Category: News

MUHAMMAD Ali was overwhelmed by the reaction to his ‘homecoming’ and now Ennis should seek to position itself as Ireland’s greatest town of Cead Míle Fáilte.

Thousands lined the streets for the former world champion’s visit in 2009.

A year later, Lonnie Ali said she had never experienced anything like the large crowds that turned out to welcome her husband to Ennis.

Speaking at the time, she said, “All the people in Ennis that came out and welcomed us, all the people that came out and supported us. There were so many people there and Muhammad was so excited, he’s still excited when he thinks back to that day.”

Now there are calls for Ennis to cap- italise on its reputation as a welcoming town. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) told last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that Ali’s family had remarked that the welcome he received in Ennis “meant more to him than his Olympic medals”.

He said this image should be used to promote Ennis abroad.

Cllr Flynn was speaking as members backed a proposed to make Ali the first recipient of a County Clare passport.

The proposal was made by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) to conincide with Ali’s 70th birthday this Tuesday In a motion submitted to the meeting, Cllr O’Shea called on the council to offer a Clare passport to visitors.

He said holders would be entitled to discounts at major tourism attractions, shops and restaurants.

In his response, Town Clerk Leonard Cleary, stated that the council works closely with the tourism industry on initiatives to promote Ennis.

He added, “The development of an incentivised pricing discount structure for visitor attractions would need to be led by the tourism industry and supported based on available resources by the local authority.”

Mr Cleary said the proposal could be further discussed at the next meeting of the Ennis Municipal Policy Committee (MPC)

THE voluntary spirit is alive and well in Clare as new figures show that more than 239 people registered with the Clare Volunteer Centre (CVC) in 2011.

According to the centre, volunteers worked over 9,342 hours in 2011. Using the average industrial wage, the centre estimates that this work equates to a value of more than € 204,000.

Of the volunteers who signed up in 2011, the most popular areas of interest were health and disability and youth/children. The most popular reasons for wanting to volunteer were free time and a desire to give something back. Sixty per cent of the volunteers who signed up with the volunteer centre last year had never volunteered before. Over 100 organisations are now registered with Clare Volunteer Centre. Last year, 34 new organisations registered with the centre.

Commenting on the success of 2011, Sharon Meaney said, “2011 was the European Year of Volunteering so we were delighted to help 239 Clare residents to start volunteering. It’s remarkable to see that the work of Clare volunteers in 2011 amounted to a value of over € 204,000 but, really, the difference volunteers make to our community is immeasurable.”

She continued, “The Volunteer Discount Card, which was launched in conjunction with the Ennis Chamber, Clare County Council and Clare Lo- cal Development Company to celebrate the European Year of Volunteering, was very well received with over 2,000 cards being distributed county-wide. We were delighted to work with many organisations across the county during 2011, supporting them in developing practices to ensure that volunteers are recognised and valued for their contribution.”

Clare Volunteer Centre is a free service aimed at encouraging more people to become involved in volunteering across the county.

ENNIS Town Council has not ruled out the possibility of turning Ennis’ oldest inhabited house into a museum at some point in the future.

Recent tests have shown that Ms Irene Clune’s house, known as McParland’s on Parnell Street, is one of the oldest timber frame houses in Ireland, dating back to the 16th century.

The building’s triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney has been an icon of medieval Ennis for centuries. The house has undergone necessary structural repair work in recent months.

At last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) called for the council to seek funding to open a medieval museum at McParland’s.

In his reply to Cllr O’Shea’s motion, Town Manager Ger Dollard stated that conservation works at the site are progressing well and should be completed by February. He confirmed that the council has received a grant of € 85,000 from the Department to part-fund the work.

Mr Dollard said, “Arrangements need to be made to cover the balance of the overall cost (€ 170,000) arising on the present contract.”

He continued, “The council is conscious that the house does represent the home of an elderly lady who has an expectation of returning to the property when the works have been completed. The property is not owned by Ennis Town Council.

“In addition, the structure is a very confined structure and it is difficult to see how it could operate as a visitor facility.

“It should also be noted that the County Museum is currently funded on a joint basis by Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council and the council would not have the resources to commit to the management of a separate and further museum.”

