance which is mostly due to water. “I hope the liabilities transfer with the assets,” he added.

The manager said a lot was still uncertain, not least the future of the council staff working in this area.

He raised concerns about the loss of control of planning issues relating to water and a lack to democratic responsibility under the new proposal.

LOCAL authorities in Clare have less than three months to sign up to the Croke Park Agreement under which public service workers are obliged to increase their working hours.

This follows on from a survey of local authority working hours around the country which has shown that the average working week of public service working in Clare local government is one of the lowest in the country.

Staff in Clare local authorities are working just 33 hours a week, in comparison with staff in the private sector who work a 39-hour week.

This figure is shared by Meath County Council and Galway City Council. At Galway County Council, the figure is even lower with staff working 32.92 hours a week.

When contacted by The Clare People , Clare County Council that the deadline for local authority workers to fall into line with workers in the private sector is two months away.

“This is a national issue that remains outside of Clare County Council’s control as reform has been delayed due to an ongoing national dispute with unions,” said Eddie Power, Senior Executive Officer, Clare County Council.

“This point has already been made publicly by the Office for Local Authority Management (OLAM). The implementation date for the standardisation of working arrangements across the local government sector is April,” he added.

The increase in working hours that is expected to come into effect in April comes in the wake of staffing levels at Clare County Council hav- ing been reduced to just over 800 over the past six years.

In 2006 there were 1,002 people working in Clare County Council with the reduction over the past six years amounting to a 20 per cent, while payroll costs have been pared back from € 44.8m to € 36.8m in that time.

It is expected that there will be further reductions in staffing levels in 2012, while Taoiseach Enda Kenny has warned that local authority workers in all counties will have to sign up to the terms of the Croke Park Agreement.

FEARS have been expressed that history will repeat itself in Clare, resulting in beds remaining closed at one of the county’s best known nursing homes.

The HSE revealed this week that between five and 10 beds will close in the county’s public nursing homes when the results of a review of the Long Term Nursing Homes is announced.

A further 19 beds are to close at St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis for refur- bishment, but one Clare representative on the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), said he hopes that the word “refurbishment” does not have the same connotations that it has had in recent health history.

“What has to be welcomed is that the HSE is providing the resources to upgrade two large wards in St Joseph’s to comply with HIQA requirements.

“It is a credit to staff at St Joseph’s that they have been able to keep bed reductions to a minimum to allow the ward closures for the upgrade,” he said. “The greatest challenge to all nursing homes in Clare will be trying to keep beds operational as nursing staff are not being replaced. I am concerned that the HSE admission that between five and 10 beds will be lost could be compounded by hard decisions hospital management will have to make to safely manage beds,” he added.

“I request that Deputy Breen and the other TDs continue to make a case for the lifting of the embargo on frontline staff. The reality is beds will close unless nurses can be employed.

“While I understand that TDs have to try to be the first with telling their constituents some good news, I request them to make it clear to the Minister for Finance and Health that the embargo on hiring nurses will cause a reduction in the number of elderly care and acute beds.”

Clare TD Pat Breen (FG) welcomed news that no nursing home in Clare is to close following the review and said he was assured that 11 of St Joseph’s beds will be re-opened after six weeks, with the remaining eight beds re-opening after a further six weeks.

“I understand from the HSE that the situation in the Long Term Nursing Home area will be kept under constant review for the remainder of the year and that hopefully no further bed closures will be necessary but this will be dependent on a number of factors; namely an unanticipated increase in sick leave or further staff departures from the service or other changed circumstances,” Deputy Breen said.

The nursing homes included in the review are Regina House in Kilrush, Raheen Hospital in Tuamgraney, Ennistymon Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospital.

CLARE’S Labour TD Michael McNamara has launched a stinging attack on his Government colleagues, describing them as cowards who “hide behind bureaucracy” instead of making real decisions.

The East Clare TD singled out the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), and the Minister for the Arts, Jimmy Deenihan (FG), for spe- cial criticism while he also accused Clare county councillors of hiding behind the county manager.

Deputy McNamara was speaking about an independent report, commissioned by Clare County Council, on the future of the historic building at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon. The report, which cost € 15,000 to produce, has been completed for nearly a year but the local authority have so far refused to publish it.

McNamara has contacted Clare County Council as well as Minister Hogan and Minister Deenihan in an effort to force the publication of the report. “I am very disappointed with the minister’s response. Is it too much to expect that in our democracy that a survey commissioned at taxpayers’ expense should be made available to the tax payers?,” he said to The Clare People yesterday.

