Category: News

THE management of the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience have issue a call to patriotic action in their bid to make the iconic tourism location one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

A day of action, designed to get Irish people to vote of the North Clare tourist attraction, is being organised for next Friday week, October 7, and management are asking people to support the cliffs, in “the national interest”.

A place as one of the final Seven Natural Wonders of the World is estimated to be worth tens of millions to the tourism industry in Clare – and it is estimated that success in the competition could bring thousands of extra tourists to Ireland each year.

“The vote isn’t looking too bad at the moment. It is not possible to see what position we are in at the moment but voting trends are recorded by the competition organisers and we have been going up in the voting trends in recent weeks,” said Geraldine Enright of the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience.

“We have been doing very well at attracting international votes but we need to keep it up. We are going to have a national vote day and we will be encouraging everyone to vote for the cliffs on that day, in the national interest.”

A series of events, talk and media stunts have been organised for October 7, which is hoped will kick off a major run of votes before the completion of the competition on November 11.

“We are contacting all primary

and secondary schools

in the country, we are

doing some promot

ing with Fáilte Ire

land and there will be

a number of national

radio broadcasts on

October 7 to promote

the voting,” continued

Geraldine.

“There will also be a

abseil down the side of

the National Conven

tion Centre in Dublin

to promote the voting. Someone will come down the side of the building with a big banner saying ‘Vote for the Cliffs’.

“The Cliffs are an iconic site in Ireland and we are pretty confident – we have made it to the top 28 so we are really hopeful that we can make it into the top 7. The spin-offs of this are massive. Fáilte Ireland have suggested that this could bring a 35 per cent increase to visitors not just to the Cliffs but to Ireland as well.”

On October 7 anyone who shows that they have voted for the Cliffs via text message will be admitted for free to the site.

A SURVEY carried out by Ennis Chamber of Commerce indicates that there are currently 44 vacant units in the town centre.

The survey, which excludes Parson’s Quay, hotels, public houses and community buildings, appears to show an approximate vacancy rate of 15.3 per cent in the county capital. The figures are taken from a survey carried out on September 4 and are included as part of Ennis Chamber’s submission to a proposed variation to the Ennis and Environs Development Plan.

The submission, prepared by architect Michael Leahy, states;

“This alarming level of vacancy represents an approximate vacant area in the ground floor premises of the town centre of some 3,600 sq meters.”

Mr Leahy states that it is generally accepted that a vacancy rate of 15 per cent “is not sustainable into the medium to long term” and could lead to the development of “ghost shopping estates”.

He explains, “As we all know the period 2002 to 2008 was a period of unprecedented building activity across all sectors and we are now facing the consequences of excessive construction in the housing market in the form of ghost estates with the real possibility that many construction projects will have to be demolished. Can we not draw a similar conclusion in regard to the overprovision of retail space within County Clare and a likely development of “ghost” shopping areas particularly at town centre locations?”

The Chamber says they have prepared the submission to highlight modifications to the plan, which the business community feels “will have a significant negative impact on the vitality of Ennis town centre”.

The submission states that the changing of zoning provisions in the existing plan, which could facilitate the development of a proposed new district centre at the junction of Tobertascáin Road and Limerick Road, “will tend to attract traffic from the existing town centre”.

The submission also highlights concerns over access to and from the proposal site, which is currently the subject of planning application. The Chamber argue that “Any develop- ment of “ about 10,000 sq m” at an out of centre location would clearly have a devastating effect on the retail vitality of the centre of Ennis”.

In conclusion, Mr Leahy states, “It is our opinion that the modifications implemented have the potential to have a significantly detrimental effect on town centre retail.

“This will in turn lead to great difficulties in ensuring the survival of the building fabric in the historic town centre. Decreased viability of the town centre will in turn lead to negative effects on the sense of community within the town of Ennis.”

A FOCUS on the importance of road safety will be one of the main features of the Ennis Auto Fest, according to organisers.

The event, takes place at Ennis Showgrounds next month, will include a 110ft demonstration and display space hosted by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

The RSA Shuttle allows members of the public to interact with road safety campaigns.

Participants can practice driving skills on simulators, test hazard perception skills, test brake reaction time and take the driver theory test.

The shuttle is designed to include an interactive, educational road safety experience presentation area, with lectern, projector, screen and seating for an audience of 25 people.

Ennis man Kevin Mulqueen who is helping to organise the Ennis show explained that the display will also feature a “rolled over Audi” which will re-create the experience of road crash.

