Category: News

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.”

THE refurbishing of council housing stock in Kilrush has been held up as offering a beacon of hope for the community and a timely antidote to the sense of hopelessness that was out there, the monthly meeting of the town’s urban authority was told last Thursday night.

The comments were made by town clerk John Corry, as all nine councillors were universal in their praise of Kilrush Town Council’s commitment to upgrading its council housing stock, through a scheme that will eventually see up 40 houses in the town renovated.

“There was a lot of talk about the feeling of hopelessness in the estate,” said Mr Corry about John Paul Estate, “but the appearance alone is a lot brighter and raises the positivity around the place. People can be proud of the area they’re living in. It has come on a long way in the last couple of months and sends out a very positive note,” he added.

Mr Corry made his comments following confirmation that the first phase of the council’s 2011 redevelopment programme has been completed, with the next stage set to commence in the coming weeks fol- lowing the completion of a tendering process for a range of works.

“There has been significant work going on in the estate over the last number of months,” said Mr Corry. “It has consisted of refurbishment of 11 houses has been virtually completed.

“The work was done to a very high standard indeed. Ten of those houses have been occupied with the 11th being snagged presently. With regard to the next phase, we propose to a further 21 houses, that needs to be split into two phases of 11 and 10.

“We have tendered for that and the tender is with the Department of the Environment. We would hope that works would begin there very, very shortly and can proceed to the next phase of 11 houses. In anticipation of that we have met with the tenants of the 11 houses and a number of them have already been transferred to alternative accommodation,” he added.

In addition to the works in John Paul Estate, improvement works have been undertaken on seven houses on Wilson’s Road, four of which have already been occupied, while the remaining three will be over the next couple of weeks.

PEOPLE in Kilrush might struggle to have the financial means to pay for a series of stealth taxes that are expected to be introduced in next months Budget, town councillors have warned in calling for a means test to be introduced for people in the west Clare capital catchment area.

This claim that there are now a host of families in Kilrush are now on the breadline was sounded out as member of the local authority gave their universal backing for the introduction of a means-tested waiver scheme for householders “who have not the financial means to pay for taxes like water charges and property taxes on principal residences”.

“Some people living in a sheltered world don’t know how bad it is out there,” said Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch told the meeting. “There are an awful lot of people on the breadline and I think some people will not be able to afford services.

“A means test will have to be brought in. We mightn’t realise ourselves how bad it is around town. It is absolutely dire out there,” Kilrush’s first citizen warned in backing a mo- tion that was proposed by former Mayor, Tom Prendeville.

“While the government implements financial austerity measures ordinary people in Kilrush will be asked to make huge financial sacrifices,” blasted Cllr Prendeville.

“The mention of water charges and property taxes in the upcoming Budget will mean that some pensioners, widow and other social welfare recipients will go hungry as much of their paltry weekly allowances will have to be set aside for these new stealth taxes.

“All this in the so-called name of fiscal rectitude. This is morally wrong, while NAMA bails out developers with generous allowances and the reckless lending of some bad banks is rewarded with € 700m of taxpayers money.

“There are people in Kilrush who will have to continue to exist by scrimping on the bare essentials of life to pay for the excesses of the Celtic Tiger. A waiver scheme to help these people to keep food on the table has to be brought in. It’s a small concession to ask for on behalf of a very vulnerable section of society,” Cllr Prendeville added.

VACANT buildings in Kilrush are being vandalised and looted for any valuables inside, Kilrush Town Council was told, amid renewed called from members for the local authority to ramp up security measures at unused premises around the town.

The extent of the vandalism and looting problems were sounded out by Independent councillor Paul Moroney after Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch sounded out his call for “a safety and condition survey of all vacant council property”.

“It’s unbelievable what’s going on in the town,” said Cllr Moroney. “I know that someone went into a house recently and heard a noise the there was someone up on top of the roof stealing the lead – I’m not talking about a vacant house.

“This was happening in broad daylight. We can talk about estate management plans all you like, but when there’s ignorance out there, it’s very hard to get over it. Lads that are doing the houses are being told that copper is the last thing that should go into the houses, because it will be stolen,” added Cllr Moroney.

To confront such problems, Cllr Lynch called on the council “to comply with our duty to prevent unauthorised access to property under our control”, while he also called for the convening of housing meeting to discuss estate and property management among dwelling owned by the town authority.

“People are going into houses and this should be stopped,” warned Cllr Lynch. “There are quite a lot houses that were boarded up, but are no longer boarded up. My fear is that children will be in those vacant dwelling and that there could be an accident and if there is we as a council will be liable. We need to focus on property management,” he added.

The mayor called for the implementation of an action plan to monitor the council’s vacant housing stock – part of this plan would see CCTV cameras focused on vacant houses, as well as having these properties monitored by FÁS maintenance workers and a community warden.

A MAJOR new job creation drive could be on the cards for Clare in 2012 after Shannon Development was one of a small number of regional organisation granted an increase in funding by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton (FG), last week.

The regional promotional and job creation agency has been granting a year-on-year budget increase of almost 40 per cent and will see their operations budget swell from € 3.6 million to € 5 million next year.

It is as yet unclear what this € 1.4 million budget increase will be spent on or whether a particular major project has already been identified for the money. It is also unclear whether some of all of this budget increase has already been accounted for in the € 3.2 million in tourism funding which was announced for the Shannon region by the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar (FG), earlier this month. The Clare People contacted Shannon Development in relation to the funding boost but no comment on the increase or the possible use of the funding was forth coming at the time of going to press.

Speaking on the budget increase, Shannon Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said it was a vote of confidence for the work being on the ground in Clare to promote the region to foreign tourists as-well-as foreign investment. “This funding is good news for Clare and the region and it just highlights the positives work that is being done. I mean, we had an Olympic Handball event here [Shannon] last week and that saw about 400 extra people here for a week,” said Senator Mulcahy.

“Even sporting events like the Munster match the other night will help boost the profile of Shannon Airport and the region as a whole.”

Meanwhile, a major seminar for the promotion of walking tourism in Clare has been announced for the Pavillion Theatre in Lisdoonvarna on Wednesday, November 23.

There will be a number of speakers in north Clare for the event including experts from Shannon Development as-well-as members from the Clare Trails Steering Group.

The purpose of the seminar is to let the public know of recent developments in the provision of way marked trails and to announce a special two-day training programme for walk leaders.

Walking tourism is now Clare’s fastest growing tourism attraction, attracting more people to the county each year than traditional favourite golf.