Category: News

CLARE farmers could find farming “unworkable” if some of the suggested new CAP reforms are pushed through in their current form. That was the opinion of the ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin, who warned EU Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, that his proposed reforms of the Common Agriculture Policy were too “revolutionary” and far too disruptive to Irish farming.

Ciolos was in Dublin last week for a number of meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG) and representatives of the Irish farming organisations.

“While there may be a welcome for a greener, more equitable CAP in theory, ICSA is concerned that, in practice, the Commissioner’s reforms are too revolutionary and will simply be unworkable in Ireland,” he said.

“The moving to a flat rate payment and the introduction of a greening top-up has the potential to severely stunt the growth of successful and productive farms in the country.

“We cannot have a fair reform that imposes severe cuts on family-sized farms. Due to spiralling input costs, the average farmer is now more reliant than ever on their single farm payment (SFP) from the EU.

“Strong factory prices are being counteracted by the rising costs of fuel and other operational costs, therefore excessive cuts in the SFP has the potential to drive farm families out of agriculture.”

Speaking after the visit, Minister Coveney said that he impressed upon the Commissioner the key CAP reform priorities for Ireland.

“The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy will set the policy framework for Irish and EU agriculture, so it is important that we get it right. I have told Commissioner Ciolos today that the first priority from an Irish perspective is to secure the maximum possible funding from the EU budget negotiations in order to provide for a strong and well-resourced CAP,” he said.

“The second priority is to ensure that Ireland’s funding for both direct payments and rural development is maintained at current levels. In addition, we must provide the maximum possible flexibility for Member States to implement the payment models and transitional arrangements that best suit their farming conditions.”

The minister emphasised the commitment of both Ireland and the Commission to sustainable intensification of production, responsible environmental stewardship and the maintenance of a vibrant rural economy.

CLARE County Council is finally set to deliver its verdict this week on whether a move to provide top-class sports amenities for the East Clare catchment of Killaloe and Ballina has the backing of the planning authority.

The Ballina/Killaloe Sports and Development Facilities Development Company is behind plans to develop two new full-size playing pitches, an all-weather pitch, flood-lit training areas, walking and cycling trails, changing and carparking facilities at a site in Moys, Killaloe.

The planning application for the development was lodged on June 15 last.

An original deadline of November 9 last year was set for a final decision date on the proposal.

However, the decision was delayed on foot of a request from the planning authority for further information, which was duly submitted by the applicants on December 22 last.

The Ballina/Killaloe Sports and Development Facilities Development Company plan represents the second major sports-related activity earmarked for Killaloe in the past year.

In May, conditional planning permission was granted for an ambitious club/community project being promoted by Smith O’Briens at its base on Shantraud.

That development includes a new clubhouse, changing rooms, a sports hall, meeting rooms, a hurling wall, an astro-turf pitch and a spectator stand.

A second application was submitted by the club for the development at Shauntraud on December 23 last, with a decision date from the council set for February 25 next.

The Smith O’Briens club initiative is set to be funded by members of the local community themselves.

This will operate through an investors’ draw, whereby one thousand people will pay € 4 a week into the development kitty – a contribution that works out at € 17.33 a month and € 208 over the year.

“For that, we will have a draw every month giving away € 3,700 in cash prizes,” revelaed Tony O’Brien of Smith O’Briens club.

“There will be 20 prizes, ranging from the top prize of € 1,000 to two € 500 prizes, two € 250 prizes, and all the way down to eight € 50 prizes.

“The plan is to develop under the umbrella of the GAA, but it will be a community facility that will be open for everyone,” he added when the club launched its novel fundraising scheme to pay for the development.

THE success story of the pioneering Seol Sionna project in West Clare has been recognized nationally as the traditional boat building initiative has been short-listed for a major community award.

The Department of Education sponsored Star Awards that celebrate adult learning initiatives throughout the country have singled out Seol Sionna as one of the key community driven projects that has taken place over the past year.

Seol Sionna is a community based boat building project in Querrin which over the last 18 months has drawn thousands of people to the Shannon estuary to witness the building of a traditional boat which has a long history of carrying turf and goods on the Shannon Estuary.

While trainees have been learning to build a traditional wooden boat under the expertise of local shipwright Stephen Morris, others have taken up film making, history research and recording with the help of the West Clare Learning Network.

