Category: News

PUBLIC lighting is required to curb anti-social behaviour in unfinished housing estates in Clare, a meeting has heard.

The problems faced by residents living in unfinished housing estates was raised at the November meeting of Clare County Council.

Cllr Crowe called on the council to put a system in place in the event of developers of unfinished estates going into liquidation. The Sixmilebridge councillor stated that where estates have not been taken in charge, the Council should arrange for public lighting to be switched on in the interest of “public safety and to protest against anti-social behaviour”.

Cllr Crowe told the meeting that something has to be done for residents of unfinished estates; many of whom he said are “completely in limbo”.

Cllr Crowe said the chances of these estates being taken over as “unlikely”. “We have to start looking beyond the rules and regulations”, he added.

Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind) said there are going to “major problems” in unfinished estates.

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) said the lack of public lighting is condemning residents of some estates to “months of darkness”. He said unfinished estates “cultivate and environment for anti-social behaviour”.

He said the council must “aggressively pursue developers that are still trading”.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) called on the council to compile a list of all unfinished estates in Clare.

In response, acting director of services, planning, land use and transportation Nora Kaye stated, “While there is merit in the above proposal, the reality is that the council’s resources are extremely limited in respect of taking in charge of housing estates. The provision in this year’s budget for the taking in charge process is € 55,000 for the county. With escalating public lighting costs, I do not consider that the Council is in a position to arrange for public lighting to be switched on and / or for the ongoing maintenance and energy costs of same”.

Ms Kaye continued, “The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government has been requested to consider funding proposals for a small number of estates where due to special circumstances of those estates, the public lighting issues are unlikely to be resolved in the short term. On a receipt of reply from the Department, I will update the Council further”.

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly has acknowledged the challenge posed by falling Mass numbers and the “flight” of parishioners from the Catholic Church.

In a pastoral letter, Dr O’Reilly says diocesan statistics show a decline in the attendance at Sunday liturgies. He also focuses on the “growing spectre of unemployment and emigration” and the impact the economic crises is having on families.

Dr O’Reilly states that, since his ordination, he has met with parish pastoral councils, finance committees and apostolic work groups, noting, “How much women contribute to the life of the parishes?”

He writes, “To all involved in parish life, I want you to know that your involvement and work in so many different ways, but especially in preparing children and young adults for the sacraments and organising liturgies, is valued and appreciated.”

Dr O’Reilly continues, “I have heard it said, when I am present in a parish for Confirmation, that many of those receiving the sacrament may not be in the Church again for some time. This “flight” from the Church is a challenge to our faith communities.” He writes, “This fact challenges us to raise questions about how the formation of our young people and their parents can be developed and improved. Coupled with this reality is the obvious decline in numbers now coming to Church on a regular basis. Recent Diocesan Statistics show a decline in attendance at Sunday Liturgies. This is a situation that calls for discussion and reflection over the coming months”.

Dr O’Reilly described the current levels of unemployment as “the most dramatic feature if Ireland that I have noticed”. He writes, “Time and again I ask myself, is the country about to lose a generation of young and not so young gifted people as we did in the past? We read and hear daily reports of what the cuts in public spending mean to many people struggling to meet their financial commitments, of how the sick, the handicapped, the elderly, the unemployed and the low paid seem to be the people to suffer most from these cuts. One outcome of this is the increasing number of marginalised people.

“Many families have financial commitments that they can no longer honour because of the economic situation, this is putting serious strain on families, and is a crisis that calls for a just resolution in the interest of the well being of our society. Hopefully, a strengthening of family ties and community solidarity will be an important factor in assisting people in such situations,” he adds.

CLARE County Council is to meet with Shannon Development, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to discuss the delivery of job creation projects.

A decision to hold a briefing with the agencies was made by the council yesterday, after Fine Gael councillor Gabriel Keating expressed concern about the high unemployment levels that currently prevail.

Cllr Keating told the meeting that Clare should be prioritised as a location for foreign direct investment projects.

“Many west Clare communities are being wiped out,” he said.

He said that GAA clubs were suffering due to emigration, while unemployment in Kilrush had risen to 261 at the end of October.

“We need foreign direct investment projects to be set up,” he said.

“We need a co-ordinated approach,” said Cllr Keating, adding that a meeting should take place “before it is too late, if we have any chance of keeping our young people in the county”.

“I believe the IDA made 11 site visits to the county this year. While this is welcome, I want to see a greater spread,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Kelly said that “the exact same problem” exists in north Clare as was described in west Clare. “If people haven’t employment, they will not stay in the area,” he said.

“We will have no communities. The fabric of communities is being broken down,” he said.

