Category: News

THE first stage of a local campaign for better services in Doolin will be kicked off this Thursday when a public meeting takes place at the Russell Centre in the village.

Concern that Doolin is being left behind when compared to other areas across the county when it comes to essential services has prompted what has been advertised as a Community Meeting.

The meeting has its origins in a meeting of Doolin Tourism, which recently hosted its annual general meeting were concerns were raise about the need for radical improvements to the local infrastructure.

“Issues arose at the meeting around – issues like roads, sewerage and lighting and signage,” a spokesperson for the Community Meeting told The Clare People .

“There is a feeling some services in Doolin are inadequate. Some work has been done but a lot more needs to be done There is a new sewerage system in Lisdoonvarna, but people want that extended to Doolin.

“When those issues were raised it was decided that we would take these issues to the local community as a whole and organised a public meeting so that people can come and air their views about what they feel should be done for Doolin, This is the first step in that process,” the spokesperson added.

The meeting gets underway at 9pm.

SHANNON Development’s role as a driver of the mid-west economy over the past 50 years could be wiped away with the stroke of a pen in next week’s Budget, the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar has revealed.

On a visit to Clare on Saturday, Minister Varadkar spelled out clearly that Shannon Development’s future as the engine of the mid-west economy now hangs in the balance, if its responsibilities for tourism marketing and business development are taken over by other state agencies.

“Shannon Development has a remit for tourism marketing as well as product development, enterprise development, inward investment and does a lot of different things,” said Minister Varadkar.

“Its remit is under Minister Richard Bruton (Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation) rather than under my remit. What the Government has said is that Fáilte Ireland is willing to take over all of Shannon Development’s tourism functions, if the agency is subsumed into the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.

“Fáilte Ireland operates in the midwest already and would be including the region in all its broader marketing and would be marketing in much the same way as is markets the south west. In the past, Shannon Development had a very big income from its properties, which it was then able to re-invest into tourism in the region. Because of the collapse in the property market, Shannon Development doesn’t have that income anymore,” he added.

This means that, as a worst case scenario, Shannon Development’s role within the region could be relegated to overseeing the management of facilities such as Bunratty, Knappogue and Dungaire Castles.

“Shannon Heritage does a very good job of running its attractions and that operates as a company and I certainly wouldn’t see that changing,” said Minister Varadkar.

If the proposed changes to the operation of Shannon Development don’t go ahead, Minister Varadkar said, “I don’t see any reason not to continue the status quo, except that we will be taking over the marketing functions, but Shannon Development could continue to run the attractions and run its own properties, but things are changing.”

Shannon Development was established in 1959 as the Shannon Free Airport Development Company. The agency is responsible for the Shannon Free Zone and the National Technology Park in Limerick.

Shannon Town was also created and managed by the company until it was transferred to Clare County Council in 2004 – a transfer that was the biggest property transaction in the history of the state.

SHANNON Airport will not be privatised by way of a radical plan for the State to enter into a lease arrangement with local business interests for a period of between 15 and 35 years.

That’s the message that has been delivered by Clare’s four members of Dáil Éireann this week ahead of this Thursday’s deadline for submissions to the team of consultants hired by the Government to engage with stakeholders in Shannon ahead of a New Year announcement on the airport’s future. The Clare People can reveal that none of the TDs have come out and supported the controversial privatisation plan, which was part of the submission made by Shannon Airport Authority chairman, Brian O’Connell, to Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar in August.

The privatisation plan was rubbished by deputies Timmy Dooley (FF) and Michael Michael McNamara (Lab) as early as last September, and now Fine Gael TDs, Pat Breen and Joe Carey have followed suit and railed against the move that would see Shannon taken out of State hands for the first time in its 75-year history.

Instead, all four TDs are now back ing a move to make Shannon inde- pendent of Dublin Airport Authority control, while remaining firmly under government control as a key strategic State asset.

“The airport must be independent,” said Deputy Joe Carey in his submission to the Booz and Company team of consultants.

“Setting up an independent Shannon Airport Authority is the most desirable option for the future success of our airport.

“I am not saying independent of State ownership. State Ownership is critical to the well being of Shannon Airport.

“I advocate this enhancement of ownership to broaden the empower- ment and responsibility of the local community with a view to strengthening the local support for the Airport,” added Deputy Carey.

“I believe that it is important that the Airport remains under state ownership,” says Deputy Pat Breen. “To support the Airport’s efforts to return to growth under State ownership a review of our national aviation policy should be undertaken to strengthen that role.