The local primary school in Querrin have been constant visitors to the shed and are now presenting to other schools on the peninsula who are visiting Querrin before its launch on May 19th.

“This is a project which has cap- tured the imagination and filled the communities in West Clare with great pride,” says Seol Sionna PRO Trea Heapes. “Not only does it recognise the skills and contributions of people who have gone before us but it has a contemporary benefit in that it now gives a whole new generation the opportunity of getting out sailing on the Shannon Estuary; one of the great wild places to be explored and appreciated.

“Many potential sailors have completed navigation and sailing courses with the intention of skippering the newly named Sally O’ Keefe. A new Seol Sionna Club has been set up to make the boat available to club members,” she adds.

“While the opportunity to learn how to build a trad boat will finish with it’s launch, a new rainbow of learning opportunites will make themselves available to those who are interested in taking up new challanges of sailing, navigation, exploring, fishing, exploration, nature watching and working with others to realise the rich potential of living along the Shannon Estuary,” she adds.

The Maintenance Project operated by Newmarket-on-Fergus community organization, Obair, was the Munster winner of the Star Awards in 2011. The awards, which are part of the Adult Learners’ Festival, will take place from February 20-24.

AN Ennis man with a “serious drink problem” stole two mobile phones from the solicitor’s bar-room in Ennis Courthouse, a court has heard.

Jamie Clune (34), with an address at 4 Bridge View, Roslevan, Ennis, pleaded guilty to theft and public order offences at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

The court heard that the accused took two phones from the courthouse bar-room on April 5 (2011).

Insp Tom Kennedy told the court that Clune was later questioned and admitted his involvement in the theft.

Insp Kennedy said the phones were sold to an unknown person and had not been recovered.

Court documents showed that the phone belonged to barristers Stephen Coughlan BL and Patrick Marrinan.

In relation to the public order charge, Insp Kennedy said Gardai were forced to arrest Clune after he behaved aggressively in the Market area of Ennis on November 5 (2011).

He said the accused had 99 previous convictions, mainly for public order and intoxication offences.

Solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that her client had behaved in a drunk and disorderly fashion last November, following a row with his sister.

She said Clune has a “serious drink problem”.

She added, “He’s quite an intelligent man who has had a sad upbringing and has used alcohol to cloud the memory”.

Ms Godfrey said her client is now clean and sober.

The court heard that the accused is currently serving a sentence.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy convicted Clune and sentenced him to six months in prison.

Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

LANDLORDS in Kilrush have been challenged to breathe new economic life back into Kilrush by slashing their rents for business operators.

The call was sounded out by members of Kilrush Town Council at its first statutory meeting of the year as it formally backed a new campaign to secure urban renewal status for the town.

This twin-track approach to revitalize the West Clare capital’s town centre has emerged as part of the local authority’s plans to kick-start the second phase of the Moore Street Regeneration Project that will be expanded to include other business streets in the town.

Town Clerk John Corry has written to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, seeking urban renewal status for the Moore Street area – a move that came on the back of a proposal to the December meeting of the council by Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) and tabled formally as a motion before last Thursday’s meeting.

“It is in this council’s interest to encourage and facilitate a socially, economically and commercially regenerated Moore Street,” he said. “A Small Towns’ Urban Renewal Scheme would be welcomed by the construction industry and kickstart economic activity in areas far too long blighted by dilapidated vacant premises,” he added.

“There is no point in Kilrush Town Council and the NRA doing such a good job on Moore Street if the people with business premises don’t come on board,” said Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind).

“If they have unrealistic rents along with what we’re trying to do now with a reduced rates scheme, it won’t work. We need to work together. It’s out of our hands, but we need to get the word out there that if business can be done on Moore Street that we’re right behind it, but realistic rents need to be part of the equation,” he added.

“They will give reduced rents. They will be amenable to helping new businesses come in. A number have stated that they will be doing that. They are going to work with us,” said Marion McMahon-Jones (FG).

“There is an accountant who is prepared to give six months free accounting of the advice that businesses need, something that would be invaluable for businesses setting up,” she added.

GER Loughnane re-emerged on the national scene last Friday following his recent illness when he strongly criticised some sections of the media for their conduct during his battle with leukaemia over the past few months.

Loughnane’s re-emergence from his self-imposed media blackout was welcomed throughout the county, and indeed the country, as news of his return to health and form spread.