Independent councillor PJ Ryan said that finance should be put in place in an effort to attract foreign direct investment. “Forty factory units in the industrial estate in Shannon at the moment are empty,” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Joe Arkins said the issue of job creation should remain on the council’s agenda at all monthly meetings.

“Rural Ireland is getting more and more isolated,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Pat Keane said, “The only way jobs will be created is if people in their own county get together and examine every possibility that’s there.”

Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn said that in 1841, there were 284,000 people in Clare; in 1996 there were 97,000 but this has risen substantially in the past 15 years due to employment prospects. He said he fears of a similar decline as occurred in the past. “We need to use our resources on the west coast,” he said.

His party colleague Cllr Seán McLoughlin said, “We have too many agencies. The banks are going to have to be more liberal. People are willing to start small businesses but they just can’t get finance.”

Another Fine Gael councillor, Joe Cooney, said it was “very disappointing to see so many young people out of this country or to see young people at home with no jobs to go to”.

TRIBUTES have been paid to two giants of the sporting and music and scene in Clare.

Yesterday’s monthly meeting of Clare County Council was adjourned for 15 minutes as a mark of respect to the late Francie Mahon and also to the late Muiris Ó Rócháin, both of whom passed away last month.

Mayor of Clare Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) led tributes to Mr Mahon who was a former member of staff at the council. Cllr Hayes said Mr Mahon had “contributed hugely” to sport in Clare from his long involvement with the Éire Óg GAA club and Clare camogie squads.

County manager Tom Coughlan said Mr Mahon had given long years of service to the council and was “very high regarded” by colleagues at the local authority.

He said the high turnout at Mr Mahon’s funeral in Ennis last month showed the high level of regard people in Clare had for him.

He described the former Éire Óg hurler as an “exceptional employee”, one whom all staff members could aspire to.

Tributes were also paid to Muiris Ó Rócháin, one of the founding members of the annual Willie Clancy summer school in Miltown Malbay. Mr Ó Rócháin was the driving force behind the summer school, which is one of the most famous celebrations of traditional Irish music in the world.

Cllr Hayes said Mr Ó Rócháin had done enormous work to promote Irish music and culture. Praising the work done by Mr Ó Rócháín, Mr Coughlan said he worked closely with him during the development of the Glór music venue in Ennis.

NEARLY four years after his untimely death at the age of 53, the High Court has been tasked with clarifying issues relating to the will of Fanore-born philosopher and poet, John O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue, who lived in Connemara, died suddenly in January 2008 after collapsing while holidaying in France, and left an estate that was valued at more than € 2m.

The former priest made a will in February 2001, just before leaving Ireland for a tour of Australia. That will was made without the benefit of legal advice and was later admitted to probate.

That one-page document was signed by him and witnessed by his mother Josephine and brother Peter but issues have arisen as to what was meant by its terms.

In the will, he stated he was leaving all his worldly possessions to his mother Josephine to be divided equally and fairly among his family with “special care and extra help” to be given to his sister Mary. He also stipulated gifts of money were to be given to a number of other persons.

Josephine O’Donoghue has now brought High Court proceedings seeking clarification of several issues arising from the will and her action opened yesterday before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and continues today.

Among the issues raised by the terms of the will are whether O’Donoghue’s mother herself is a beneficiary and what is meant by the term “family” and whether that means only his mother, two brothers and his sister. Other issues include what is meant by the term “special care and extra help” for the late philosopher’s sister Mary.

The judge has also been asked by Vinog Faughnan SC, for Mrs O’Donoghue, to specify what pow- ers she has in her capacity as legal personal representative of John O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue’s best known work was ‘Anam Cara’, published on the same day that Princess Diana died in 1997, it had 13 reprints within 12 months. His other published works include ‘Eternal Echoes’, ‘Divine Beauty’, ‘Echoes of Memory’, ‘Conamara Blues’ and ‘Benedictus’.

After his death, new President of Ireland, who was a close friend of Mr O’Donoghue called him “an inspirational figure”, who was “a person of immense courage who gave witness to truth”.

COUNCILLORS have backed a proposal that could eventually see Clare County Council take a role in the future ownership of Shannon Airport.

Yesterday’s special council meeting was called for the council to formulate a submission to Booz and Company who have been appointed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to advise on options for the future ownership and operation of Cork and Shannon airports.

In a briefing document circulated to members, Mr Coughlan outlined four potential options regarding the future of the airport: (1) Retaining the status quo – to continue to operate as present; (2) Divest public control – privitisation; (3) Long term lease of the airport – commercial lease without public sector involvement; (4) Retain state ownership of the airport facility, including the airport landbank by vesting the facility and landbank in local public sector authorities who could; (a) involve regional private sector interest and/or (b) concessions for operational services and the vesting of ownership of the airport landbank in local public authorities.

