Category: News

A COURT has heard how a 15-yearold boy who suffers from serious behavioral disorders was told he had to wait two years to access treatment for drug problems.

The boy, accompanied by his family, appeared at Ennis District Court on Friday. He was charged with assault and criminal damage arising out a disturbance at a house in the Mid-Clare area.

The court heard that the boy suffers from ADHD, ODD and dyslexia. A HSE social worker told the court that over the past two years there had been a pattern of either threatening or abusive behaviour.

Garda Cathal Nolan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court that when he arrived at the house, the boy was holding a golf club. Garda Nolan said that when he tried to take the club, the boy said, “I’m going to kill you and wreck the place.”

Garda Nolan said an attempt was made to invoke a Section 12 order. He said that when the boy was brought to meet social workers at River House, a HSE office, he became “extremely violent and aggressive,” and had to be restrained and handcuffed.

The boy told the court that he had stopped attending counselling sessions and that he understood that the court had the power to remand him in custody. He also acknowledged his difficulties with drugs. “I asked them two years ago for help with drugs. They tried but said I could not get in ‘til I was 15.”

The boy’s father told the court that he had never seen his son behave in such a violent manner. He added, “He came to me at 13 and said he was taking drugs and that he was feeling bad and that he wanted to get off them.”

The man said the family were told that the boy could not get a place at an addiction treatment centre until he turned 15. He said that 90 per cent of his son’s problems relate to drugs.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said the boy required proper assessment in a controlled environment. Ordering that he attend Trinity House for a full psychological, psychiatric and educational assessment, Judge McCarthy said that in a volountary situation “where he could walk in and out, it’s not going to work”.

In response to pleas from the boy’s father, Judge McCarthy said: “This is not punishing a young man. This is him being properly assessed.”

CLARE County Council are still awaiting any formal contact from the Department of the Environment advising them which unfinished housing estate in Clare will be exempted from the € 100 housing levy.

The local authority confirmed last night that, although they have received a number of queries from the public about the issue, the department is yet to give them any indication who will pay and who will not.

Last year seven housing estates in Clare wee given Category Four status by the Department of the Environment – which means that they are unfinished housing estates where there is no chance that the developer will be able to finish the estate. It had been speculated that all houses in category four housing estates will be exempted form the € 100 charge.

Speaking at last nights meeting of Clare County Council, Director of Services, Nora Kaye, said that Clare County Council is yet to receive any information what-so-ever from the Department of the Environment concerning possible exemptions .

“The council did have a roll in trying to categories the estate of unfinished estates in the county. There were seven in category four. I am not aware of the rational behind the list that the Minister for the Environment is compiling at the moment and whether that has any connection to the list produced last year,” she said.

“We have not been contacted by the department about this. We have not been asked for statistics from the de- partment about this list. We are trying to determine for ourselves what estates will be categorisesd in what list.“We are getting a lot of queries from the public about their lists and we understand that clarification is coming from the department in the coming days and that would be a welcome move. This does not mean that these are ghost estates – this means that they are unfinished.”

Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) described it as “lunacy” that the details of who must pay this charge have not yet been finalised, even though some people have already paid the charge.

“It is absolute lunacy that the Minister for the Environment would not have the list out there. This charge came into effect on the first of January,” he said.

A CONTROLLED explosion was carried out on a suspicious device discovered on the strand at Lahinch Beach over the weekend. The Army Bomb Disposal Unit carried out the explosion on the four foot long metal canister, which was discover on the north end of the strand beside Lahinch Golf Course in the early hours of Sunday morning last.

The suspicious device was discovered by a walker on the beach just after 7pm on Saturday evening, January 7. The walker contacted Gardaí in Ennistymon who attended at the scene along with the Ennistymon Fire and Rescue Service and the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

The Army Bomb Disposal Unit travelled to Lahinch from Cork to examine the cylinder and decided to carry out a controlled explosion at the site just after midnight on Sunday morning.

THERE have been calls for new emergency access points to be introduced on a section of the M18 near Barefield. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has been urged to carry out the “retrofit” works to ensure that emergency service vehicles can reach accidents on the road.

