Category: News

A GROUND-BREAKING service developed by the Brothers of Charity in Ennis is to get national exposure this week when the ‘Home Share Clare’ initiative is showcased on RTÉ.

The service that provides short breaks to adults and children with learning disabilities will be featured on this Wednesday’s Nationwide programme.

Over the past three years Home Share Clare, which is dependent on fundraising and charitable donations has successfully placed over 40 adults with families.

“Families of people with disabilities are telling us that one of the supports that they may need to enable them to continue to care for their family member at home are short breaks,” a spokesperson for the Brothers of Charity revealed.

“Short breaks give them a break from their role as carer and also provide their family member an opportunity to be with others and benefit from new experiences.

“The uniqueness of this initiative is that care is provided for people in family homes and can really be seen as a home away from home. Individuals enjoy the opportunity of developing new relationships and being part of new communities whilst enjoying a short break,” the spokesperson added.

With home-sharing the person seeking the service is carefully matched with a person/family that often have common interests and hobbies. “The family of the person requesting the respite meet and often build up relationships with the home sharers,” the Brothers of Charity spokesperson said.

“Breaks can be planned and crisis can be responded to quicker and more efficiently than more traditional ways of providing respite.

Home-sharing is a two way process in that the families who provide the respite gain hugely from the experience of having a person with an intellectual disability stay in their home. “Sustainable and unique relationships can develop that will last for many years to come.

“Home-sharing is a crucial way to support and expand the informal networks of families and build on capacity and strength of communities.

“Home share families are assessed, trained and supported by Home Share Clare,” the spokesperson concluded.

A FUNDRAISING concert to support four local women who will volunteer at a children’s orphanage in Belarus will take place in Ennis on Friday.

Hazel O’Connor, Karen Dunne, Breda Browne and Bridget Punch will spend a week providing support and assistance at the Gorodische orphanage, which is located two hours from the capital, Minsk.

The group are travelling to Belarus as part of the Burren Chernobyl Project, a north Clare-based group that provides support to victims of the Chernobyl disaster.

The group have organised a number of fundraisers over the past couple of months, the latest of which takes place at All Bar One, Ennis, on Friday night at 9.30pm.

For Ennis woman Hazel, this is her third trip to Belarus. She explained that money raised would go towards helping kids at the orphanage.

She said, “We will be spending a week there, helping out as much as we can. I haven’t been there since 2008. The conditions aren’t so great but because the Burren Chernobyl Project are so involved, they have improved.”

Hazel, who works at Lifford Child- care Créche, added, “The one thing they really need out there are nappies. They don’t have them and, without nappies, the children can’t really learn to walk properly. The Pampers are really important. And having the extra staff is really important as well. They need extra staff to help give the children one-on-one attention and support.”

The group are hoping for good support on Friday night. Gorodishche is home to 220 children and young adults who are aged between four and 25. Gorodishche is a remote village a little over a two-hour drive south west of Minsk. Since the project’s first visit in the late ‘90s, the place has been transformed. A new building which was 13 years under construction has finally been finished and most of the groups have moved in there. The Burren Chernobyl Project has three programmes running annually in Gorodishche.

The Burren Chernobyl Project (BCP) was established in 1993 to help with the child victims of the fallout from the Chernobyl reactor explosion. Many projects have been carried out to assist the children and their families who are enduring the effects of exposure to radiation and the other social and economic problems facing them in Belarus.

FOLLOWING on the launch of a government initiative called the ‘The Gathering’ to bring over 300,000 tourists to Ireland in 2013, a West Clare councillor has launched his own plan boost tourist numbers into the county.

At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Gabriel Keating said his plan “to fly UK tourists for free into Shannon Airport with Aer Lingus on a pilot basis during off peak periods” would represent “a massive off-season boost for Clare tourism”.

Cllr Keating’s plan is that March 19, 2012, to April 16, 2012, and again from September 17, 2012, to October 15, 2012, visitors from the UK would be able to avail of free flights on Aer Lingus routes into Shannon Airport.

“The introduction of this scheme,” Cllr Keating said “would provide a much needed off season boost for our hotels, B&Bs, car rental industry, restaurants, pubs and tourism provider’s right across the county.

“Given the success that the reduction in the VAT rate has had in our hospitality sectors and the genuine efforts by our tourism providers to provide value for money, this initia- tive would play a significant part in extending our present summer season well into October. And of course, it would also help to boost passenger numbers at Aer Lingus and Shannon Airport.

“The success of this scheme could be achieved by undertaking a major promotion in supermarkets in the UK i.e Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Sainsbury’s etc. What I am proposing is that a similar scheme be introduced in their UK chains,” he added.