Mr Dollard continued, “However, the council is conscious of the importance of the building and this will remain a consideration for the council in any future discussions in relation to the property.

“The suggestion contained in the motion will be borne in mind in any discussion on future use of the property.”

CONCERNS have been raised this week by members of the Psychiatric Nurses Association in Clare that cutbacks with the health services in Tipperary will severely impact of the care that will be available for Clare psychiatric patients.

This is because the closure of the psychiatric ward at Clonmel Hospital now means that patients from the north Tipperary catchment that were previously catered for in Clonmel now have to come to Ennis for treatment.

“This impacts on Clare,” one psy- chiatric nurse told The Cla re People this week, “because a service that was there for Clare patients is effectively being stretched with much more demands placed on it.

“This leads to overcrowding and patients being on the corridors,” he added. The Cla re People has learned that up to 12 patients from north Tipperary who previously would have been catered for in Clonmel have now come to Ennis for their psychiatric care needs.

With only around 40 psychiatric beds in Clare at present, the move to bring patients from Tipperary for their treatment to already overloaded services in Clare has been met with opposition from public representatives.

“This has to be put on hold,” said Cllr Brian Meaney, who is a member of Regional Health Forum West.

“The HSE should do this until such time as they know what their staff compliment for psychiatric services will be this year and if it is implemented it will put a very big strain on resources,” he added.

The news of extra demand for acute beds in Clare comes at the same time as the publication of the HSE Service Plan for 2012 that was launched by the Minister for Health, James Reilly on Monday.

“It’s clear that there is now a reduction in bed capacity in acute services in the region and this places greater pressure on services in Clare,” Deputy Timmy Dooley said on Monday, “while there could be a reduction of up to 230 elderly care beds in the public area over the next year in the west area that Clare is a part of.

“If this happens the long-term future of the public nursing homes that are in Ennistymon, Raheen and Kilrush could be put in jeopardy,” he added.

The HSE West was contacted by The Cla re People , but declined to comment on the Clare specifics of the 2012 Service Plan.

GOVERNMENT claims that the use of Shannon Airport by the US military over the past decade has been good for the economy have been called into question this week by Shannonwatch.

The mid-west-based watchdog has hit out at the what it says is the Dublin Airport Authority’s “lack of transparency” when it comes to divulging the what Shannon has earned from the military stopover since 2001.

In 2011, the US Military – on foot of a Freedom of Information request revealed that there 12,154 troop stopovers in Shannon en route to US war fronts, carrying 2,300,925 troops, while 11,995 return flights accounted for 2,029,365 military personnel over the same period from January 2001 to Janaury 2011.

And, additional figures secured by The Clare People revealed that 407 commercial flights carrying military personnel have passed through the airport from January to June 2011.

The 2001 to 2011 figures revealed that the peak period of Shannon’s use in US military operations came in 2005, when 1,973 flights passed through the airport, carrying 335,847 passengers, over double the amount that had passed through the previous year.

“In the few cases where the State could benefit financially from the US war traffic it is reluctant to give details,” a spokesperson for Shannonwatch told The Clare People this week.

“The Dublin Airport Authority has said that landing and parking fees are applied in the case of the main US troop carrier, Omni Air International. However “for confidentiality and commercial sensitivity reasons” they will not say how much it pays for its daily foreign troop flights through Shannon.

“The Irish Aviation Authority which imposes air traffic control fees also refuse to indicate what en-route and terminal air navigation charges Omni Air International pays. The lack of transparency around the payment of charges by the US military and its carriers undermines any statements that politicians make about the use of Shannon being good for the economy” the Shannonwatch spokesperson continued.

“It would be morally wrong to profit from the hundreds of thousands of lives lost as a result of the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is even more alarming to realise the extent that we are supporting it financially. At a time of economic crisis, the spending of € 4 million a year by a supposedly neutral state in support of illegal wars is an outrage,” the spokesperson added.

FIFTY Clare housing developments, which were classified as ‘ghost estates’ by the Department of the Environment in November of 2010, will have to pay the controversial € 100 household tax – despite the residents of 23 other Clare estates being given an exemption.

Indeed, the residents of one Clare housing development, the Cluainn Aoibheann estate at Ballycaseymore in Shannon, have been granted an exemption from the tax even though they were not classified as a ghost estate by the Department of the Environment.