The call came after it emerged that an emergency vehicle had to travel almost 20km to Crusheen to attend a single vehicle crash that occurred near the Barefield interchange last week.

Despite the accident occurring close to Ennis, the ambulance was forced to travel north to Crusheen in order to gain access to the southbound carriage of the motorway. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG), said that in light of recent accidents in the area, the NRA should look at providing access points on the M18.

He explained, “Because of the concrete median there is serious difficulty for emergency vehicles trying to get to accidents. In that case the journey had to be extended by almost 15 to 20km. When the NRA were designing the motorway they didn’t leave room for sufficient ac- cess points. It could have been done at Tubber or Dromore.”

He added, “It would be a matter of retrofitting the motorway. There would be access points every 5km across the concrete barriers. So instead of travelling 20km, if you had multiple access points, you would have a facility to access it.”

Cllr Flynn warned that the situation could be exacerbated if accidents occurred in both the north and south carriageways. “On a foggy day or a day when the weather is really bad, it’s conceivable that you could have accidents at points at either end of the motorway and you would have serious difficulties trying to get to them.”

Cllr Flynn added, “The delay in getting to the accident site would impact on the ‘golden hour’ – which is the critical time frame from the time of an accident to receiving treatment.”

Concern had previously been expressed over the length of the slip roads from the M18 at some of the road’s main access points.

Cllr Flynn said safety works carried out by the NRA were welcome. He added, “the motorway system is much more safer but the frequency of accidents at that location that is quite worrying.”

ENNIS has been ranked as the 16th cleanest town in Ireland in the final of the 2011 Anti Litter League by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

Ennis was deemed again to be clean to European norms with Ennis finishing 16th out of 53 areas surveyed.

The result represents an improvement in its 21st position in 2010. The Chairman of IBAL, Dr Tom Cavan- agh, praised the work of Ennis Town Council and local volunteer groups in maintaining the fight against litter.

He said, “Our environment continues to get cleaner despite a tightening of the public purse at local authority level. This indicates that the fight against litter is not about money. It’s equally about a spirit of local pride and volunteerism among the local community, and we’re seeing a resurgence of this in the current climate.”

The An Taisce report for Ennis praised the appearance of public spaces and residential areas but stated that work needs to be done on approach roads. It stated, “Another satisfactory result but not as good as the Tidy Towns. Neither the Limerick or Galway approach roads are clean to European norms. Over half of the sites surveyed in Ennis got the top litter grade – these sites were not just clear of litter but very well presented and maintained e.g. O’Connell Monument, Ballymaley Business Park, the residential area of Kincora Park and Mark Square. Ennis bus and train Station got the top litter grade but care needs to be taken to sustain this standard.”

38 of the 53 towns and cities surveyed by An Taisce were deemed clean to European norms, a similar number to last year. When IBAL commenced the league 10 years ago only two towns were clean to European norms and one in three were litter blackspots.

Ennis Town Council is to spend an additional € 45,000 on street cleaning activities this year. In his 2012 budget report, town manager Ger Dollard stated, “The council operates a very extensive street cleaning arrangement to ensure that the streets throughout the town area achieve a litter free status. This is important in context of the annual tidy towns competition and in the consideration of other competitions such Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) league.”

DESPITE the ongoing recession, there were 375 new companies formed in Clare in 2011 and there were 695 new business names registered in the county according to new figures from the business intelligence analyst, Vision-net.

This translates to a total of 1,070 start-ups in Clare in 2011. The figure for company incorporations was also up 7.5 per cent on the 2010 figure (349). These figures are very healthy when offset against the total number of company liquidations in Clare in 2011 (19), with eight Clare companies going into receivership.

With the news last week that over 170 Irish companies collapsed every month, Clare only accounted for 1.3 per cent of that national figure.

Meanwhile, the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) reported € 1.8m paid out to a wide range of community and enterprise projects in Clare during 2011 under the current EU LEADER Rural Development Programme, bringing to € 3m the amount paid out locally since 2009. The actual amount approved in this period was € 5.5m.

This form of EU-funded grant aid would have played a role in the number of new companies formed within the county in 2011.