He confirmed in his interview that the worst of his treatment is over and he is close to fighting fit. He also showed he had lost none of his forthrightness by strongly criticising an unnamed RTÉ sports reporter and The Examiner newspaper for their conduct during his treatment.

The Feakle native stated he has been left with “nothing but absolute contempt” for certain journalists after he was requested to do an interview days after he started treatment and it was then reported he had died last July.

Writing in The Star newspaper, Loughnane stated, “The lowest point of all was when the rumours that I was dead went around. That was the hardest thing to deal with,” he said. “I had the first phase of chemotherapy just finished and the first phase is very, very difficult.”

After such an ordeal, he and his wife Mary had to calm his distraught son Conor, who had rung from Aus- tralia upon hearing and reading reports of his father’s death.

“I had to ring Conor to reassure him that everything was fine.”

The Clare legend was also angered by requests for an interview from a reporter that came two days after he started treatment.

“I got a message from an RTÉ reporter looking to do an interview. I didn’t even reply to it.”

The request was re-routed through a friend. “I was on the chemo for three days, he knew I was on chemo but he wanted to do an interview for his own gratification. Worse still then, he wanted to do an interview at the end of the year.

“He sent me a text saying he was thinking of me and praying for me, and was there any chance I’d do an interview. That’s despicable stuff altogether.

“It shows the kind of insincerity that is there with a certain section. When you see it as barefaced as that, you have nothing but absolute contempt for the people who are trying to pull that kind of stunt.”

The principal of St Aidan’s Primary School in Shannon also confirmed in the interview that he will be retiring from that role over the coming months, while it is unclear whether he will be returning to RTÉ as a Sunday Game pundit this summer.

KILRUSH Town Council has the ability to lead the way for local authorities around the country in their efforts to extricate themselves from contracts with private companies that have been described as “crazy” by former mayor Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF).

Cllr O’Looney, who spearheaded the local authority’s move to extri- cate itself from the provisions of a 20-year agreement with a private company for the public toilet on Martyr’s Square in the town, has said that a coalition of forces among local authorities should be established.

“The Municipal Authorities Association of Ireland has a role to play in this,” said Cllr O’Looney, “because since this council made the decision to give a 12-month notice about the public toilet in Kilrush, a number of councillors from other local authori- ties have been on to me. They want to do the same.

“Kilrush Town Council has shown the way and now through coordinating things at Municipal Authorities Association of Ireland level, if other councils did the same, these company who charged outlandish prices for the provision of services will have to deal with the council,” he added.

Earlier this month, Kilrush Town Council issued formal notice that it is to extricate itself from a 20-year agreement for the public toilet that was put in place in the town centre, by terminating the contract for the facility with JCDecaux Street Furniture Limited.

The public toilet will still be in operation in 2012 at a rental cost of € 35,910, but to terminate the contract later in the year the local authority must pay € 60,382 to Street Furniture Limited.

At the September meeting of Kilrush Town Council it was revealed that the town authorities were tied to a 20-year contract for provision of the toilet that was signed in 1999 and doesn’t run out until 2019.

“I must commend the management on what they’ve done,” Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind) told last Thursday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting. “Other councils were told in no uncertain terms that there was no opt out clause, but that’s not the case. This council has shown that it can be done,” he added.

CLARE County Council is owed more than € 10 million in unpaid water charges with schools and State agencies understood to be among the groups who owe money to the local authority.

According to the latest available figures received by The Clare People , just over € 9.8 million was owed to the local authority from its customers across the county. While updated figures for the end of 2011 will not be available until March or April of this year, it is understood that the amount owed to Clare County Council now exceeds € 10 million.

These figures mean that Clare is owed more in water charges than any other county council in the country, with only Dublin and Cork city councils – who are each owed more than € 15 million – owed more.

Both Wexford and Donegal county councils are understood to be owed an amount similar to Clare County Council.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council said that the level of arrears was mainly due to “the transition in billing arrangements on the non-domestic metering project”.

“This was where fixed bills to customers were replaced by the billing of metered usage,” he said.

“We are actively pursuing debtors to agree payment plans to discharge the arrears. Failure to reach agreement on payment will result in legal proceedings or disconnection of service to these customers.”

According to the local authority, a relatively small number of customers, around 10 per cent of the total number of customers, were currently “in difficulty” with their repayments. This represents the majority of the money owed to Clare County Council with the remainder being made off arrears.