“The governance and management structures of Shannon, will have to be changed to give greater local control for operations, financial and business developments. Shannon Airport can not be left paralysed as it has been by the previous administration,” adds Deputy Breen.

These comments have been echoed by Fianna Fáil transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley, whose has stated in his submission that he was “opposed to any privitisation of any of the State airports or part privitisation or concession agreements or long lease arrangements with whom so ever”.

In rubbishing the privatization plans, Labour’s Michael McNamara has said that “I hope that we don’t ever see the situation whereby there is a short-term effort to turn a buck at Shannon to the detriment of the longterm development of the region”.

HALF of all Garda vehicles in Clare are unfit for use and will have been scrapped within weeks, The Clare People can reveal.

Of the 33 cars in the Clare Division’s Garda fleet, eight have been scrapped, while another nine cars are nearing their maximum mileage of 300,000 kilometres and will soon be taken off the road.

Every pocket of the county will see reduced Garda patrols, as a result. The only detective car available to gardaí in Ennistymon is no longer available.

The district patrol car from Killaloe is no longer fit for use and has been replaced by a Tulla car, while cars from the Killaloe-based traffic corps are being used by gardaí on the beat.

Several of the cars attached to Ennis Garda Station are deployed across the county, in an effort to ensure rural parts are policed. No new vehicles are being purchased, due to cutbacks.

The head of policing in Clare, Chief Superintendent John Kerin, declined to comment on the figures, but Garda sources say the situation has got out of control and say they cannot do their job to the best of their ability without the basic re- sources.

Meanwhile, according to official figures obtained by The Clare People , 18 gardaí retired last year, while five have retired so far this year and another one will retire later this week, December 1.

Another 17 gardaí have indicated their intentions to retire by February, which will bring to 41 the number leaving the force since the beginning of last year.

A nationwide recruitment freeze means that numbers are expected to continue to dwindle until new recruits are taken on in a few years’ time.

“If they all go, we will have lost 41 people. At least 12 or 13 of the 17 have made their minds up,” said Chief Supt Kerin.

“If they all go, 41 is a hell of a lot of people,” he added.

The Ennis and west Clare districts are the hardest hit. 14 have retired in Ennis and outlying stations since the start of last year.

In west Clare, nine gardaí retired since the start of last year. Four gardaí retired in Killaloe last year and none this year.

One garda retired in Ennistymon last year and none are likely to retire this year. Last year, nine gardaí retired in Shannon, which included five from immigration at Shannon Airport.

“The biggest impact at the moment is Kilrush and the amount of experience lost in a rural district. It takes quite a while to build up experience. The people who left Kilrush last year have been replaced by others in the division.

“We had a few replacement people in Ennis, on transfers, and if I can I send replacements to Kilrush,” said Chief Supt Kerin.

However, transfers are rare and are not additional personnel.

Chief Supt Kerin said that there are no plans to close any of the rural stations where gardaí are retiring such as Doonbeg and Carrigaholt.

“Until we are told otherwise as regards the closure of stations we will be opening the stations for limited periods, two or three times a week. There will be cover.

“People will be able to carry out transactions, ordinary business,” he said.

Chief Supt Kerin said that decisions on the allocation of resources will have to be taken in February, while final numbers of retirees are established.

“It will be the end of February before we know who is retired. We will sit down and see if we have to reduce numbers in specialist units then,” he said.

SHANNON Airport would not be viable entity if its split from the Dublin Airport Authority, given its independence and forced to compete openly with Dublin and Cork for business.

This warning has been handed down by Fianna Fáil transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley in his submission to Booz and Company, which is set to deliver a report to government on the airport’s future by the end of the year. In the submission, secured by The Clare People this week, Deputy Dooley says it would be “unwise to consider changes to the ownership and management of the airport without having regard for the depressed state of the world economy”. Instead, Fianna Fáil, whose State Airport Act of 2004 sought to establish Dublin, Cork and Shannon as three separate competing state airports, has proposed the establishment of a new state company to have overall responsibility for the three airports.

“This company would operate as an umbrella structure similar to the CIE model and would ensure that a fair and competitive environment existed in which the three state airports could survive,” says Deputy Dooley.

“This company would be a state owned company with shares vested under the control of the Minister for Transport. A board of directors would be appointed by the Minister to give effect to such a mandate.

“Fianna Fáil suggests that separate trading entities be established at each individual airport and a clear memorandum of understanding be established between the Irish Airport Authority and the individual airport entities at Dublin, Cork and Shannon.

“Each individual trading company would be responsible for the management of the airport facility at the respective locations. Each company would have a separate board appointed by the minister and the shares vested under the control of the Minister for Transport.

