Category: News

AN ENNIS Town Councillor has appealed to her colleagues to undertake training to assist them in dealing with one of the last taboos in society.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) asked members of the council to undertake a half-day training programme to help them identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources.

“Suicide is hard to talk about and we can use the wrong words at times,” she said.

She believes that the “Safe Talk” course, hosted by the HSE and the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), would help councillors deal with an issue they are facing more regularly.

Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) said the town was torn apart by suicide.

“I spoke to a man who was out of work who said there was no hope for him, and why wouldn’t he go and do something? It is very frightening. I did not know what to say except never give up hope,” she said.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said that more people come to talk to the councillors because they are their elected representatives, and many of these people feel they cannot talk to their loved ones.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) told his fellow councillors that in 1996, a fellow councillor told him that he should not talk about suicide in the council chamber.

“All this is swept under the carpet. We don’t talk about things like that, he said to me. Well, it is time peo – ple should be talking about suicide. I would like to see Cllr Howard bring this to the Ard Fheis of Fine Gael,” he said.

Cllr Howard said that suicide was the fastest growing cause of death in Ireland and was affecting people of every gender, age and social outlook. “We are so afraid of words,” she said.

“By asking someone if they are suicidal is not putting the ideas in their head. I think we could do with some guidance on how to talk to someone and direct them to help,” she said.

“It is frightening the number of people I know that died from suicide, many of them girls I went to school with that had their whole lives in front of them.”

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) raised concerns about undertaking such a course. “After a half-day course. I don’t think I would be capable of talking to someone,” he said.

Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) welcomed the course, however.

“I think we should all embrace the training. I think it is a starting point. I don’t think we will all be experts.”

CLARE patients are being advised to avoid an over-crowded Emergency Department at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.

An increase in patient numbers is putting the service under pressure, and the issue is aggravated by the presence of the winter vomiting bug in the hospital.

According to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives As- sociation there were 27 people on trolleys in the hospital yesterday (Monday) an increase of 21 from Friday.

A spokesperson for the HSE asked people to “please consider using your general practitioner where possible and avoid attending the Emergency Department unless absolutely necessary”.

“The hospital is experiencing a significant increase in Emergency Department attendances with increased in-patient admissions. As a result all in-patient capacity is under great demand and this is aggravated by the presence of winter vomiting bug in the hospital.

“Your co-operation in this matter is much appreciated,” he said.

Meanwhile, the regional hospital that serves most of north and parts of West Clare will soon be manned by over stressed and over worked nurses.

It is estimated that the National University College Hospital, Galway, will lose 60 nurses through retirement before the end of this month, leaving overstretched nursing staff under more pressure.

According to the local Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) this will result in one nurse being left to look after ten to 12 patients at a time.

The INMO’s Gavin Duffy explained that staffing levels at the hospital have already plummeted due to the 2007 monitorium and the 2009 embargo.

Since 2009 no staff have been re- placed or extra staff taken on.

“The lack of skilled nurses won’t take from the dedication of the nurses that are there,” he said, but he warned stress would become part of life for nursing staff as they are pushed to their limit.

“People will burn out and stress will become part of nurses lives,” he warned.

The local INMO is to meet with senior management within the next two weeks to discuss a contingency plan the HSE says it has in place.

KILRUSH’S oldest citizen passed away last week in his 102nd year. Jack Dunleavy, who was very well known in business and sporting circles in the town throughout his life was laid to rest at the Sunday.

Mr Dunleavy would have been 102 this June was in great health all his life – never being in hospital until a couple of days before he died on Friday of last week.

“He lived a great life and was out walking every day until he was 98 years of age,” said his son, former Mayor of Kilrush, Sean Dunleavey this week.

Mr Dunleavy was born in 1910 and as a result was witness and part of many historic events in the west Clare capital and had great recall of events from the War of Independence, the Civil War and the labour difficulties in Kilrush in the early 1930s when a strike at Ryan’s sparked the creation of a short-lived ‘Kilrush Soviet’.

Mr Dunleavy’s mother, Susan Kennedy, hailed from Tulla, but moved to Kilrush in the early part of the century to open up a shop on Moore Street.