The one stipulation for UK visitors planning to avail of these free flights would be that they would have to spend a minimum of four nights in Ireland.

“What I am proposing is that we start thinking outside of the box when it comes to tourism promotion and in this regard Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Shannon Development should support this proposal and introduce a pilot scheme in conjunction with Aer Lingus,” continued Cllr Keating.

“It is time for change in the way we sell our country abroad and in the manner in which we disperse our marketing funds so that we maximise the benefits for our local tourism sector and revive passenger traffic at Shannon Airport,” he added.

MANAGEMENT at SkyCourt in Shannon say they are disappointed that one of its anchor tenants closed its doors “out of the blue” last week, after just six months in operation.

Discount store Buy Lo opened in March with the creation of seven jobs. After enjoying brisk trade in the initial weeks, business subsequently declined, which led to the decision to close last Tuesday.

The manager of SkyCourt, Pat Kelly, told The Clare People that the decision came “out of the blue” and said he was in “complete shock” at the announcement.

“We are very disappointed with it because we put a lot of effort into getting Buy Lo into Shannon,” he said. “I was extremely disappointed to hear of their decision. It has come as a great shock not just to myself but to all the traders in the centre.”

He said that despite difficult times in the retail sector, he is hopeful that the unit can be filled.

“We have been on to a number of operators. It is early days yet. We would be hopeful of getting somebody,” he said.

He said that the number of customers shopping at SkyCourt has fallen by about five per cent this year, but the spend is “down a good bit”.

“We are going to be doing our best to get another operator. It’s a fine store, fully kitted out. We did a lot of work in the unit before they moved in,” said Mr Kelly. The work includ- ed the provision of a new entrance and additional parking at the back.

“The fact that we have Dunnes and Lidl doing very similar to what Buy Lo were doing, maybe there was too much of a crossover,” said Mr Kelly.

“Ideally we are looking for something in the clothes line. We would love to get a replacement for it. We need to check the market and see who is looking to expand,” he added.

In a statement, BuyLo said it regretted that it had to make the decision to close.

BuyLo Store Manager, Sean Leo said the decision has been taken for commercial reasons. “We very much regret today’s decision which is a very difficult one for all of us working here at BuyLo in Shannon,” said Mr Leo, on Tuesday.

“The retail industry is being exposed to particularly challenging trading conditions at present and, unfortunately, our store has fallen victim to these difficulties. I would like to take this opportunity to pay special tribute to our seven staff members who have all worked extremely hard since the store opened earlier this year,” he added.

CLARE County Council has spent € 20 million on Traveller accommodation in Clare over the past 10 years, according to a new report.

The council has invested in 10 group housing schemes and one temporary site in the county that were put in place over three Traveller accommodation programmes since 2000. According to a report prepared by Bernadette Kinsella, Director of Housing, Social and Cultural Services, the capital cost between 2001 and 2011 has been € 20 million.

The report provides a detailed breakdown of all costs associated with Traveller accommodation incurred by the council.

It shows that maintenance costs of Traveller accommodation are “high relative to other accommodation provided by the council”.

Ms Kinsella explains that the council incurred high security costs on the Beechpark group scheme in Ennis, which was the subject of criminal damage and remains the subject of threat and intimidation since 2010.

The report adds, “Efforts to let three refurbished houses in this scheme are ongoing but unsuccessful due to intimidation and threats within the Traveller community. While the council has reported all such incidents to the Gardaí, victim statements have not been lodged with the Gardaí.”

The report states that a total of five units of accommodation have been destroyed by arson attack in the last 22 months (Beechpark, Ashline, Ballymaley). “Tenancy sustainment over time is an ongoing challenge and the turnover of accommodation units is a further driver of maintenance expenditure,” the report adds.

According to the report, “several hundred thousand euro have been incurred in defending these complaints, in addition to an inestimable staffing cost”.

Ms Kinsella states that in 2009 the council instituted judicial review proceedings to prohibit the Equality Tribunal from proceeding with hearings.

She continues, “Approximately 1,300 complaints were referred to the Tribunal by Ms Heather Rosen on behalf of Travellers. As each complaint carries a potential award of damages of € 6,000, the council is exposed to significant potential cost. To date 73 decisions have been issued by the Tribunal and all these cases were dismissed.”

In terms of staff resources the report shows that “five full-time and one part-time staff are deployed to work exclusively on Traveller accommodation issues, the majority of the focus being on resolving and responding to matters in respect of Travellers who have been accommodated by the council”.

It continues, “The council’s capacity to continue to commit this dis-proportionate level of resources, in the context of our overall housing stock of 1, 500 units and of ever diminishing staff resources is seriously limited.”