This information has come to light following a Cla re People investigation into the reasons why some estates were made exempt by the Department of the Environment and others were not.

In November of 2010, the Department of the Environment classified 72 housing estates in Clare as ghost estates. The make-up of these estates varied drastically, with some being structurally unfinished and developer-abandoned, while others were nearing completion with a developer on site.

This list, which was later removed from the Department of the Environment website, gave a detailed classification of each of the 72 developments in Clare and showed what work was left to be done in each of the named estates.

According to this list, the Aisling housing development in Shannon, for example, which has been exempted from the € 100 household tax, was complete in every category except that 11 of the 103 apartment in the complex were vacant.

In contrast to this, the Acha Bhille housing estate in Ennis, whose residents will have to pay the € 100 charge, was reported by the Department of the Environment as having 20 units which were built to wall plate level and four units built to foundation level – but had no building activity on site at the time.

Speaking last night, Shannon Counillor Gerry Flynn (IND), who has been critical of both Clare County Council’s and the Department of the Environment’s handling of the tax, said he will “stand by” any Clare home owners in unfinished estates who will still be forced to pay the tax. For more, including the full list of housing esta tes in Cla re tha t ha ve been exempted from the € 100 cha rge a nd the list of developments tha t ha ve been cla ssified a s ‘ghost esta tes’ by the Depa r tment of the Envir onment but will still ha ve to pa y the ta x, tur n to page 21.

WEST Clare locals appear to be split on a proposal to construct one of Ireland’s largest ever wind energy farms in Doonbeg, with a number of local submissions, both for and against, being lodged with An Bord Pleanála. The proposal would see the construction of 45 wind turbines at Shragh near Doonbeg, in an area where 13 turbines have been constructed or have been granted permission for construction.

If constructed, the € 200 million wind farm will see turbines reaching 400 feet tall, more than half the height of the Cliffs of Moher. While some concerns have been raised about the scale of the farm, it has also been argued that the development will be a major economic boost for the area, with more than 100 jobs being created in the construction phase while 79 local farmers and landowners are set to benefit from annual rental payments from West Coastal Wind Power Ltd, the company developing the farm.

One of the main objectors to the project is the Friends of the Environment organisation, who say that the development would be the largest of its kind in Ireland if it gets the goahead. They also accused the developers of using the bait of big financial pay-outs to landowners to split the local community on the issue.

“The proposed very large wind farm is an inappropriate development as it will have a significant adverse visual impact on the landscape, ecology and on rare and protected species, with an adverse effect on tourism and the local economy,” said Tony Lowes of Friends of the Environment. “Because of the substantial payments involved to participating landowners, developers can split rural communities with long-term social consequences.”

In their submission, the Friends of the Environment also claim that the developments on both the Tullaher Loop and the Doonbeg Loop walking routes have been developed in the area in recent years.

Other groups to lodge submissions on the plan include Birdwatch Ireland, the Department of Heritage and Fáilte Ireland, who have raised concern over what they describe as the “industrial scale” of the proposed development.

SHANNON Development could be about to play its part in helping revitalize the business district of Kilrush town centre through a new grant aid fund, the potential for which is set to be teased out over the next month by the state agency in conjunction with the town council and interest groups in the West Clare capital.

Details of what could potentially be a ground-breaking aid to new and existing businesses that wish to upgrade and re-brand themselves was unveiled by town manager Nora Kaye at the January meeting of Kilrush Town Council.

“We had a positive meeting with Shannon Development in relation to finding some fund that would encourage people to set up business in the town,” revealed Ms Kaye.

“The meeting was arranged with Shannon Development and that meeting took place (last Thursday). We discussed the need to revitalize the town centre, in view of the recent upgrade of Moore Street.

“What we were really looking at was a Shopfront Assistance Fund. For new businesses that are starting up or have started up, there would be a fund there from which allocations could be made and it would go towards helping the financial aspects towards setting up and fitting out a new business in the town, or even existing businesses that need to upgrade,” added Ms Kaye.

This new departure was given a broad welcome by all councillors, with the Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch, saying that it was up to the local authority to spearhead the continued regeneration of the town.