There she met her husband, Jack’s father, who made a living bail- ing hay and selling it to the British Army.

An only child, Mr Dunleavy married Kathleen Brooks from Ballyjamesduff, and they had nine children.

As a lover of the Irish language and a wearer of a fáinne óir, it was a great source of pride to Mr Dunleavy that the Irish version of his surname, Dúinsléibhe appeared over the door of this business premises on Moore Street for many years.

In sporting circles, he was a winner of a Clare senior football championship medal with his beloved Kilrush Shamrocks in 1930, making him the oldest holder of such a medal in the county.

He also served as secretary of Kilrush Shamrocks for many years, carrying all club business and correspondence through Irish, while in addition to this his sporting interests extended to athletics and greyhound racing.

Mr Dunleavy’s funeral Mass took place at St Senan’s Church in Kilrush on Sunday and he was buried afterwards in All Saints Cemetery, Shanakyle.

AN unemployed construction worker attempted to blackmail a woman he met through an internet dating site for € 15,000, an Ennis court has heard.

Alan Custy (35) demanded money from the woman after he led her to believe that he had recorded an “inti- mate” encounter between them in his jeep. A Garda investigation determined that Custy did not have a camera in his jeep and that no recording existed.

Custy, with an address at 76 Dun na hInse, Ennis, pleaded guilty to making an unwarranted demand for monies with menaces contrary to Section 17 of the Criminal Justice Public Or- der Act.

The court heard that the complainant and the accused met through two websites, connectingsingles.com and smooch.com

The court heard that Custy and the victim were both involved in relationships at the time.

Over a 10-day period from July 9 to 19 (2010), Custy made the demands through a series of 11 text messages and a number of phone calls.

The court heard that he looked for € 15,000 from either the woman or her husband, claiming he needed the money to “pay the taxman”.

According to one text message read out in court, Custy told the woman, “I’d say he would find € 15,000 for proof you cheated on him”.

Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy told the court that the woman told her she was being blackmailed.

The woman said that Custy had told her he was single. She said that he told her “he was under financial pressure”.

THE people of Clare have been asked to give their opinion on the future direction that Clare County Council should take when planning for alternative energy projects.

Just weeks after the local authority placed a ban on fracking in Clare and with a number of high-profile wind energy projects still awaiting planning permission or connection to the national grid, the local authority has opened the floor to the people to point the way forward.

Clare County Council must com- plete a long-term renewable energy strategy in the next 12 months and this strategy will set out the council’s approach to dealing with offshore wind, wave, hydro and biomass energy sources in the years ahead.

Once completed, Clare County Council will become the first local authority in the country with a full Renewable Energy Strategy built into its county development plan.

“We have an opportunity to exploit these resources and in doing so create clean energy and attract inward investment to the county and the country.

“This comes at a time when the country is searching for solutions to many social and economic issues,” said the Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes (FF).

“I am delighted that Clare County Council is taking a pro-active approach to facilitating renewable energy development in the County.

“The preparation of a Renewable Energy Strategy will help guide the location and development of renewable energy proposals and ancillary businesses while also establishing the views from members of the public and other stakeholders.

“I would encourage people to make their views known to the Planning Authority.”

The update version of the County Development Plan is set to be adopted by Clare County Council in December of 2012 or January of 2013.

“Clare is particularly fortunate to possess considerable wind, biomass, wave and tidal resources. It is imperative that we have a strategy in place to maximise the potential of these resources while minimising any environmental impacts, thus enabling the County to achieve a low-carbon economy,” said County Manager Tom Coughlan.

“The strategy will be prepared to reflect the changing economic environment and to provide a blueprint for increased economic activity and job creation through value added activities such as manufacturing and research and development.

“It also will facilitate development of renewable energy having regard to recent technological advances and will identify the imperative requirement for enhanced grid connectivity regulation.”

The closing date for submissions to Clare County Council is Friday, March 9.

For more information, visit www. clarecoco.ie.

THE amount of racism being experienced by migrants living and working in Clare has increased over the past 12 months – but the vast majority of people still do not report racist activity to the authorities.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) released its 2011 statistics last week which showed that they received 155 queries from people in Clare over the last 12 months. As the vast majority of people who contact the ICI do not identify their county of origin, the number of Clare-based people contacting the organisation is believed to be closer to 500.