Commenting on the first option, Mr Coughlan states that the decision by the Government to appoint consultants “is a clear indication that the current model, whereby Shannon airport is controlled by the Dublin Airport Authority, is not operating satisfactorily and will not secure the optimum development of the airport as a strategic asset for the region.”

In reference to privatisation, Mr Coughlan states that the “transfer of the airport and its assets to private, profit driven operators would be a matter of serious concern to the region”.

Regarding the prospect of a long term commercial lease of the airport, Mr Coughlan states that a “commercial lease without public sector involvement would be profit driven rather than public interest driven and this could lead to a concentration on financially lucrative routes at the expense of routes which would meet the needs of the people and businesses in the region.”

Mr Coughlan states that option four “would have a number of distinct advantages in that the public sector authorities have a vested interest in the sustainable development of the region. He explains that given the long existence of local authorities, “authority for the airport and adjoining landbank would be vested in the people of the region through the democratically elected local authorities”.

Referring to the financial health of the airport, Mr Coughlan states, “It would be imperative that the airport would not become a financial liability for the local public sector agencies and the issue of outstanding debt would have to be resolved as would other legacy financial matters.”

MANAGEMENT at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience have paid tribute all those who helped the world famous tourist attraction reach the last 28 of the New Seven Wonders of Nature Competition.

The hopes of the cliffs reaching the coveted last seven positions were dashed early on Friday when competition organisers, Swiss non-profit company the New Seven Wonders Foundation, announced the top 14 attraction. When the cliffs – along with a number of other highly fancied locations such as the Grand Canyon – were not listed among the top 14 locations, the staff at the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience knew their race had been run.

Despite not reaching the final seven locations, Cliffs of Moher director Katherine Webster, says that making the final 28 has already been a great boost for the cliffs.

“We have been delighted to have the Cliffs of Moher contending for a spot in the New Seven Wonders of Nature and we know that a great number of Irish people and members of the Irish diaspora around the world weighed in with their support,” she said.

“We congratulate the top 14 candidates and the eventual winning seven and we would like to thank all of those in Ireland and abroad who supported the cliffs’ campaign in so many different ways.

“Supporters included public figures who endorsed the campaign, state agencies who promoted it nationally and globally, members of the national and local media who gave considerable coverage to the contest and members of the local tourism industry who put a considerable amount of work and resource into promoting the cliffs position.

“We are currently working on further enhancing the overall tourist product and look forward to continuing to welcome visitors to the Cliffs of Moher to what is one of the natural wonders of the world.”

The New Seven Wonders of Nature are the Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komoda, Puerto Princesa Underground River and Table mountain.

“All of us in Clare know that the Cliffs of Moher is a special place and this campaign has put the Cliffs of Moher on the must-see list of many potential visitors to Ireland,” said Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes (FF).

“The campaign has resulted in excellent exposure for the cliffs, for County Clare and for the west of Ireland. The cliffs involvement in the contest has already benefitted the local tourism economy.”

AN EXTRA € 1 million will be pumped into the north Clare economy over the next two years with the news that the Burren Farming for Conservation project will now run until December of 2013.

The project, which is worth € 1 million each year to almost 150 Burren farm families, has been given an extra year of grants funding by the Department of Agriculture, however, administration funding to cover the roll-out for the scheme for the extra has yet to be confirmed.

The lion’s share of the money granted to the project’s farmers will be spent locally to cover the cost of on-farm environmental works such as stone-wall building, scrub removal and water infrastructure – to enable the grazing of non-profitable sections of the Burren. Because of this, the funding is likely to have a massive knock-on effect in the local community with local labourers and suppliers also to benefit.

The future of the project, which was officially recognised this year as Europe’s top Life Farming Project, is still unsure beyond 2014. Grant funding from the project is currently sourced directly from the Department of Agriculture through unclaimed Single Farm Payments (SFP), while the project team is funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

“The project is now going to run to four years. The funding for this is linked to CAP so as long as the CAP stays in place we should have enough funding to see us through until then,” said project co-ordinator Brendan Dunford.

“We don’t see the project ending after four years. Once this section of funding is completed, we hope to be in an even stronger position to get funding for the future because of the positive results that we have been producing. Once we can show measurable results, there is no reason why we should not continue to get funded after the CAP reforms.”

This project has grown from the pilot BurrenLIFE Projects, which was ran in the Burren between 2005 and 2010. The project, which involved 20 local life-farmers, was Ireland’s first farming for conservation project.