Figures released this week by CLDC reveal that € 1.25m has been invested in enterprise in 2011, leading to the creation of at least 70 full-time jobs and the retention of hundreds of other jobs in established businesses. A further € 1.75m has been paid out to community and training initiatives, as well as community projects such as children’s playgrounds, astro-turf facilities, and community centres.

CLDC will allocate more than € 5m to local projects and initiatives during the period 2012-2013, while it expects to pay out € 2.5m to pre-approved projects during 2012.

“Since 2009, CLDC has administered more than € 5.5m to dozens of companies, projects and other initiatives throughout Clare. An additional € 5m will be allocated up to 2013 further complementing the considerable developments that have taken place locally since the beginning of 2009,” CLDC Chief Executive Doirin Graham told The Clare People this week.

Clare Local Development Company was established in 2009 with the merging of Rural Resource Development, Ennis West Partners, Eirí Córca Baiscinn and part of Obair Newmarket-on-Fergus.

The organisation is responsible for the delivery of a range of rural and enterprise, social inclusion, community development, work placement and environmental initiatives in Clare.

Currently the company employs 68 people on a wide range of programmes. It is also responsible for the employment of a further 232 people on schemes including community employment, the Rural Social Scheme and Tús.

A full list of all projects supported to date under the EU LEADER Rural Development Programme can be found on the CLDC website, www. cldc.ie.

THE authors of the 2011 report for the Irish Business Against Litter League (IBAL) have praised the work of “house proud” resident’s committees in Ennis.

Ennis was classed as clean to European norms and ranked in 16th place in IBAL’s annual results, details of which were announced yesterday.

An Taisce surveyed 10 areas in the town with Grade A marks bestowed on six business parks, housing estates and public spaces.

An Taisce described Ballymaley Business Park as “very clean, tidy and well presented industrial environment. The vacant unit didn’t impact in any negative way on the litter situation – this can easily happen so clearly close attention is paid.”

The report states that while Ennis bus and train station “just scraped getting a Grade A”, “the bus shelter deserves special mention as it had improved hugely since it was last included in IBAL anti-litter survey”.

According to An Taisce, the overall impression created of Kincora Park is “of a house-proud residential area with well cared for properties. The communal area was enhanced with planting and sculpture – a top ranking site throughout”.

College Park is described as “another very well presented and maintained residential area within Ennis – the individual properties and the open green were all in very good order”.

The report states that the O’Connell Monument is an “important site”, adding, “the steps of this monument are used as a meeting place and in spite of footfall it scored very well with the top litter grade. Care needs to be taken to ensure that cigarette butts don’t blight the monument.”

There was found to be “virtual absence of litter in this main shopping area”.

O’Connell Street was given a Grade B with An Taisce noting a “scattering” of litter that had become trapped in corners.

An Taisce noted that most of the Galway Approach Road (Grade B) is in “good order but it was let down by litter”.

Scratch cards and food litter were highlighted in the car park near Ennis station. The N18 Limerick approach road (from Topaz station / West County Hotel to junction at Ennis Service Station) also received a Grade B.

The report states, “There had been some improvement along this approach road but it was still moderately littered – fast-food wrappers and sweet papers were particularly obvious.”

CLARE’S only elected Sinn Fein representative, Shannon-based councillor Cathy McCafferty, has been suspended from the party while her husband, prominent party member and former leading light of the local Sinn Fein organisation, Eugene McCafferty, has been expelled from the party.

The action was taken by the Sinn Fein top brass at two separate meeting held in late December. Both Councillor McCafferty and Mr McCafferty have a number of weeks to appeal the decisions, but should Cllr McCafferty’s suspension become permanent she will be asked by the organisation to give up her seat on Shannon Town Council to allow another party member to be co-opted.

A spokesperson from the Sinn Fein national organisation in Dublin confirmed that one person had been expelled from the party in Clare but would not confirm the identity of the person.

“We don’t have any official public spokesperson in Clare at the moment. We are restructuring the party locally at the moment and will have someone in place in the near future,” said the party spokesperson.

“Regarding the expulsions from the party – this matter is being handled internally by the party and we won’t be making any comment on it whatso-ever.”