COURT FACILITIES in Clare have been “a total mess”, with the exception of Ennis and Kilrush, according to retiring Judge Joseph Mangan.

The Judge made the statement in his first interview since stepping down from the bench at Ennis District Court on Friday.

He told The Clare People that Killaloe court – which currently sits in Ennis – should be reopened and that courts should also return to Ennistymon (they currently sit in Kilrush). Over the years, while on the bench, the judge repeatedly hit out at conditions in various courtrooms across the county, due to the cold conditions and poor acoustics.

“One would have to say in Ennis facilities are perfectly satisfactory. One could say the same about Kilrush. Gort isn’t bad. After that, the facilities that we have had in this district were a total mess,” he said.

“When the District Court was set up at the foundation of the State, it was intended to be an accessible court. It’s the only court that most people see.

“When I first came to the district, I would have wanted to keep every venue open, but unfortunately the reality is there are no votes in courthouses. There are no votes to be got out of making courthouses an issue.

“When a court venue is closed, you will from time to time observe a local representative publicly shedding tears over the fact. Ask any one of them if they every put their head inside a court in the 30 years before the closure to observe the conditions in which work had been done. I believe that any society that allows justice to be administered in such appalling conditions has very little respect for itself as a nation,” he said.

“In retrospect, I think it was right to close a number of the outlying courts (in Clare) because of the conditions in which they had to function and the lack of realistic expectation of anything being done about them in the foreseeable future.

“I don’t believe it would be right to close any of the existing ones, including Killaloe and Athenry. Killaloe is temporarily closed and I know there is a wish on the part of the Courts Service to close it permanently. In fact, the expense caused to the guards by closing Killaloe would probably double the saving made by the courts service by closing it,” he said.

CONCERNS over burglaries and the theft of scrap metal and home heating oil will be on the agenda when the Joint Policing Committee meets in Shannon later this month.

One of the JPC meetings is held in public every year and the next Shannon meeting, on Monday, October 24 (Oakwood Arms Hotel), at 8pm, is open to the public.

Those with queries on crime prevention and general policing are invited to attend the meeting and submit any questions in advance of the event. It will give members of the public the chance to make their views known or ask questions of members of the committee which includes gardaí, local councillors and community representatives.

The chairman of the Shannon JPC, Councillor Tony McMahon, said that home security is an issue for homeowners in the town. However, he said that overall, residents are generally happy with the crime levels in the town.

“In Shannon, we don’t have a whole lot of issues. Security has been a concern. There have been a number of break-ins. There are concerns in some areas. Heating oil and scrap metal seem to be the focus of a lot of attention. People need to be alert and aware of that. Overall, though, policing is working quite well in Shannon.

“There is always a concern about drugs but when we look at the figures presented at each meeting the gardaí seem to be in control,” said Mr McMahon.

“Public order is not a huge factor,” he added.

He said that a number of local disputes, which have led to concern in some parts of the town “wouldn’t reflect on the overall situation in the town”.

“In general, the crime levels are as good as can be expected in a town of its population,” he said.

“We would like to see more gardaí on the beat but there are a number of gardaí on bikes which is good,” he added.

A number of local schools including community alert, neighbourhood watch and business watch schemes have been set up in Shannon and surrounding areas over the past few years. These have been credited with preventing some crime in the area.

“They seem to be working very well. The two community gardaí there are to be commended,” said Mr McMahon.

He is urging people to attend the public meeting. “It is essential that people attend public meetings. It’s a forum giving people the opportunity to express their concerns,” he said.

Those interested in submitting queries should do so to the Shannon Town Clerk Liam O’Connor: email shannontclerk@eircom.net or phone 061 362319 by 5pm on Friday.

A SMALL number of Traveller families are causing a lot of concern and costing Clare County Council a lot of money, a meeting has heard.

Those were the comments made by County Manager Tom Coughlan at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council. Mr Coughlan was speaking after a new report revealed the high cost incurred by the council in providing Traveller accommodation over the past 10 years.

Mr Coughlan told the meeting that a small percentage of families in Clare were behind many of the problems associated with accommodation including, vandalism and intimidation of council staff. Mr Coughlan said Clare County Council had led the field when it came to providing Traveller accommodation.

He said that the last specific piece of Traveller legislation had been introduced 23 years ago. He suggested that it was now time to examine legislation in the area of Traveller accommodation, saying further discussion and debate on the matter would be helpful to local authorities.

Commenting on figures that show that 1,300 complaints have been referred to the Equality Tribunal, Mr Coughlan said that if all cases are heard individually “it will take up a lot of council time and resources”.

