Category: News

A STAND-OFF between Cahercalla Community Hospital in Ennis and the promoters of a Diocese of Killaloe-backed project has already cost € 2.1m and this figure that could rise as high as € 3.6m or scupper the development of elderly care services on the hospital grounds altogether.

These fears has been sounded out by the Cuan An Chláir group that has been accused of embarking an ambitious € 3.5m project to develop a daycare centre and sheltered housing for the elderly “without consultation with Cahercalla Hospital despite its very execution being dependent on our support”.

The board of Cahercalla Hospital has refused to sanction the use of the access road to its facilities as the entry point to the new development, a row that has already seen the project promoters lose out on a € 2.1m grant from the Department of the Environment.

And in counting the cost of this lost government aid, Cuan An Chláir have claimed that it could cost up to € 1.5m to build an alternative access point to their development.

In 2008, the then Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, donated 15.5 acres of land – then valued at € 10m – adjacent to Cahercalla Community Hospital to the Cuan an Chláir Committee for free.

Up until September of this year € 392,874 had bee raised for the € 3.5m project that’s set to be built in two phases. The first phase involving the development of a daycare centre to cater for 65 people daily and the construction of 12 individual houses the will cost € 2m, while the second phase will see the conversion of the old farm yard buildings, adjacent to Cahercalla Hospital to provide a café, meeting rooms, a garden and other appropriate facilities has been costed at € 1.5m.

However, the whole project is now hanging in the balance over a row on access to the site, with Cuan An Chláir spokesperson Pauline McNamara saying that “a tremendous asset will be lost to Ennis” if the project can’t proceed.

The stand-off between the two groups has gathered momentum following the release of a statement by the Cahercalla Hospital, which has accused Cuan An Chláir promoters of failing to address a number of key concerns relating to the project.

“At no point during the many discussions were any of the concerns we raised about the management of the project, including links with Cahercalla, addressed,” the strongly worded statement says.

“Having explored every possible option and following discussions which have been ongoing for over three years, the Board of Cahercalla Community Hospital & Hospice regret that they have, to date, been unable to reach an agreement with Cuan an Chláir with regard to granting permanent access to the site adjacent to the hospital and hospice.

“The project we tried to facilitate was presented to us as a development of housing for active retired elderly. However, as soon as detailed discussions began we discovered that the project was significantly different from what was originally outlined to us. In particular the development now included a daycare centre and permanent access was being sought, both of which would significantly increase the amount of traffic on our driveway impacting on the safety of our residents.

“Despite making every effort through our discussions and allocating a large amount of executive time to considering the proposal we have, to date, been unable to gain sufficient assurances that the project would not negatively impact on Cahercalla’s residents and staff.”

“There is no way that we can afford an alternative access,” says Cuan An Chláir spokesperson Pauline McNamara.

THE possibility of Fracking taking place in west Clare has moved one step closer as the Enegi-oil company, who were granted the license to explore the feasibility of the project, published positive reports from their first round of tests.

The UK-based company confirmed last Thursday that it now plans to undertake a second round of tests in the Clare Basin – an area of lands which covers thousands of acres between Quilty, Kilbaha and Labasheeda.

Fracking is a very controvertial means of extracting natural gas from onshore sources. The process know as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves creating large cracks in the bedrock at the drill sites by pumping large amounts of highly pressurised fluids underground.

A number of information meetings on the subject have already taken place locally and the No Fracking Clare group claim that tremors created as a result of fracking could cause major structural damage so some of Clare’s key tourist attractions – including the Cliffs of Moher and the Doolin Cave.

“A preliminary field trip was undertaken, during which outcrops of interest for further study were identified and initial investigations into the overburden and burial history through geological time were un- dertaken,” said a spokesperson from Enegi-oil.

“Results and observations from that exercise have been analysed and used as a basis for the development of a more detailed prospecting programme for the region. The company has also been in discussions with, and is close to reaching agreements with, various qualified contractors who will undertake the detailed programme of laboratory studies and analysis of the samples that will be required.”

Enegi-oil also confirmed that it is now in a position to move forward with Phase 2 of the project which it hopes to complete before the end of this month. Phase 2 will involved “detailed sampling and stratigraphic logging of outcrops of interest” in the northern part of the Clare Basin while a similar study of the southern part is expected to take place in the early months of 2012.

Earlier this year the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources awarded a license option to UK-based company to search for shale gas deposits in a large section of west Clare.

Much of the research to date has centred around a well drilled in Doonbeg in 1962. An initial analysis of this well identified the presents of a large deposit of shale gas between 800 and 1,100 metres underneath the ground.