Meanwhile, more than 50 jobs are expected to be created locally with the roll-out of domestic water metering in Clare later this year. The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), confirmed yesterday that the roll-out of domestic water metering will begin in Clare this year.

It is estimated that it will take three years for water meters to be fitted in all homes in the county. While exact details have yet to be announced, it is understood that each household will be given an annual allocation of “free” water and will only pay if they use more than this allocation.

INCREASED “out-of-hours” inspections will take place in Ennis to curb the sale of smoky coal in the town, a meeting has heard.

Clare County Council is seeking to halt the sale in the town of the fuel, which is banned under regulations introduced last year.

Independent councillor and Ennisbased fuel merchant Frankie Neylon raised the matter at last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Cllr Neylon told the meeting that fuel merchants in Ennis had recent- ly met with local TDs.

He described coal sellers in Ennis as being in “dire straits”, adding that the “problem of emissions had not been solved in Ennis”.

Cllr Neylon said the activities of unregulated coal sellers operating in “Limerick, Tubber and an area outside Tulla” are driving customers away from sellers in Ennis who are subject to the new smoky coal regulations.

“We have been insulted and abused by people who have been buying coal off us for the past 20 years because we won’t sell them Polish coal,” he said.

Cllr Neylon said fuel merchants had requested that Clare’s Dáí l members ask Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, to suspend the legislation for two years so customers can be educated about the benefits of smokeless coal.

Emphasising that fuel merchants are not against smokeless coal, Cllr Neylon said the new legislation does nothing to stop customers burning smoky coal or prevent the sale of smoky coal in nearby Kilmaley, Clarecastle and Newmarket-on-Fergus.

He added, “If the government are serious about smoky coal, they can ban it at source.”

Last June, Minister Hogan announced that Ennis would be added to the list of towns and cities covered by the ‘Smoky Coal Ban’, under which it is illegal to market, sell or distribute bituminous or “smoky” coal.

Under the air pollution act, sellers found in breach of the ban could face fines of up to € 5,000.

The restricted area of Ennis includes Ennis and environs, comprising the following electoral divisions: Ennis Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 Urban; Clareabbey; Doora; Ennis Rural; and Spancilhill.

Town Manager Ger Dollard said Clare County Council have constantly engaged with local coal sellers.

He said that “out-of-hours” inspections would take place to curb the sale of smoky coal in banned areas. He said a public awareness campaign would be launched to highlight the law on smoky coal.

He said air quality data would also be sought from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) described the restriction as “a bad law that is encouraging the black economy”.

CLARE dairy farmers have been told to stay tough with the Co-Op and demand that no cut to the price in milk is made over the next three months.

According to the IFA, the local Co-Ops in Clare have “more than enough money” to hold milk prices at a constant level this spring, despite the weakness which crept into the EU and international dairy markets in recent months.

The organisation’s National Dairy Committee Chairman, Kevin Kiersey, said that Clare farmers should stand together and ensure that prices are maintained in the medium term.

“Increased global milk supplies and the economic downturn have clearly impacted international dairy markets in recent months. However, this is a very expensive time of year for Irish farmers to supply milk, and simply too early in the Irish production season to make definite milk price decisions,” he said.

“Co-ops generally collect relatively little milk this time of year, and will collect even less this year because of superlevy restrictions. Most can afford to hold milk prices over the coming months, because they have improved their margins in 2010 and 2011 at times when strong dairy prices coincided with strong milk supplies.

“Irish milk supplies will remain constrained by the prospect of superlevy for the next few months, and with less than usual milk to collect, most co-ops will be able to hold milk prices for the spring, at which point we should have a better feel for the realities of the market.”

Clare’s beef farmers, meanwhile, have been told to remain positive, with prices set to remain consistent or possibly even rise in the months ahead. The ICSA’s Livestock Price Coordinator, John Cleary, said last week that, while prices have not improved following the post-Christ- mas spike, the factory trade has remained solid.“Things are much of a muchness from last week. Prices are high and factories are actively looking for stock to meet their quotas so this all means that farmers are in the driving seat,” he said.

“Farmers, however, should not be simply settling for whatever the factory quotes them for their stock. These places are desperate for stock so those more adept at negotiating can push for higher than the quotes.

“The main piece of advise the ICSA could give to anyone at the minute is not to sell soft. The overall outlook is for a positive eight to nine months for 2012.”