“People can experience what its like to be in a car crash. I’ve done it be- fore and it certainly makes you think about things differently,” he said.

Kevin said the demonstration will emphasize the importance of safe driving and driver responsibility.

The event is being organised to raise money for Ennis cubs and scouts, which caters for almost 200 children in the Ennis area.

Other attractions will include a display of custom, vintage and classic cars and bikes along with trade displays and kids events.

Kevin, who is Chairman of Ennis scouts and has also organised prodrift racing events in Ennis, said the festival has received support from car enthusiasts throughout Clare.

He added, “Most of the things we do are church gate collections or flag days so we wanted to do something where people are getting a bit of value for donating money. The committee at the Showgrounds have been good to us, they have given it to us for free for the day.”

Ennis Auto Fest takes place at Ennis Showgrounds on Sunday, October 2, from 1pm to 5pm. For further information contact Kevin at 086 0850015 or Darren at 085 2054032.

CLAIMS by a former Fianna Fáil councillor about alleged Fine Gael interference in the selection of Clare Vocational Education Committee’s (VEC) representative on the Standing Council of the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) have been rejected by the committee chairman.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) was responding to comments made by former Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey, at the September meeting of Clare VEC.

Mr Garvey claimed that he had been told by a Fianna Fáil councillor “not to bother” seeking the nomination to the IVEA standing council, as it was a “Fine Gael seat”.

Mr Garvey, who formerly served as Clare VEC’s representative to the IVEA, said he was disappointed to hear about this alleged arrangement. He said the seat was not the property of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.

Earlier this year committee member, Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) was chosen to replace then Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulcahy as Clare VEC’s representative to the IVEA. The vacancy was created when Mr Mulcahy was elected to the Seanad. Cllr Brennan told last Thursday’s meeting that the decision to select Cllr Keating had been made by Clare VEC and not by any political party. He rejected Mr Garvey’s claims about political interference in the work of the committee. Responding to Mr Garvey’s claims about a political deal, Cllr Brennan said that he had served on Clare County Council since 1985 and was well aware of how political parties acted. “That’s democracy, that’s they way it goes,” he added. Cllr Brennan said apparent arguments between political parties should be dealt with by parties and were not the business of Clare VEC.

A SINGLE father ran along the bonnet of his car before jumping feet first at another man during an incident outside Supervalu on Main Street, Tulla last year.

Terry Cassells (42) with an address at Magherbawn, Feakle pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and dangerous driving in March. Details of the incident involving Mr Cassells and another man were heard at Ennis Circuit Court yesterday.

The court heard that on February 20 (2010), a man was exiting the Supervalu store when he was struck on the leg by a car driven by the accused. The court heard that the accused then ran across the bonnet of the car and jumped at the complainant, knocking him against the window of the store. A garda told the court that the window broke during the incident causing € 1050 worth of damage. The court heard that a fight developed between the men. CCTV footage shown in court also showed that another man was present during the incident. The Garda said that Mr Cassells and the complainant knew each other prior to the incident. The court heard that the accused man had expressed regret for his actions and had written a letter of apology to the other man. In a victim impact statement the man said he had felt terrified during the assault. He said he had been out of work for 13 months. Judge Carroll Moran was shown a medical report stating that the victim had sustained a fracture to the base of his skull. Counsel for the accused, Pat Whyms BL, disputed the cause of the victim’s injuries. He said there was no evidence to suggest that the fracture had been the result of the incident outside the store.

Mr Whyms said his client’s judgment had been clouded by the break up of his relationship and an allegation he had heard about the com- plainant. Judge Moran said that the victim had suffered a serious injury. He said he was satisfied the fracture had been caused during the incident, either when the man fell against the window or further up the street when he was knocked to the ground.

He ordered that the accused bring € 1050 to court on January 9 (2012). He disqualified Mr Cassells from driving for 12 months. He adjourned making a decision on the assault charge until January 9.

MOUNTSHANNON can become Clare’s new international aviation hub drawing thousands of people to the mid-west region and eating into Dublin’s dominant position in the lucrative tourism market.

That’s the claim sounded out this week by Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd after being granted an operational license for a commercial seaplane base on the shores of Lough Derg at Mountshannon.

This is the first approved Com- mercial Sea Plane base in Europe and launches not only a new era in aviation history but a welcome development to the tourist industry,” Harbour Flights’ chief executive Emlyn Heapes told The Clare People .

“Failte Ireland and Shannon Development should be supporting this innovated enterprise which has now taken four years to archive this historical landmark in aviation and in tourism development.