“The mandate of these entities would focus on the necessity to provide vital connectivity to support and promote passenger access and cargo facilities to the respective regions having regard to long-term sustainability of the individual airports.

“It is recognised that a significant land bank asset exists at all three airports and it should be the responsibility of the respective trading companies to formulate plans for their development in consultation with local and regional State agencies and authorities,” Deputy Dooley’s submission adds.

TOURISM interests across Clare have been accused of lacking will and motivation to play their part in kick-starting the local economy by driving a co-ordinated plan for the the county’s biggest industry.

This broadside against hoteliers and tourist operators was delivered by former Mayor of Clare Flan Garvey during the 23rd annual Clare Tourist Council conference that was staged at the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon Thursday to Saturday last.

Mr Garvey, a founder member of the Clare Tourist Council in 1989 and a former chairman, launched his scathing attack on tourism interests over what he blasted as their “complete failure” to support the conference, out of “a selfishness where they are only interested in promoting their own interests and not Clare tourism”.

He made his comments during the conference that attracted a wide range of tourism interests from the local government sector, third level education, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar and the European Union.

“The tourism operators in county Clare,” said Mr Garvey, “we promote their business but a lot of them ignore this conference and what we are trying to do for Clare tourism and what the Council has been trying to do at home and abroad for many, many years.

“We travel to promote their business and for some reason or other they seem to be in their own little closet, in their own little cocoon, fighting their own corner. People who are involved in Clare tourism should be working for Clare tourism,” he added.

The three-day conference attracted a number of keynote speakers, among them Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar, Declan Power of the Aviation Business Park in Shannon and Galway county manager Martina Moloney.

“All these people were coming together to promote tourism,” continued Flan Garvey, “but the support from Clare tourism operators wasn’t there. It’s alright for people to fight their own corner when looking for a share of the tourism market, but by having a co-ordinated plan for tourism is the best way forward, because that way everyone involved benefits.

“In Clare Tourist Council, we see the bigger picture. None of us are involved in tourism as an operator. I don’t make a penny out of tourism – I never did and I never will, but I have a passion for tourism, because I see it as saving the economy. I see tourism in Clare as being part of putting money in every house in the county,” he added.

SHANNON Airport losses over the past three years could be as high as € 25m but, according to one government TD in Clare, the airport should not be required to turn a profit to justify its existence.

Labour’s Michael McNamara has told the team of consultants hired by the Government to map out a new future for the airport that it should not be about profit, but instead maintaining mid-west’s key piece of infrastructure.

“The airport should not be required to make a profit, although this would be a bonus,” says Deputy McMamara in his submission to the team of consultants.

“If a government subvention is required to maintain a publiclyowned airport, then so be it,” he adds in the wake of a meeting with the consultants in the company of Jan O’Sullivan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

This is despite the fact that Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar has said “there aren’t subsidies available for the airport, there wasn’t during the boom and there certainly isn’t now”, while Shannon Airport Authority chairman Brian O’Connell has said “it is not sustainable for any business to continue in a loss-making mode”.

“Shannon Airport should remain in state ownership and control in one form or another. Possible synergies with state undertakings par- ticularly those which manage key regional transport infrastructures, should be considered,” says Deputy McNamara. “Shannon should be viewed as a key piece of infrastructure in the mid-west like railways and motorways. “I expressed the strong view that marketing the airport and the region needs to be improved to that end,” he adds.

THE PEOPLE of Clare have been urged to ensure a new centre for rape victims in Ennis remains open. The centre, which was officially opened on Friday, does not receive funding and is largely dependent on voluntary assistance.

The office, located in the Tracklands Business Park on the Clon Road in Ennis, is managed by counsellor Anne Ginnane, who is a native of west Clare. She told the large crowd that attended the official opening on Friday that it was a memorable occasion.

“Today marks a very special day for Clare, the opening of a new centre. I am very honoured and privileged to be part of this from the very beginning,” she said.

“I’m very passionate about this. I love the work I do. I am very honoured to be here working in this centre, bringing new hope, new light. This is a centre of hope and light. I hope the people who come here bring hope and light out into the world,” she said.

She read from a reflection written by a survivor, which focused on the “vision of hope shines on us” where there is “no-one to judge us”.

“It speaks volumes,” said Ms Ginnane, adding, “This woman is out there now, a therapist doing great work in healing.”

The Mayor of Clare, Councillor Pat Hayes officially opened the centre and told those in attendance that its survival is crucial.