A YOUNG Kinvara garda, who risked her life to save a man who was drowning in a canal, was recognised for her bravery in a special ceremony help last week.

Garda Eileen Murphy last week received a Certificate of Bravery for rescuing a man from the canal in Mullingar in April of 2010.

Garda Murphy was called to the Dublin Bridge in Mullingar on the evening April 2, 2010, where a man was reportedly in a distressed state. When she arrived she could not locate the man on the bridge but soon located him on the canal itself.

As her accompanying officer, Garda Kevin Mooney, could not swim, Eileen risked her own life to enter the water and save the man.

“I remember we were on night duty at the time and I got a call at around 1am in the morning to say that a gentleman was quite distressed around the canal. We could not locate him for a while but we could hear him – it was very dark,” she said.

“We located him after a few minutes and at that point he was starting to go under the water. I knew Garda Mooney was not a confident swimmer so my first reaction was to go in and try to get him. I didn’t really think about it. We tried to talk to him at the beginning but he really wasn’t being very co-operative.

“So my initial reaction, once I saw him going under the water, was to just go for it – I didn’t think about it to be honest. I had to go underneath the water to bring him up and when I did get him to the surface he started to struggle. He panicked and tried to push me down under to save himself. The other garda was able to come into the water and bring us both out.

“I never thought I would be put in a situation like this. Thankfully things worked out well in the end. I know it could have been a very different story, I know that now, so I am just thankful that things worked out okay for me.”

One of Eileen sisters, Garda Sarah Murphy, is currently stationed in Ennis while her sister Aideen, runs a pre-school in Corofin.

CLARE Labour TD Michael McNamara is to intervene in the ongoing difficulty surrounding Blakes Corner in Ennistymon and force the publication of a report on the controvertial site commissioned by Clare County Council earlier this year.

The Southgate Report was commissioned by Clare County Council earlier this year but, despite the protests of some councillors in the north Clare area, it was decided not to publish the finding of the report earlier this year.

Deputy McNamara yesterday con- firmed that he will make contact with the Minister of the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), and ask him to put pressure on Clare County Council to publish the report.

“Clare County Council has spent € 15,000 on a report on Blakes Corner and have decided not to publish this report. I find that hard to believe,” said Deputy McNamara.

“Clearly these two buildings cannot continue to stand in their current form if Ennistymon and Lahinch are going to continue to prosper. I would call on the local councillors to stop sticking their head in the sand and deal with this situation – that is what they were elected to do.”

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan (FG), last week announced that plans to demolish and rebuild the historic buildings at Blakes Corner was “contrary to the thrust” of the 2000 Planning Act and would “require strong justification” before it could take place.

This announcement was welcomed by the Save Ennistymon’s Heritage group who said that they welcomed the ministers intervention.

“We urge Clare County Council to examine with Save Ennistymon’s Heritage the various options to help the occasional traffic chaos in Ennistymon,” said Denis Vaughan of the Save Ennistymon’s Heritage Group. It is unlikely that the report will be published at the next north Clare area meeting, which takes place in Ennistymon next Monday.

“The report was ready for the last area meeting and it was decided that it wouldn’t be released into the public domain until the planning process commences – we’re working towards this at present but the planning process won’t commence this side of Christmas,” said Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council.

PLANS TO centralise courts services to Ennis have been described as “disgraceful”.

Court sittings across the county will experience significant changes in the new year if proposals to centralise the service are adopted.

Under the changes, most of the hearings will be centralised to Ennis. While Kilrush cases will continue to be heard in the West Clare town, cases from North Clare are to be moved to Ennis. Killaloe courts currently sit in Ennis as a temporary measure while a new venue for the East Clare courts is being sought. Shannon cases have been heard in Ennis for the past few years.

North Clare sittings were held in Kilrush Courthouse during the past few years but the latest changes mean that any prospects of court sittings in Ennistymon are not likely, at least in the short-term.

Lahinch businessman Donogh O’Loughlin has expressed concern at the latest proposals.

“I think it is disgraceful. It is a loss of business for some people, the local restaurants and hotels. Also it is going to be more expensive for gardaí to go to Ennis and sit all day in a court and it might be heard and it might not be heard,” he said.

“It is another thing gone from the towns in the county. It is a pity. Ennistymon badly needs activity,” he said.

Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said that courts should not be centralised to Ennis as other towns should also play a role in the administration of justice.

“I don’t agree with the centralisation of the courts service. I believe that courts in a community play an important role. People shouldn’t have to be discommoded and spend an entire day in court for something that could take 10 minutes,” he said.