Despite this a number of sources within Sinn Fein, both from Clare and within the Munster region, confirmed to The Clare People that Mr Eugene McCafferty had been expelled and that Cllr McCafferty had been suspended. The Clare People contacted Mr McCafferty in relation to this matter but he declined to confirm or deny his expulsion from the party only saying that he “was not and had never been” a Sinn Fein organiser in Clare. The Clare People also contacted Cllr McCafferty in relation to her suspension from the party but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to press. The Clare People also contacted the Clare Sinn Fein organisation in relation to this story but no official comment was forthcoming at the time of going to press.

Sinn Fein did not run a candidate in Clare in last year’s General Election, despite the party securing its position as the fourth most popular party in the country in the national poll.

The Clare wing of the party has been hit with a number of high profile defections in recent years with a number of former election candidates walking away from the local organisation.

ADOVCATES for ethnic minorities say that the recession is leading to an increase in the incidents of racist abuse. The Clare Intercultural Network (CIN) have called for greater awareness of race related issues.

CIN co-ordinator Alphonse Basogomba said, “The economy is going down and people are more abusive. We have to make sure that people who can contribute can be allowed to work properly.”

He said that politicians and people in positions of authority should undergo equality training.

“This has to be embedded in our value as human beings,” he added.

Mr Basogomba was speaking after a man was convicted for assaulting Nigerian taxi driver Batholomew Omoifo in Ennis in June 2010.

At Ennis District Court last week, Azriel Higgins (26) of Cregaun, Tobertascáin, Ennis, received a prison sentence for an unprovoked assault on Mr Omoifo.

The court previously heard that Higgins assaulted a taxi driver after not paying a fare. The court heard that Higgins headbutted the driver causing € 2,400 worth of damage to his teeth. The court was also told that damage totaling € 761 was caused to the taxi.

The incident has provoked a flurry of comments on social networking sites and discussion groups.

One poster on boards.ie pappyodaniel stated, “It just happens that this incident happened in Ennis. Racism is a very common problem for black taxi drivers all over the country. This incident went to court and because Mr Omoifo spoke up against racism when given the opportunity to do so in front of the media it has been highlighted nationwide. I don’t believe this incident highlights Ennis to be a hotspot for racial inequality, it’s the country as a whole.”

Another poster Dr Fuzzenstein stated, “Abusing someone on the basis of what they look like is wrong and sick in the head, but sadly it’s everywhere on this planet…And I also believe that Ennis is no worse than anywhere else.”

THE number clothes being dropped to the Enable Ireland shop in Ennis dropped by 50 per cent – the largest drop recorded at any Enable Ireland outlet in the country. The charity, which works with people with physical disabilities, blamed the recession for the drop in donations but could not explain why donations were so much lower in Clare than in the rest of the country.

Clare spokesperson for Enable Ireland Ann Kelly said that there was no danger that the Enable Ireland shop in Ennis would be closed and confirmed that the shop came in just marginally below its budgeted amount of profit for 2011. Any drop in profit for the organisation is likely to hit local services however, as all money raised by the organisation in Clare, remains in Clare.

“The donations that were dropped into the shop in Ennis were reduced dramatically last year. I don’t think that the people of Clare are in any way less generous than they were in 2010 but I think the recession is hitting people hard and people are holding on to clothes for longer than the would in the past,” she said.

“At the moment there really is an urgent appeal for anyone who can donate clothing. There has been a reduction everywhere but for some reason last year the donations to the show in Ennis were drastically reduced. The shop overall was not that much below the targets that were set out for the year. We did the best we could with what we had but the more donations that we get the more we can make for the charity.

“It all goes locally. Everything that is raised in Clare gets spent locally helping people in the county. So by not having as many donations it is impacting on the local people in the county.”

While the organisation recorded a reduction in the amount of donations in every shop, the most drastic drop was recorded in Ennis. The percentage reduction was just 16 per cent in both Louth and Westmeath.

The organisation is also to examine the possibility of getting their drivers to go door to door to collect donations instead of leaving them outside to avoid bags being collected by bogus collectors.

Enable Ireland to enable people with physical disabilities to achieve maximum independence, choice and inclusion in their communities.