“It is very important that we have the opportunity here in Clare to service the people, whether it be from Loop Head or north Clare, that people can come in in confidence and feel at home here,” he said.

“It reflects on society that this is an increasing problem. Maybe it is a case that people come out and face their issues and say we need help. There is an onus on us here in Clare, now that we have a centre, in whatever way we can do to support this service,” he said.

“Nobody knows anyone’s situation. Things go on in families. It is great to say it (the service) is there on the doorstep,” he said.

“People who go out and give their service and help in any way are a credit to that. This evening is a celebration of that. I would appeal to everybody. We need to get out there and support this because we need to hold on to services if at all possible,” he said.

GOVERNMENT funding from the sale of a key strategic asset that was inspired by the Shannon Airport story should be pumped into the development of the former transatlantic hub as it bids to chart a new future for itself from 2012.

That’s one demand thrown down by local Fine Gael TD Joe Carey to the Fine Gael-led government, with the Clarecastle representative claiming that Shannon has “intellectual” rights to millions of euros in funds from any sale of Aer Rianta International.

According to Deputy Carey, the proceeds of the sale of this key strategic State asset should be ploughed into Shannon, funds that could help clear the airport’s crippling debt as well as play for a new development programme for Clare’s international airport.

“There is a very strong feeling that the Aer Rianta International project, which was the brainchild of Shannon Management under the astute leadership of Liam Skelly, was in the first place developed with the need to generate reserves to underpin the future viability of Shannon,” says Deputy Carey in his submission to Booz and Company.

“ARI before being subsumed into the DAA was the intellectual capital of Shannon Airport. While I understand the Government may be considering the sale of ARI, the revenue from any such disposal should in the first place be ring-fenced to cover the funding of the future capital requirements of a newly structured Shannon,” he adds.

Aer Rianta International was established in 1988 on the back of Shannon Airport’s connection with Aeroflot – a connection that dated from 1973 when the Russian carrier used Shannon as a refuelling stop to support its transatlantic services between Moscow and Havana.

Aeroflot then developed its own fuel-farm at Shannon in 1980, while eight years later a joint-venture between Aer Rianta and Shannon saw the opening of Aer Rianta International’s first duty free shop in Moscow.

Aer Rianta International now operates modern retail centres at major airports in Europe, Eastern Europe, North America and the Middle East.

“It is of concern that significant funds from the ARI basket have been gifted to Dublin Airport to reduce the cost of the new terminal and yet some people tell me that ARI funds cannot be allotted to Shannon. This is clearly placing Shannon at a significant disadvantage,” adds Deputy Carey in calling for a change in government and DAA policy.

A 60-YEAR-OLD man whose drugs’ “hidey hole” was his armchair has been jailed for six months after drugs were found at his home twice in the space of a month.

John Joyce, with an address at Watery Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply late last year. Ennis District Court was told last week that on one occasion the drug seized was amphetamine, while it was cannabis on the other occasion.

Garda Gary Stack told the court that he went to the defendant’s home on December 15, 2010, on foot of a search warrant gardaí had obtained.

He said that the accused was sitting on an armchair. He seized a glass jar containing amphetamine, while he recovered € 3,350 in the kitchen of the house. Resealable dealing bags were found in the sitting room, said the garda.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey put it to the garda that her client had sold a horse at the Ballinasloe Fair a few weeks before this and some of the money had been from that sale.

Ms Godfrey said that her client sold pallets and some of the money was the proceeds of that. She said that it was approaching Christmas at the time and some of the money was his and his wife’s savings for that period. However, Gda Stack replied, “He was questioned in relation to the drugs and cash. I wasn’t happy with any of the answers.”

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that on another occasion, 11 bags of cannabis were found at the defendant’s home, which, he said, were valued at € 400.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy was told that the accused had no previous con victions for drugs offences.

Mr Godfrey submitted to the court, “It appears as though his hidey hole for his drugs was the back of his seat. Within one month of the first matter, he was found to have cannabis in his house in the same chair.” She said that her client’s house has been searched “three or four times since and nothing has been found”.

She suggested that Joyce be referred to the Probation Service for which he is “an ideal candidate”, she said.

However, Judge McCarthy said, “I don’t agree. He is a drug dealer. He had deals in his house,” said the judge. Ms Godfrey said they were “relatively small amounts”.

“He wasn’t living an extravagant lifestyle,” she said. “I am asking the court to take the view he hasn’t been involved in drugs before. Presumably he would have been detected if he was up to this mischief previously,” said Ms Godfrey.

The judge imposed two six-month jail sentences, to run concurrently. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.