“I have now raised this matter with the Minister for Environment and Local Government, Phil Hogan, who referred me to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, who has now referred me back to Clare County Council.

“I’m beginning to understand why the public is so skeptical about the need for elected representatives in Ireland when the IMF/EU Troika determines the headline budget figures and ministers, with few exceptions, will not exercise the little power they have but instead hide behind bureaucracy like county councillors who hide behind the county manager.”

Fine Gael councillor, Joe Arkins, who was the only North Clare councillor in favour of publishing the report, said the matter should never have gone to ministerial level.

“It would not have been necessary for anyone to contact any ministers about this report if the councillors in North Clare had agreed to allow the report to be published. We bought it, we paid for it, and if it’s fit for purpose, we should be allowed to see it,” he said. “Any report that has been paid for with tax-payers’ money should be made available to the public – not just this report.”

The future of the 19th-century protected structure at Blake’s Corner remains in doubt, with plans to demolish and rebuild the building to make way for a new road junction on hold.

Clare County Council last month decided to delay the planning process on the site to allow an Environmental Impact Statement to be carried out. This will delay the project for a further year and cost in the region of € 100,000. The Clare People contacted Clare County Council in relation to this but no response was received at the time of going to press.

ONE East Clare school faces the prospect of having its teaching numbers halved next year, if the Minister for Education continues with his proposed cuts to staffing levels in primary schools.

The Killaloe Boys National School, which currently has a staff of 14 – nine mainstream and remedial teachers and five special needs assistants (SNA) – could be starting next September with just 7.5 – 6.5 teachers and one SNA if the cuts are implemented.

School principal David McCormack explained that it will not only be the teachers that will struggle to cope with the increased class numbers.

“Our school building will not facilitate an increase in class sizes as three of our classrooms are part of the old building and will not sustain extra furniture to accommodate 30 children. We have statistics from our school engineer to confirm this,” he said.

The school was given special status in 2002 entitled Giving Children an Even Break which allowed for an extra class teacher and a reduced pupil teacher ratio.

This school has now been notified that this teaching post will also be cut.

Concerned parents attended a meeting at the Killaloe school on Thurs- day last to hear what Clare INTO Executive Sean McMahon described as “social injustice”.

“A new buzz word has entered the Irish dictionary and the Irish psyche – austerity,” he told parents.

“Austerity in primary schools like Killaloe Boys translates to staff cuts be they teacher, SNA or ancillary personnel. It translates into larger classes, multigrade classes, lower school budgets, and less learning support for weaker pupils.

“This will undoubtedly lead to a under achievement and a denial of the rights of pupils to reach their full potential. Obviously these impacts will be most severe among our disadvantaged and marginalised pupils,” he added.

Hundred of parents and teachers from Clare also travelled to Dublin last week to protest at the proposed cuts to staffing levels in smaller rural schools.

The majority travelled from east and west Clare to the Dáil protest on Wednesday.

Meanwhile plans are being put in place for a public meeting involving INTO members, parents, boards of management, patron representatives and school communities at the West County Hotel on Monday night, February 20, to address these issues.

“All Oireachtas members in Clare are to be invited to listen to our collective concerns,” said Mr McMahon.

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy has been sentenced to nine months in a young offenders institute after pleading guilty to burglary in Shannon last year.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, the boy also pleaded guilty to charges of the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and handling stolen property. The offences arose out of an incident in Ros Min, Shannon, last December. The court heard that the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has 55 previous convictions.

A Detective Gwarda told the court that the boy entered the house, taking a set of car keys, house keys and a quantity of cash. A car was also taken in the incident.

The court heard that the house was occupied at the time of the burglary. The boy gained access through the front door, which was closed but unsecured, the court heard.

The accused was subsequently arrested in Tipperary where he admitted his involvement to gardaí. The car was recovered undamaged.

Solicitor Eileen Whelan told the court that her client had entered an early guilty plea so as to spare civil- ian witnesses the “trauma” of re-living the burglary in court.

She said her client, who was accompanied in court by his parents, had “certainly been mixing with the wrong people”. Ms Whelan said her client intended finishing his Leaving Certificate and had enroled in a mechanics programme. “He’s having a real eye opener. He’s here to take his medicine”, she added.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy noted that the boy had “umpteen previous convictions”, adding, “He hasn’t got a good record”. Taking into the account the accused’s plea of guilty and other mitigating circumstances, Judge McCarthy imposed a ninemonth sentence for the burglary charge. A three-month concurrent sentence was imposed for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle.