Category: News

COUNCILLORS in Ennis have voted against a proposal that would call on the Government to provide mandatory equality training for all local representatives.

A majority of councillors present at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council voted 4-3 against the proposal.

In a motion, Cllr Paul O’Shea proposed that the council extend their sympathy to the family of Moses Ayanwole, a Nigerian taxi driver killed in Dublin last month.

Cllr O’Shea also called on the council to request that Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan legislate immediately for mandatory training in equality anti-discrimination and racism for all local elected representatives throughout the State.

While all councillors present offered their sympathies to Mr Ayanwole’s family, a dispute arose over Cllr O’Shea’s proposal for all members to undergo mandatory training.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) told the meeting that he was dissenting from the proposal. He said he had been an elected representative for all people in the Ennis area for the past 32 years and had treated all constituents with equality and fairness. “I don’t believe you need training for good manners,” he said.

In reference to controversial remarks made by the former Fine Gael Mayor of Nass, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said Darren Scully had raised issues that needed to be discussed. Supporting Cllr O’Shea’s proposal, Cllr Flynn said training would allow him to express his views in an appropriate and more inclusive fashion.

Cllr O’Shea said councillors are entitled to express their opinions “but how we express them is important”. He said he was hopeful that politicians in the “hometown of Muhammad Ali” would support his proposal.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said people in Ennis had always welcomed people to the town, adding there had been an old saying that “The stranger will flourish and the native will perish”. Cllr Neylon claimed that people in Ennis and around Clare have been discriminated against by non-nationals. He told the meeting that he had no problem working with people from the 26 different nationalities that lived in Ennis.

“I’ve met people of all nationalities that appreciate the work we have done”, he added.

Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) said counillors did not need training to be respect other people. “We just need to be respectful. You either have it or you don’t.”

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said he opposed the pro- posal on the basis that it could present legal difficulties for the council in the future.

Cllr O’Shea challenged his fellow councillors by asking them if they were fully up to date on recent equality legislation.

“I’ve done my job to the best of my ability for 32 years and I don’t need no course,” responded Cllr Brennan.

A vote was taken on the proposal for mandatory training.

Councillors Brennan, Coote Ryan, Neylon and Guilfoyle voted against it. Councillors O’Shea, Howard and Flynn voted for it. Councillors Brian Meaney (GP) and Peter Considine (FF) were unable to attend the meeting.

A CHRISTMAS video that sees the people of Ennis come to the rescue of Santa Claus has become an internet hit with almost 10,000 views so far.

Ennis Town – Share the Feeling sees Santa Claus turn to Ennis ‘The friendliest town in Ireland’ to help him after all of his elves fall sick on Christmas Eve.

Directed by local man Gavin Gallagher, the 2min 54sec video was shot in locations around the town and features a number of well-known politicians and businesspeople. To watch the video simply log onto Youtube and type in ‘Ennis Share the Feeling’.

The video is the brainchild of the Ennis Development Forum and Ennis Chamber and is part of a Christmas Shop Local campaign, which has been entered for RTE’s The Business Show competition.

9,375 people have so far watched the video on the video sharing website Vimeo with a further 1,000 people viewing on You Tube.

The video was shot on the streets of Ennis during last Tuesday and Wednesday night. A cast of hundreds joined the production and despite the weather, all persevered with patience as the various scenes were shot, all over the town. A viewing of the impressive short film reveals plenty of ‘extras’ who took part in the shoot and even the local gardaí joined in, closing off Abbey and O’Connell streets to allowing filming take place.

“It was a wonderful idea and a positive event for all the people involved,” commented Gearoid Mannion of Tom Mannion Travel, who donned his own ‘Christmas jumper’ for the video. “Anything that generates goodwill and business for the town right now must be supported, this shows just what we can achieve when we pull together. The Youtube clip is fantastic and I’d urge everyone in Clare to watch it,” he added.

Businesses have donated over € 8,000 to the project including thousands of euros worth of giveaways to customers. The prizes will be distributed through another part of the initiative – the Ennis Street Radio which will play Christmas and upbeat music on the streets of Ennis for a full week before Christmas. The project is also part funded by Ennis Town Council in a partnership with the businesses.

The video’s release coincides with Ennis Town Council’s to suspend parking charges during Christmas.

Free parking will be applicable to the town’s 759 off-street and 783 on- street public car parking spaces up to 12pm daily from this Saturday, December 3, 2011, to January 7, 2012, inclusive.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce president John Dillane said the free parking initiative represents a proactive coming together of the town council and the local business community.

He explained, “The key focus of the parking scheme is on promoting what the customer wants as opposed to what serves Ennis Town Council and the traders best. Providing a high quality and value for money shopping experience is central to the initiative. It should also be noted that every euro spent locally remains in the community and helps to sustain existing and create new employment within the retail sector and elsewhere.”

Ennis town manager Ger Dollard noted that the provision of free parking, in conjunction with the annual street pedestrianisation initiative, is designed to accommodate visitors to Ennis, increase footfall on the streets of the town and boost consumer spending.

“Ennis Town Council is appealing to those working in Ennis to ensure, where possible, that public car parking spaces in the core town centre area are left vacant for shoppers,” stated Mr Dollard.

A BROAD range of curricular experiences are provided at a primary school in East Clare, which has been praised by inspectors from the Department of Education.

A whole school evaluation report carried out at Boher National School, Ballina, Killaloe, was very complimentary of staff at the school.

There are currently 108 pupils in the school, where there are four mainstream classes and a class for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). The evaluation focused on the quality of teaching and learning in English, Irish, Mathematics and Social, Personal, and Health Education (SPHE).

A number of strengths were identified at the school, including the “commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism of the teachers”.

“The principal provides dedicated leadership to the school and ensures that a focus is firmly maintained on teaching, learning and the welfare of pupils. Pupils are provided with a broad range of curricular experiences in a positive and affirming atmosphere,” stated the inspectors’ report.

“The overall standards of attainment, particularly in literacy, are very good. The meaningful inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in the full life of the school is a notable feature of practice,” added the inspectors. “The pupils interact with adults and with their peers in a highly positive fashion. The school enjoys considerable support from the board of management, the parents and the community.”

According to the evaluation, classrooms are well resourced with suitable teaching aids and the buildings and grounds are well maintained. “However, at the pre-inspection meeting, the board referred to the challenges it has experienced in acquiring permanent classrooms.”

The current deployment of staff affords teachers opportunities to gain experience at different class levels and in various settings. “It is advised that this good practice be formalised and agreed at board level,” stated the inspectors.

The quality of classroom planning is regarded as “generally good”, with a clear focus on specific learning objectives described as “good practice”.

The report pointed to a number of recommendations that could be adopted by management at the school. It suggested that the school should review its assessment policy and clarify whole-school approaches in this area.

“The school should review and consolidate the individualised planning process and the school’s policy on autistic spectrum disorders. In managing the school, the board needs to review its practices in regard to decision making and, in particular, its practices around the recording of decisions made,” it added.

NEARLY 1,000 jobs have been lost in the Shannon Free Zone since 2009 – a crisis that was brought sharply into focus once more last Thursday when it was revealed that 100 more jobs could be lost in Sykes Enterprises.

The technology support firm is set to close its Shannon operation a quarter of a century after locating in the Free Zone and only four years after it was one of the fastest growing companies in the mid-west region as its staff numbers soared close to 400.

The impending closure with the loss of the last remaining 100 jobs comes only two months after 75 redundancies were announced when the company lost a major contract with Sony, one of its biggest clients.

Sykes established in the Shannon Free Zone in 1987 and at its peak of operations employed 380 at the facility, which is one of the company’s 80 global centres.

Sykes’ biggest growth phase came in 2006/2007 when it was one of the fastest growing companies in the mid-west region, with the company’s general manager for Europe, Colin Mitchell saying at the announcement of 100 new jobs, “Sykes Shannon has invested several million in equipment; furniture and fittings and leasehold improvement over the past ten years. This expansion, whilst increasing head count, will also provide an additional revenue flow to the Irish economy in terms of employer/employee contributions, and local spend on professional services, telecommunications and general domestic expenditure.”

Now, five years later comes Sykes’ imminent departure from Shannon, with a spokesperson for the company’s headquarters in Florida confirming that it was trying to consolidate its businesses worldwide, and that plants in Shannon and in South Africa would “face closure as a result of that process”.

It’s understood that these two plants have been singled out because of a decline in client demand for their services, which is to provide technical call centre services in a number of European languages.

The latest round of job losses at Sykes, which employs over 50,000 people worldwide, represents the fourth time in the last three years that the company has sought to scale down its Irish operation, with the final downsizing expected to bring about a closure in early 2012, 25 years after the company established in Shannon.

The jobs losses will bring to 955 the number have been lost in since in the last three years. Meanwhile, the latest figures secured by The Clare People reveal that in 2010 there was a net loss of 461 jobs at the Shannon Free Zone, while from a five-year period from 2003 to 2008 there were the figure stood of 250 net job losses.

These contrasting figures hammer home the extent of the hemorrhage of jobs from the county’s flagship industrial base, with the latest round of job cuts coming in the same week as government figures revealed that 15 jobs had been created in the county from the Dell European Globalisation Fund that was established for the region in 2009.

SIGNIFICANT staff turnover has impacted on the teaching of English at St Joseph’s Community College in Kilkee. That is according to an inspection carried out by inspectors from the Department of Education at the school, where enrolment stands at 194.

The inspectors found that teaching was “generally good and learning ranged from adequate to good in the lessons observed” during the inspection in May of this year.

“High expectations are promoted by the placement of students into mixed-ability classes in first and second year and by the organisation of co-curricular activities to develop students’ subject-specific skills and interests,” stated the report.

“Due to a number of factors, significant staff turnover has and continues to be an issue in the English department, impacting on subject department planning and implementation and on the learning of some junior cycle students,” noted the inspectors.

The report found that a good quality of teaching was observed in lessons, which was facilitated by teacher preparation, knowledge of the subject, well-managed lessons and good rapport with students.

It recommended that lessons should incorporate greater emphasis on sharing learning outcomes with students at the outset and on organising more varied active learning opportunities.

“A greater range of resources should be used to enhance learning, including graphic organisers, audio recordings, and props. No ICT was used in classes because of the absence of fixed equipment and of the reported unreliability of satellite coverage for the school. Senior management is working with Co Clare Vocational Education Committee (VEC) to overcome these deficiencies,” stated the inspectors. “Homework was being set and monitored and some good written feedback being given in the sample of copies reviewed. The valuable practice of sharing criteria for the assessment of substantial pieces of writing with senior cycle students should be extended to junior cycle students.”

A number of recommendations were suggested by the inspectors. These include that a base room for English be established and that timetable provision for first and fourth year English should be increased and allocated lessons should be spread over the maximum possible number of days per week.

“Existing termly schemes of work should be reshaped after discussions are held on the key learning outcomes and skills to be developed in each year of study. New assessment practices that link to those agreed learning outcomes should also be established,” added the report.

THE ELDERLY living in isolated parts of the county are being warned that a scam is in operation, after a woman in her 80s was targeted in North Clare.

The woman, who lives in the Kilfenora area, was visited by a group of men last week. They looked for scrap and when she told them that none was available, they offered to take away rubbish, at a cost of € 10 for two bags. They took bags of rubbish and offered a receipt. The rubbish was later found dumped in Waterford. Gardaí are warning that the actions are not legitimate and say that gangs are taking rubbish and dumping it illegally on the side of the road or on lands. Personal documents found in the rubbish establish that this has taken place.

“It is a scam. People should not give rubbish to unauthorised people. They tend to target country houses. It could be a once-off but we want to alert people,” said the Crime Prevention Officer in the Clare Garda Division, Sergeant Joe Downey.

“It’s just an excuse for them to legitimise their presence. They could be surveying the house for a further crime,” he added.

Meanwhile, gardaí are investigating an incident in which a gate on lands at Monmore, Kilrush, was cut into three pieces, over the weekend. The incident happened between 4.30pm on Saturday and 11am on Sunday.

The theft of a van from an address at Bealcragga, Connolly, is being investigated by gardaí in Ennis. The white Toyota Hiace was stolen between 10am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday.

Gardaí across the county are investigating a number of burglaries over the past week.

In one incident, four drums of cable were stolen from the Eircom building on Drumbiggle Road in Ennis, between 6pm last Tuesday and 8am the following morning. The premises was broken into possibly through the boundary railings of Ennis National School.

In Clarecastle, a house on the Lissane Road was targeted when thieves gained entry through the back door between 3am and 8am last Monday. Both the house and a car parked outside were targeted. A ladies handbag, which contained a small sum of money, was taken from the home, while a radio sat nav, car mats, an iPod and Oakley sunglasses were taken from the car.

Anyone with information on any of those crimes should contact their local garda station or Ennis Garda Station on 065 6848100.

A € 450,000 property in Mountshannon looks set to be the first property in Clare to be transferred to the Land Aggregation Scheme – the so called NAMA for local authorities. Mountshannon House was purchased by the Respond! housing agency with the support of Clare County Council in 2004.

The building, which had been earmarked as social accommodation for the elderly, has lain dormant for the past seven years and

COROFIN is celebrating today following an historic victory at the All Ireland One Act Play Finals which took place in Glór over the weekend. The Corofin Drama Society has emerged as one of Ireland’s foremost amateur dramatics group over the last decade – with this victory coming hot on the hells of the Three Act National Championship in 2008 and the first success in the one act play finals in 1993.

Sunday’s victory was the first time that any Clare drama group has ever picked up a national title on home soil – something which made the victory even sweeter for director Eileen Lahiff.

“I am delighted with the victory, absolutely thrilled. When we started this show, one of our main aims was to do our best to reach the All Ireland final. We knew that it was going to be in Ennis this year and we all said that it would be fantastic to take part in the All Ireland final in Glór,” said Eileen.

“I am so pleased with all of the actors who took part in the show – they did absolutely brilliantly and did a great job for us.”

The winning show was a comedy called ‘What’s For Pudding’ and featured Sandra Cox as Mary, Peter Daffy as Jack, Kevin Glynn as Ted, Maria McCahill as Maureen and Pat O’Reilly as Denis. The show is also one of the first comedies to win the All Ireland Final in the last number of years. “It is very difficult to do a fast paced comedy and to do it right. Timing is absolutely everything and everything needs to be done exactly right every night to make the show work prop- erly,” continued Eileen.

THE closure of Carrigaholt Garda Station was last night described as “another nail in the coffin” of rural Clare.

The Justice Minister announced yesterday that 31 Garda stations nationwide – including Carrigaholt in West Clare – will be closed next year, due to widespread cutbacks.

There had been fears for the future of more than a dozen Garda stations across the county amid substantial numbers of reti rements allied to budget cutbacks.

While residents in many rural areas will be relieved that their local barracks will remain open, the news was met with anger in Carrigaholt.

Garda Charlie Killeen, who had been stationed in Carrigaholt, retired last week, and while there were concerns that the station would close, there were some hopes that he would be replaced.

“Everything is being cut,” said Luke Aston of the Car rigaholt Development Association.

“It is an awful disappointment to see it happening. We are 25 minutes from the nearest full-time station in Kilrush, while it is 45 minutes from the furthest point on the Loop to Kilrush,” he added.

“All you are left with now in the village is the doctor and post office. Most of the young lads have left for Australia. Sixty people from the Peninsula have left for Australia in the past year,” said Mr Aston.

“Taking services in one area and trying to generate them in another doesn’t make much sense at all,” he added.

Local businessman Mark Carmo dy said this is further evidence that the people of West Clare are being forgotten.

“There was speculation leading up to it. There were r umours,” he said.

“Everything is being pared back this far into the peninsula. We are being forgotten about,” said Mr Carmody.

“We are wondering why [this has happened], especially with all the burglaries and robberies going on around the country,” he said.

Up to the 1980s there had been two gardaí based in Car rigaholt and this since reduced to one. A dwelling house is attached to the Garda station.

Local county councillor Gabriel Keating (Fine Gael) said, “The loss of the local Garda station is another nail in the coffin of this par t of r ural Ireland.

“How much more can rural Ireland take? We have lost our creamery, the A & E has gone to Limerick and Clare VEC is going to Limerick. All we had left in many par ts of rural Ireland was the GAA, schools, church and the local garda. Now the farda has gone and schools are under threat,” added Cllr Keating.

Carrigaholt does not have a community alert scheme, many of which have been set up in rural parts in recent months in reaction to concerns over rural crime. There is one in nearby Doonaha.

HE’S LIVED the jet set lifestyle of a Hollywood star and now a family reunion in Ennis could be the next port of call for George Clooney.

Last week the world famous actor announced plans for a motorbike trip around Ireland in April. The Ocea ns 11 star is keen to re-connect with his Irish roots, which some believe, could stretch all the way back to the Banner County.

Clooney’s father’s great, great grandfather, Nicholas Clooney, hailed from Kilkenny. His grandmother’s maiden name was Guilfoyle, a surname common in Clare. Clooney’s decision to visit Ireland has prompted the Mayor of Ennis, Michael Guilfoyle, to invite the Oscar winning actor to the Clare capital. Councillor Guilfoyle, who shares a name with Clooney’s great grandfather – Michael T Guilfoyle believes the actor could be persuaded to come to Ennis.

He explains, “I just thought that given that George Clooney is coming to Ireland next year, it would be good to invite him to the town. The fact that his grandmother’s name was Guilfoyle, I want to invite him to Ennis to meet the other Guilfoyles.”

Clooney has not revealed the places he will visit when he comes to Ireland next spring but Cllr Guilfoyle says the lure of some of Clare’s world famous tourist attractions may tempt him to visit the county.

“He probably will be going to the Cliffs of Moher. I’m trying to make contact with his agent but I haven’t been able to do so yet,” says the independent councillor.

The potential arrival of George Clooney would be another boost to Ennis following Muhammad Ali’s memorable “homecoming” to the town in September 2009. Thousands packed the streets for the visit of the former world-boxing champion whose ancestors are thought to have come from the Turnpike area of the town.

Cllr Guilfoyle believes the visit of another high profile figure like Clooney would generate a similar feel-good factor around the town. “It would be huge for us to get him over to Ennis,” he says.