“From a humanitarian point of view I don’t think it is fair. A court taking place in a town or a community is a deterrent. I’m not saying, ‘Hang them and flog them’, but if they see gardaí or a judge walking into court it does create some deterrent,” said Senator Conway.

“We are in the economic climate where we can’t justify things we did before.

“In Ennistymon I do appreciate that there won’t be a new courthouse built but there is adequate space to have a court in Ennistymon on the first Wednesday of every month. From a business point of view it brings people around. We can’t have everything happening in Ennis,” he said.

SPORTING and musical ent husiasts who shone during the past year were last night honoured by Shannon Town Counci l, through thei r annual Liosta na Laochra scheme.

Ever y year, t he council awards people who have represented t he town with distinction during the previous 12 months and a wide variety of personalities were represented this year.

Ciara O’Loughl in, of Shannon Flyers Special Olympics club, who won silver medals in the shot putt and relay at t he World Special Olympic Games in Athens dur ing the summer, was awarded.

Gearóid McMahon, of Shannon Athletics Club, was honoured for his achievements during t he past year. He won a gold medal with Clare in the national cross count r y championships (under 11) and silver in the national communit y games finals (under 13 wal k).

Declan O’Rourke of Wolfe Tones, who was a member of the Clare team t hat won the All-Ireland intermediate hurling championship earlier this year, was also on the list of recipients.

Cara Ní Chai rba, who won t he under 12 har p competition at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉi reann, was awarded, as was John Cawley, who won t he Irish Open Masters singles title in handball. Another handball player, John Ki rby, who won the All-Ireland r ugby Masters single and double titles, was awarded.

Three members of the Shannon Kickboxing Club, were awarded, having excelled during the past year. They were Josh Vincent, David Ryan and Leona O’Shea. Josh won an Irish light heavyweight championship, at the age of 17; David won both senior and junior Irish feather weight championships, while Leona won a double under 17 national junior championship title.

Members of the t rampoline club were also among those honoured. Shannen Miniter, Alex Russell, Dar ragh Moane, Louise Ryan and Callum Miniter were all rewarded for thei r heroics during the year.

Shannon came first in Midlands, Dublin, South and Munster Opens and is the cur rent All-Ireland gi rls inter mediate champion. Alex won silver at t he Al l-Ireland champions, while Dar ragh took home gold from the same event. Louise won a silver medal at the All-Irelands, while Callum came four th in his section of t he All-Irelands and was par t of the sout h-west region team which came t hi rd in the Grand Pri x final.

The other groups honoured last night i ncluded the Shannon Musical Societ y front of house commit tee, which won a national award this year; Rachel McIntyre of the musical society and Jayme O’Sullivan, a medal wi nner in t he world Ir ish dancing championships.

WORK on the start of the € 12.8m second section of the Ennis Flood Relief Scheme is li kely to be delayed for a number of months after problems emerged in the tendering process.

The scheme will see improvements to river walls and other flood defenses on the river Fergus from Bank Place to Doora Bridge. Phase one of the scheme, which was com- pleted two years ago, is credited with preventing floods in large areas of the town centre.

However, the OPW has informed Ennis Town Council that the tendering process for phase two of the scheme has been terminated with immediate effect.

Councillors were informed of the development at the yesterday’s monthly council meeting.

Cll r Mar y Howard (FG) had requested a progress report from the council on phase two of the Ennis drainage scheme.

In his response, town clerk Leonard Clear y stated that the council has been in ongoing discussion with the OPW regarding the progress of the scheme. He explained that this included a briefing by OPW personnel for the elected members in recent months.

He continued, “The Office of Public Works has today advised that due to the withdrawal of certain tender- ers and issues that have arisen in relation to the tendering process, it has been decided to terminate with immediate effect the Ennis lower scheme tender competition. Letters have been issued to the eight prequalified tenderers notifying them of the termination. This competition will be re-tendered immediately.”

He added, “The council has also been advised by the OPW that Minister (Brian) Hayes would li ke to assure the people of Ennis that this scheme has been included in the OPW budget for next year. The council will continue to work with the OPW to ensure that this important scheme can be commenced at the earliest possible date.”

Town manager Ger Dollard described the termination of the tendering process as “unfortunate”. He said the council are quite satisfied that the OPW will proceed with the project.

A CLAREMAN has risen through the ranks of Irish education to become chairman of the umbrella body that governs the country’s Institutes of Technology – not once but on three occasions.

Inagh man and former Mayor of Clare Flan Garvey was unanimously elected as chairman at a meeting in Dublin on Wednesday and in graduating to this prestigious position has pledged to play his part in spearheading the campaign for university status within the 14 institutes of technology around the country.