“It will enable Lough Derg to become a major and vibrant tourism market leader as its prime location is perfect for sea plane owners to visit from all across Europe and a fantastic scenic introduction to beautiful Mountshannon and Lough Derg.

“Dublin receives half of our annual tourists with the west of Ireland predominately being a day destination. Our intention is to change this perception and make Dublin the day visit while opening up all of the tourist destinations in the west and have them easily accessible by the sea plane.

“Instead of attraction visits being a full day, with the majority of the visitor’s time being spent on a bus, we will shorten this to being under an hour.

“We are looking at opening the west and not only has our concept attracted the support of Failte Ireland, but we have also engrossed Tourism Ireland in the concept who have stated that it is an innovated tourism idea that they will use to promote tourism aboard,” he added.

Up to 45 new jobs are expected to the created by the Mountshannon based company that’s now set to embark on securing licenses for flights between Dublin Bay, Galway, Limerick, Foynes and Cobh.

The National Flight Centre, currently the largest flight training school in Europe, will also be using the Mountshannon base to establish the only European Aviation Safety Association (EASA) approved ‘Floats’ training base in Europe.

“This exciting development will greatly influence tourism revenue and help create a thriving training base that will attract budding pilots from all over Europe,” revealed Mr Heapes.

WHILE Malbay Manufacturing played a central role in life in Miltown Malbay and the wider west Clare community for more than half a century, there are young people in the town for whom the famous factory holds almost no relevance.

Indeed, as the town marked the quarter-century anniversary of its closure last week, one of the most common phrases to be heard around town was “I can’t believe it’s been that long”.

With a whole generation of teenagers and young adults born too late to remember the landmark facility, students at Youthreach Miltown Malbay, with the help of textiles texture Nicola Barner, have created a docu- mentary featuring interviews with employees from the facility and a host of old photographs.

“Most of us hadn’t realised that the factory had even existed so, when we came upon the idea, it seemed to us like a really good thing to do the documentary on. It took a lot of work but after a while we were able to find out more about the factory, the people who worked in it and the type of work that they did there,” said Rebecca Walker from Kilkee.

“We did a lot of work on the internet to find out about the factory and then we interviewed a lot of local people who would have worked in the factory going back down the years.”

Students from Youthreach took part in every stage of producing the documentary, from research and camera work, to interviewing and digital editing.

“It was very interesting to be part of making the documentary. We found out a lot about making documentaries and about using cameras and interviewing people,” said Grace Burke from Ennistymon.

“My job was to do some of the interviews, which was very interesting. Some of the other people who took part learned about using the cameras and more technical things like that. We get a FETAC Level Three certificate from doing the course in digital film-making and it is something that we would be interested in doing more of in the future.”

The work included a section of development education which tracked the changing global trends in textile manufactoring over a number of decades. This, according to Youthreach co-ordinator Josephine Dempsey, was a key part of the course for students.

“As part of the documentary, the students also did some work on development education and a lot of work on clothing and where a lot of the cloths that are coming into Ireland from Asia and other places are coming from. They also interview a lot of people around Miltown to check what they knew about where their own clothes were coming from, asking were the cloths produced in a sweat shop or in a more equitable environment” she said.

“That is the main reason why the factory closed. They just couldn’t compete any longer with imports coming in from the Third World. The factory here was very successful for a long time and produced a really good quality product. They used to supply a lot to the Italian market, to Macy’s in America as well as to Dunnes Stores, Marks and Spencers and Penneys.

“The impact that it had on the town was huge. There were all the people who worked there but it also had a big impact on the local shops and pubs. It also helped generate a lot of cottage industries around the area because women who had children and could no longer come into the factory were encouraged to work from home. It was the biggest employer in west Clare and, at one stage, there were three buses being shuttled in every day.”

THE decision by the Irish Aviation Authority to grant a license to Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd to operate a seaplane service from Lough Derg brings to an end a campaign that was first started 35 years ago.

In 1976, aviation history was made in Clare when a flyingboat flew into Killaloe and landed on Lough Derg for the first time, which revived the mid west region’s association with the flying boat era from the 1930s to late ‘40s.

The Southern Cross was piloted by Captain Charles Blair – who had piloted the last schedulted sea plane flight from Foynes in 1945. Thirty one years later, Blair was accompanied on his historic flight by his wife Maureen O’Hara and Captain Paddy White of the Department of Transport and Power.

The Killaloe landing was part of a feasability study by the Department of Transport and Power into using Killaloe as a base for flyingboat operations, following a decision by Aer Arann Teoranta to apply for a license to run a service.