According to Brian Killoran of the ICI, the recession has increased the pressure on migrants – most of whom will lose their legal right to reside in Ireland if they lose their job.

“There is a definite noticeable increase in the numbers who have been reporting racial incidences over the last year. There is still not a huge amount but there has been a very noticeable increase in the negative experiences that people are having on a day-to-day basis. The big hill that we are facing in terms of racist abuse is that people are reluctant to report an incident,” he said.

“The people will speak about it to their own family and friends but will not report it to the authorities or to the Guards. They just get on with it. The results of that is that statistic across the board for racism are still relatively low but all the anecdotal evidence suggests that racism is quite high but people are just not reporting it. They just don’t think that anything will happen if they do.”

According to the ICI figures, the type of questions being asked by Clare-based migrants has changed also – with people now more concerned with what will happen to them if they lose their jobs and how they can apply for full Irish citizenship.

“The tone of queries has changed. Originally it was about family reunification but it is now much more about dealing with people who have been here for five or six years and the questions that they would have about gaining citizenship and things like that. People are very insecure about their jobs – most of the people we deal with are from outside the EU. So they have a work permit that is tied to their job but a lot of people are afraid of what will happen if they lose their job. Will they also lose their home,” continued Brian.

FOLLOWING a number of dog attacks on sheep in Clare over the last few weeks, dog owners in the county are being urged to ensure that their animals are kept under control at all times, especially during the busy lambing season.

One dog, which had been causing trouble for sheep, was killed by a landowner in the Crusheen area last week and farmers all over the county are asked to be vigilant and look out for their sheep.

Farmers are allowed to shoot dogs who are caught attacking sheep or dogs who come onto property where sheep have recently been attacked.

The IFA National Sheep Chairman, James Murphy, last week launched their ‘Do You Know Where Your Dog Is?’ campaign to highlight the damage being done by stray dogs.

“The IFA campaign is aimed at dog owners and is reminding them of their responsibilities to ensure they are in control of their pets at all times,” he said.

“Up to 2.5 million lambs will be born on 30,000 sheep farms across the country over the next three months. Sheep flocks are very vulnerable to dog attacks at this critical time, especially during the night.”

Dog attacks on a sheep flock are extremely stressful and damaging events for farmers and can inflict savage injuries and often fatalities on farms.

“Aside from the economic losses, for which dog owners can be held liable, the welfare implications for the flock can be very severe and longlasting.

“Sheep never recover fully from a dog attack and can suffer ongoing difficulties, including reproduction problems and increased nervousness affecting their general health,” continued James.

“If a dog worries livestock, the owner or any other person in charge of the dog shall be guilty of an offense unless it is established that at the time the dog worried the livestock for the purpose of removing trespassing livestock and that having regard to all the circumstances the action was reasonable and necessary.”

TAXI drivers in Clare say they are facing financial ruin as changes to the law mean they will not be able to sell their licences after October.

While MEP Jim Higgins (FG) maintains that the new taxi legislation is good for Ennis, the men and women behind the wheel have a different opinion.

Ennis taxi driver and member of the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation Martin White described as “ludicrous” the ban on selling licences.

“It is absolutely ludicrous to tell drivers that have invested in plates, that they can’t sell them after October,” he said. “A lot of theses lads have 25 to 27 years experience and if they, God forbid, has a stroke or heart attack after October their family would be left with a licence that could not be sold.”

He added that at least three local taxi drivers spent more than € 100,000 on licences before deregulation in 2000. “Then too many plates were issued when deregulation came in,” added Mr White.

He said taxi drivers are struggling to make ends meet as Ennis town has become very quite and there are so many licensed drivers out there.

“I worked for 12 hours last Monday for € 18,” he said.

Another driver told how she worked from 9pm to 12.30pm on Sunday and made just € 6. He maintains the new legislation will force a lot of experienced drivers out of the business before October and on to the dole queues. “The Government should buy back the plates from lads that want to get out,” he said. “There is € 22 million in the national reserve that was handed over from the regulator and we are asking the Government to put € 2 million a year aside and let some drivers out with a bit of dignity.” He said that there were a lot of regulations in the new legislation, which he welcomed, but the non-sale of licences was crazy.