“It’s a great honour to be elected to this position,” Mr Garvey told The Clare People this week, “and to be the unanimous choice having being proposed by chairman of Limerick IT, John Clifford and seconded by chairman of Sligo IT and former European Commissioner, Ray McSharry is great.”

Mr Garvey, a former school principal of Gortbofarna and Inagh national schools, is the first person to have been appointed to the chair of the governing body on three consecutive occasions.

He is also a former chairman of Clare Vocational Education Committee, was a member of Clare County Council from 1985 until his retirement from politics at the 2009 local elections, serving as Mayor of Clare in 2006/07.

“It’s been a landmark year,” said Mr Garvey on Thursday after being elected chairman. “In March I published a book on the history of Inagh-Kilnamona and then in the weekend just gone there was the 23rd Clare Tourist Council conference and managing the Inagh camogie team that won the All-Ireland title,” he added.

Earlier in the month, Mr Garvey was honoured in the town of Clare Valley, South Australia, which has been twinned with Clare County Council over the past 25 years. In celebration of Mr Garvey’s role in cultivating that twinning arrangement, a tree was planted and a plaque unveiled in his honour in Clare’s main recreation centre that’s called Ennis Park.

THE importance of fire safety awareness has been emphasized as new figures show that Clare County Fire and Rescue Service were mobilised to 110 incidents last Christmas.

They included 65 fires while Ennis Fire Brigade alone attended 52 incidents during the same period. The figures are contained in a report prepared chief fire officer Adrian Kelly.

Mr Kelly was responding to a motion tabled by councillor Brian Meaney (GP) at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Cllr Meaney stated “that this council request all homeowners to welcome this motion and want to emphasise the necessity of fire safety awareness in the home, not just during the Christmas period but throughout the year”.

Mr Kelly stated between December 2010 and January 2011 there were 18 fatalities in fires throughout the country.

He continued, “Fire alarms were either not present or working in the majority of cases. In Clare alone we had two fatalities in that period. Many more people have been injured while there were a large number of properties damaged by fire. This magnitude of fire deaths serves as stark reminder to us all of the importance of installing working smoke detectors and the need to have an escape plan should it be necessary to escape.”

He stated, “During the Christmas period, people spend a lot more time at home, open fires are used for longer periods, electrical items and extension leads are used more. Add in flammable decorations, candles and alcohol and it becomes apparent that the risks increase during the festive season.”

Mr Kelly added, “The main causes of fire during the festive season are candles left unprotected, fairy lights left on all night or improperly wired, Christmas trees falling over, open fires without fireguards and decorations catching fire.”

He continued, “Last year, Clare County Fire and Rescue Service were mobilised to 110 incidents including 65 fires during the Christmas period. Ennis Fire Brigade alone attended 52 incidents in this period.”

Mr Kelly explained that there are a number of practical safety steps households can take. They include installing a smoke alarm and check ing it weekly, keeping candles away from curtins, never leaving candles unattended and visiting elderly neighbours.

He added, “And finally, the fire service hopes that Santa rates Ennis as the best town in Ireland for clean chimneys this year.”

AN ENNIS business has been recognized for its innovative approach to the promotion of the Irish language. Last week the Rowan Tree Hostel and Restaurant were named the winners of the 2011 Gradam Gaeilge an Chláir award.

At an awards ceremony in Glór on Thursday evening, proprietor Brian O’Neill was presented with a specially commissioned plaque by Seán Ó Ceallaigh, Cathaoirleach of An Clár as Gaeilge Teo, the language promotion group who organise the award scheme. The scheme, now in its fifth year, is specifically directed at companies and organisations in the commercial sector who do most to promote the use of Irish both internally and externally.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, An tUas, Ó Ceallaigh praised the Rowan Tree for the innovative way they had increased the visibility of Irish, not alone on the outside of the premises, but extensively inside throughout the bar and restaurant. Furthermore, the menus were all available bi-lingually and there was, according to the adjudicators, an Irish ethos permeating the entire premises.

“We are delighted with the way the link between the Irish language and the tourist business has been achieved. This gives a complete cultural experience to the visitor and more importantly to tourists from overseas, particularly through the weekly classes on an introduction to Irish Culture which were held weekly during the Summer season.” he said.

“This is a prime example of what can be achieved with good will and imagination, and the result is to be highly complimented.”

Accepting the award, Brian O’Neill said that he was honoured that the Rowan Tree had been selected for the award. “Irish culture has always been at the heart of our business and we aim to develop it further. Chomh maith le sin anois, beidh an Ghaeilge le feiceáil agus le chloisteáil sa Bhrú Chrann Chaorthainn,” he said.