Mr Coughlan paid tribute to staff working in the council’s housing section, saying that the job can be “extremely difficult and demoralising”. “There is a limit to the amount of money and staff the council can put into this,” he added. At the meeting, councillors expressed concern at the rising costs of the programme. Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) pro- posed that the council stop spending money on Traveller accommodation until such time as new legislation is introduced. “It’s high time they were taught a lesson,” he added. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that while Travellers have rights and entitlements, they also have duties and responsibilities. “But it seems to me that with elements of the Traveller community, it’s all a one way street.” Commenting on the council’s report, which shows that the percentage of rent collected for Traveller accommodation is low, Cllr Arkins said rent should be deducted at source from Social Welfare payments. “There are only so many times you can get two fingers in the face,” he added. Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that the figures contained in the report were very “disheartening” given the council’s ongoing commitment to providing Traveller accommodation. Cllr James Breen (Ind) said the gardaí should be invited to speak on incidents of vandalism and arson at Traveller accommodation at the next council meeting.

A CAMPAIGN to secure a potential € 1.2 milion three-year funding boost for music teaching in Clare got underway in Ennis yesterday.

Music teachers and musicians met with members of the Clare Music Partnership in the Old Ground Hotel to offer their input into Clare’s bid for the latest round of funding from the Music Generation Initiative.

Despite making an initial 23 county shortlist, Clare missed out on round one funding from the initiative, which has been made possible through the support of U2 and the Ireland Fund.

Clare VEC is co-ordinating the Clare bid, which is aiming to secure grants of € 200,000 per annum over a three-year period. County Arts Officer Siobhan Mulcahy explained that the Clare Music Partnership would be expected to supply matching funding over the period of the programme. She said that this could lead to € 400,000 being invested in music teaching in the county each year over the next three years.

Ms Mulcahy said the funding would be used to augment and compliment music teaching in Clare. Dr Helen Phelan of the University of Limerick told the meeting that the € 7m commitment from the initiative represented “one of the largest trenches of money to be ever invested in music education in Ireland”.

Dr Phelan said music teachers and providers would be asked to identify gaps and barriers in the area of music education. She explained that the programme is aimed at enhancing the existing network of music provision in Clare. She said that funding would be handed out over the course of four rounds. “We need to be in this for the long term so we need to be strategic about how we develop it,” she added. Guitar teacher Paul O’Donoghue said that there is no direct link from primary school through secondary school to third level education for children studying music. He said that music teaching in schools shouldn’t “zone in” on just traditional music. Concern was expressed over the availability of matching funding.

Dr Sean Conlan, Clare VEC Education Officer, said local authorities in Clare and groups such as RAPID and LEADER had previously committed to providing funds. He said the programme had received “fairly serious promises from senior people” that the Department of Education would continue to fund the project when U2’s commitment comes to an end.

THE exploits of an Ennis man who was considered to be one of the most flamboyant figures of 19th century politics are set to be exposed to the present and future generations thanks to the University of Chicago.

In what is considered to be boon to historians of 19th century Ireland, the library at the university is now giving free on-line access to thousands of documents relating to Charles James Patrick Mahon – better known as The O’Gorman Mahon, who hailed from Newpark House in Roslevan.

The O’Gorman Mahon, who lived from 1800 to 1891 was a key figure in Ireland and internationally, first coming to prominence when, along with Tom Steele, nominating Daniel O’Connell to stand for parliament in Ennis in 1828 – an election that paved the way for Catholic Emancipation the following year.

Some of Mahon’s numerous correspondents include: Ellen Courtenay, Daniel O’Connell, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Lord Palmerston, Ann Choquet, John Adams-Acton, Henry Cardinal Manning, Captain William O’Shea, Lord Francis Conyngham, Charles Stewart Parnell, William Gladstone, John Redmond, James O’Kelly, T.P. O’Connor, and G.O. Trevelyan.

“Perhaps the most noteworthy segment of the correspondence is the group of nine letters from Charles Stewart Parnell, dated from 1880 to 1888, including three written from Kilmainham Prison,” a spokesperson for Chicago University has revealed.

“In addition, there are three drafts of letters from Mahon to Parnell, including one of a reply to a telegram sent by Parnell. It was written after the O’Shea divorce proceedings had been completed and Parnell was attempting to reassert his authority in the party,” the spokesperson added.

Mahon was elected M.P. for Clare in 1830, while 49 years later he was also returned as an M.P. and again in 1885 as the parliamentary career in the county spanned nearly 60 years.

However, he earned a worldwide reputation as a career solider. The Czar of Russia appointed him lieutenant in his international bodyguard, a position above many of his generals. He held the rank of captain or general under most of the flags of Europe and colonel in the French army under Napoleon III. In the 1860s, he was a general on the side of the Uruguayan government in their civil war and fought in the American civil war on the side of the North.