The MEP, Mr Higgins has welcomed the new legislation which he says will resolve the problems currently in existence in Ennis due to an oversupply of taxis.

“In recent years, taxi ranks in Ennis were overflowing. It’s about getting the balance right. In the ‘90s there were not enough taxis in Ennis, but in the past decade, things went too far in the other direction. These new proposals mean professional drivers will be given a fairer crack of the whip, by eliminating rogue operators, and at the same time increasing the service levels provided to the public.”

Among the measures to be introduced include taxi drivers having to accept credit cards, a new more tamper-proof taxi plate, and a smart phone application to allow customers to check in real time with their phone that the taxi driver is properly licensed.

WITH slurry storage capacity reaching critical levels on many Clare farms, the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), last week released the details for next year’s nitrates regulations.

As a Zone B county, Clare farmers were legally allowed to begin spreading slurry again on their farms from mid-January but this process was severely delayed on many farms because of poor soil conditions.

However, following the recent cold and dry conditions, it is expected that many farmers will be in a position to begin emptying their slurry tanks in the coming days and weeks.

Speaking in Dublin last week, the Minister for Agriculture announced the application requirements for farmers seeking a nitrates derogation this year with exact details of the derogation process now available on the Department’s website.

As in previous years, the closing date for receipt of applications has been set for March 31 and no applications for derogations will be accepted after this date. A copy of the fertiliser plan must be submitted with the application unless the farmer has either an approved derogation for 2010 or 2011 or an approved REPS 4 plan in place.

“This is the ideal time to consider whether or not to apply for a dero- gation in 2012. Intensive grassland farmers are allowed to exceed the general limit of 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year from livestock manure on their farm, up to a limit of 250 kg, provided that they have a derogation in place,” he said.

“The Nitrogen and Phosphorus statements for 2011 will be issued to the more intensive farmers shortly. These statements are there to assist farmers in deciding whether or not they need to apply for a derogation.”

The minister encouraged farmers that will exceed the nitrates limits to apply for a derogation or take other remedial action and thereby avoid penalties being applied to their scheme payments.

“The Department is continuing with the initiative introduced last year to inform the less intensive farmers of their estimated capacity to take in and use organic fertilisers as an alternative to buying in chemical fertiliser,” he said. “A key element of the growth projections under Food Harvest 2020 is the drive for greater efficiencies at farm level including the cost of input. The efficient use of organic fertiliser is a key point in this context.

“I was encouraged by the response to last year’s initiative and I expect an even greater interest this year from farmers who previously would not have considered taking in slurry.”

TROUBLED teens from Clare were amongst those sent abroad last year for “treatment” at a cost of € 250,000 each, while a local specialist unit was closed for renovation.

That is according to Ennis Town Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) who raised concerns that Coovagh House was closed for renovations for more than six months.

The house on the grounds of St Joseph’s Hospital in Limerick was built in 2003 at a cost of € 10 million to house and assist teenagers from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary with behavioural problems.

Cllr O’Shea brought it to the attention of his council colleagues that as many as 13 young people were sent abroad for care at a cost of € 6. 5 million or a quarter of a million euro each.

This process has since ceased, leaving Cllr O’Shea to question where Clare teens with problem are now being referred.

“This is a national disgrace,” he said.

The Ennis councillor added that he also wants to know when the local unit, which closed in June last year, will reopen. “It closed at the time for renovations, which were to take six weeks,” he added.

He said that he was having difficulty getting any commitment on the future of Coovagh House from the HSE, and was now bringing the matter to the attention of Labour TD Michael McNamara.

In reply to questions from The Cla r e People, a spokesperson for the HSE said that Coovagh House was scheduled to reopen in March 2012, once the remaining development work was completed.

“The staff are reassigned locally or to other units within the National High Support and Special Care Service,” she said.

Asked where the young people who rely on this specialist unit now reside, the spokesperson replied, “Young people are accommodated in other units within the National High Support and Special Care Service.”

Meanwhile, Ennis Town Council has agreed to write to the HSE seeking clarification of the re-opening date, and when referrals can be made for Ennis children who require urgent special care.