As part of the Aer Arann Teoranta application, the plan was to provide one-hour flights along the coast from Lough Derg at a £15 a head. However, the plan came to nothing.

Thirty five years on, Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd chief executive Emelyn Heapes has estimated that the cost of flights for his new operation would be between € 50 and € 160.

“This is huge news for us,” said Margaret O’Shaughnessy of the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, “given our history with sea planes and the museum. I am just back from a promotion visit to the US and we got a fantastic response. The fact that we will now be able to offer flights on sea planes will just be mega for Foynes and tourism in the wider region”.

SHANNON is ideally located to become a global air freight hub – the first stage of which was signaled with the signing of a Heads of Agreement between Dublin Airport Authority and the Lynxs Cargo Group, which proposes building a new cargo facility at the airport.

That’s the message from Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar this week as Clare’s international airport gears up to cash in on the emerging air cargo market that could yield hundreds of jobs in the short and longterm.

“I see great scope for the development of the air cargo business in Shannon,” Minister Varadkar said. “I hope it will lead to a dynamic business partnership to develop and expand the air cargo business through Shannon. This would benefit the airport, the entire mid-west region and the national economy’

“The airport has a significant industrial hinterland, with a large volume of high-value products transported by air. But a very significant proportion of air cargo, around 80 per cent, is currently taken out of Ireland by road and flown onwards from airports outside the country. This is something I would particularly like to see addressed by Shannon airport.

“The signing of this Heads of Agreement confirms the continued commitment of both parties to further develop the valuable air cargo market. Shannon’s lengthy runway means it can take very heavy cargobearing aircraft, unlike many other airports, giving it a unique capacity to exploit air cargo,” he added.

This final agreement between the DAA and Lynxs brings to an end a process that started in 2009 when the a memorandum of understanding was first signed on developing a € 15m cargo facility in Shannon.

“The creation of a logistics centre at Shannon and the development of a marine transportation hub on the estuary could potentially lead to the creation of further employment for 5,000 people in logistics and related high-end manufacturing in the wider region over the next 10 to 15 years,” said SAA chairman Brian O’Connell.

“Lynxs will give Shannon Airport an excellent opportunity to exploit its central location between the major economies of the US, Europe and Asia and to develop as a significant cargo destination,” Mr O’Connell added.

KILRUSH Town Council has warned that “difficult decisions” will have to be made if the local authority is to ensure that it plays its part in the timetable laid down by the IMF for Ireland’s National Recovery Plan.

This warning has been sounded out by Kilrush Town Clerk John Corry in a comprehensive financial report for the year up to June 30, with some ratepapers described in the west Clare capital described as “very problematic”.

And, by way of confronting the problem of unpaid rates that are now running at an unprecedent level of 69 per cent, the council has warned that it may be forced to pursue people through the courts.

“The report highlights issues of concern in relation to the overall funding of Kilrush Town Council,” said Mr Corry is introducing his report. “Payments by customers continues to be very problematic. Rates collection at 30th June, 2011 stood at 31% in comparison to 39% at 30th June, 2010.

“Kilrush Town Council is dependent on rates income to maintain its operations as it represents 38.4% of Annual Income. The slowing payment pattern highlighted above has resulted in a considerable negative impact on cash flow.

“Kilrush Town Council is acutely aware of the commercial difficulties which rate payers are experiencing, and has adopted a practical approach in terms of payment plans to facilitate rate payers. However, where customers fail to engage to deal with amounts outstanding, recovery of the debt by legal means becomes necessary,” said Mr Corry.

The Town Council’s financial situation, brought on by unpaid rates has been exacerbated by a sharp rise in the arrears in housing rents in the first six months of the year as compared with the corresponding period last year.

“Arrears in housing rents have increased significantly since the beginning of the year,” reported Mr Corry, added that “rent collection at June 30 was 80 per cent in comparison to 87 per cent at the end of June, 2010. This increases reflects the current economic climate, but also impacts on cash flow to Kilrush Town Council”.

And, it’s the council’s warning that the Government “circular 3/2009 requires every local authority to ensure that its revenue account remains in balance for 2011 and consequently total expenditure must equal total income” that has opened up the live possibility of legal action being taken to ensure the books are balanced.

“This report highlights the difficulties that are facing Kilrush Town Council as we embark on the 2012 budget preparation process,” said Mr Corry. “Performance against budget is constantly monitored and managed. Difficult decisions have to be made to ensure that our current deficit can be eliminated,” he added.