The project has grown from these original 20 farmers to almost 150 with more farm families being added this year.

“We began last year with 117 farmers but this year, because of an under spend, we have been able to increase that to 143 farmers, right across the Burren. The farmers stretch all the way from Doolin up to Kinvara and down as far as Corofin, so we have a great geographical spread,” continued Brendan.

“We need to make sure that every euro spent represents value for money. So the farmers receive some funding to pay for small infrastructure projects which can help to improve farm management but the lions share of funding goes toward a field-byfield assessment of each field. So the farmers get rated and paid by how well they manage their fields.

“So if the farmers put the work in then they will get paid for it, but if they are not bothered then they won’t be getting any money out of it. This year we will rate about 1,000 fields from all over the Burren.”

MORE than 20 per cent of the limestone pavement of the Burren is now covered in scrub, with more hazel encroachment taking place each year. While the scrub explosion is only one of the threats to the biodiversity of the Burren, it has become a rallying point for Burren management, both because visual impact of scrub encroachment but also because of the direct correlation between new farming techniques and spread of hazel.

Farming in the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme now actively manage more than 50,000 acres of land n the Burren. Scrub is kept under control by encouraging cattle and goats to use the old winterage area of the Burren, instead of being housed inside during the winter.

While outside in the dry limestone winterage, the animals eat the young hazel saplings and prevent the bushes from becoming established on the limestone pavement.

“It doesn’t really pay farmers to graze these areas anymore. There is too much work and labour involved in making these areas suitable for grazing. That is what has happened over the last 20 or 30 years, a lot of the upland areas are not being grazed anymore – and that is where we find all the wonderful monuments and the flora,” said Brendan Dunford of the Burren Farming for Conservation Organisation.

“So what we are paying for is good management of non-profitable areas. And there is a cost for this, over and above what the farmer will make back. So what we make sure is that payments are only made when the land is managed properly. If the farmer isn’t bothered then he won’t be paid, but if a farmer is willing to go that extra mile then we are happy to pay for it – because in the long term for the future of the Burren it is incredibly cost effective.

“We are an environmental scheme so our focus is on delivering environmental aims such as good water, biodiversity and good landscape. But the only way that we can achieve that is to try and continue the old farm practices, which were dying out in some areas. So the farmers are absolutely key to the future of the Burren.

“Farmers are a part of the social fabric and the spirit of the area but they are absolutely key in managing the Burren environment. The farmers have the skills, the motiva- tion and the know-how to make this work. The farmers are also the first people who will benefit if this works, not the environmentalist or the tourists,” said Mr Dunford.

“We see ourselves not as saving farming in the Burren but just adding an extra impetus on the ecological side of things. We feel that the production of food is still important and farmers will still benefit from the Single Farm Payment but hopefully what we are doing is helping to put some confidence and relevance back into farming. Farming is about producing food but it is also about managing environments.”

THE future of the Burren Farming for Conservation Project beyond 2013 is inextricably linked to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – with the future of the unique Burren landscape now tied to negotiations which will take place in Brussels.

With the entire grant funding of the project now coming from unspent SFP, any major change to the CAP could threaten the entire future of the project.

Despite this uncertainty however, project manager Brendan Dunford is hopeful that the project could be rolled our right across the Burren in the years to come. A total of 35 farm families applied to become Life Farmers in 2010 and it is though that this number has swelled following the success of the first two years of the project.

“My biggest regret is that we cannot accommodate all the farmers who want to be involved. So all that we can do for the time being is to do as good a job as we can with the farmers that we have and hopefully that will strengthen our position in the future to do more,” said Brendan.

“It is very much our vision that every farmer in the Burren who wants to farm for conservation would be available to do that. That is dependent on funding but the better that we do the better position we are in to get funding into the future.”

While scrub encroachment is often seen as the enemy of biodiversity in the Burren, according to Mr Dunford the key is to strike a balance between all the natural habitats that exist in the area and now allow any to dominate.

“The problem that we are dealing with now is that, because of the withdrawal of farming from some areas in the past thirty years, we are getting a big imbalance between the areas of encroaching scrub and the areas of well managed grassland. What we want to is to maintain a balance,” he said.

“Even with the work we are doing here, the amount of scrub encroachment exceeds the amount that we are able to remove each year. But in a way that is beside the point, scrub can turn into a great woodland itself and we are certainly not trying to eradicate it. It is about a balance, what we want to do is manage the grassland to maintain what is some of the most bio-diverse landscape in Europe and if scrub comes in on these areas we want to push it back out again.”