“If we lose any more shops in the town people won’t stop in the town at all,” warned Mayor Lynch. “This is about reviving our town centre. This town council chamber is in the heart of the town centre and we really are the pulse of the town and we really need to drive this thing forward,” he added.

“It would be great if we could sit everyone around a table, so that we could all be involved in it,” said Cllr Marion McMahon-Jones (FG).

“I have spoken to a number of people with business premises on Moore Street and I think we should sit down and see what they have to offer.

“We should dedicate a meeting to this – not a monthly meeting but a special meeting,” suggested Cllr Liam Williams (FG).

“What’s going to happen is that a scheme will be drafted and we would hope to launch it early in the year so that businesses could avail of it and it would encourage phase two of the Moore Street regeneration,” concluded town manager Nora Kaye.

The special meeting to discuss the regeneration of the town has been fixed for Tuesday, February 7.

CLARE County Council procedures governing the taxing of vehicles are set to be reviewed after a furore was raised by the President of the Irish Road Haulage Association last week when he questionned whether it was “a deliberate policy to hinder businesses from trying to carry out their daily work”.

Eoin Gavin launched a broadside at procedures in place at the motor tax office that has relocated to Áras an Chláir, after he was told that he wasn’t allow tax more than three vehicles at one time.

“I waited for 45 minutes and, when I got to the desk, the official informed me that they could only tax three trucks at any one time and that I would have to return on another day to tax the outstanding vehicles,” blasted Mr Gavin.

According to Mr Gavin, the council subsequently agreed to tax all of his vehicles “as a once-off” and that, going forward, the policy of not taxing more than three vehicles at the one time would remain in place.

“This is an absurd situation to have to tolerate,” said Mr Gavin. “I have 17 vehicles, 13 of which are HGVs, and I invest a substantial amount of money in the local authority in road tax each year. I also employ 16 people directly from the local area and many more indirectly.

“The attitude which I recently experienced, which seems to be commonplace across county council offices around the country, is resulting in a lot of hauliers asking should we now re-register in the North of Ireland where road tax is non-existent or minimal.

“Licensed road haulage operators are seeking to tax their vehicles in order to operate in a legally compliant manner, but this is not being facilitated by tax offices. Economic recovery is reliant on a vibrant export economy and only through the utilization of HGVs will that objective be realised,” he added.

Following representations made to Shannon area representative Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind), The Cla re People understands that the Clare County Council policy is now being reviewed. “It’s only right,” said Cllr Ryan. “There has to be a streamlining of all services and this is part of that. This helps business move quicker and that’s what everyone should want,” he added.

AN assault on a taxi driver in Ennis was “blown out of the water” by the media, according to the Mayor of Ennis.

Independent Councillor Michael Guilfoyle was speaking at the January meeting of Ennis Town Council as members rejected the image of Ennis as a racist town.

Cllr Guilfoyle was commenting after a man received a prison sentence for an assault on Nigerian taxi driver Batholomew Omoifo in Ennis in June 2010.

Ennis District Court heard that Mr Omoifo suffered € 2,400 worth of damage to his teeth as a result of the assault.

Cllr Guilfoyle (Ind) told last week’s meeting that many people had been assaulted in Ennis over the years. In relation to the assault on Mr Omoifo, Cllr Guilfoyle said that when the “media got it, it turned out a lot worse than it was”.

He added, “The media have a habit of blowing things out of the water.”

He said Ennis had been portrayed as a racist town and “we’re not that type of town”.

The matter was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) who said he rejected out of hand the assertion that Ennis is a racist town.

He said, “Ennis is as open and tolerant a town as I have come across.”

Cllr Meaney said that Mr Omoifo had said he was subjected to daily racist abuse in Ennis. Cllr Meaney said he did not accept this statement, saying that he would like the taxi driver to speak at a council meeting.

He added, “I would like an opportunity to correct a media record that is starting to develop that is injurious to the image of this town.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said Ennis is one of the friendliest towns in Ireland, pointing to the electoral success of Taiwo Matthew and Dr Moosajee Bhamjee as proof that racist attitudes are not widespread in Ennis.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) told the meeting that he had listened to an interview with Mr Omoifo on Clare FM. He said that Mr Omoifo had praised the town of Ennis and the people of Ennis.

“It’s not all one-sided,” he added.