Category: News

SINEAD O’Connor left Lisdoonvarna this weekend without finding love, but matchmaker Willie Daly is determined to find the lovelorn singer a man.

Sinead was introduced to a single farmer by Willie and his daughter Claire last Friday but the amount of interest in getting a glimpse of Sinead prevented the couple from really getting to know each other.

But Willie will keep her information on file and hopes to find her another match once the media glare has passed.

“Sinead came in and talked to me for more than half an hour and told me what she was looking for. One of the main things that she was after was a farmer – that is something that would appeal to someone living life in the fast lane. She didn’t say anything to me about the appearance of the man but she said that she wanted to meet a kind person, maybe someone of 40 years or older. She did say that she was looking for someone with stubble and there were plenty of men with beards around the town over the weekend,” said Willie.

“We introduced her to a very nice person. He was a big fan of hers and was very smart looking – he had a farm and a business. They talked for a while in our office and while that was going on a lot of people came in to get photos with her. She was nice about it but after a while she said she was leaving. So maybe Sinead might get back to her match once people are not around.

Despite Sinead’s failure to land a man in Lisdoonvarna, two of her male minders did find some companionship thanks to Willie.

“She had two young lads with her and I introduced them to some girls – I met them late on Sunday night and they said that they had enjoyed themselves anyway. I know that they did get some companionship while they were there.”

Sinead’s visit to Lisdoonvarna also had a benefit for tourism providers in the locality with the biggest crowd for the second weekend of the festival in years.

“Sinead O’Connor’s involvement certainly did help the local tourist trade. The local hotels were never as busy with a lot of people coming to meet Sinead and that was a boost locally,” said Marcus White from the Matchmaking Festival.

“But the festival has also helped people. The dancing is a great boost for a lot of people and a lot of the older people were especially happy in Lisdoonvarna. In the past people were a bit shy about coming to Lisdoonvarna, because they though you had to be single to come here, but these days about half of the people come to Lisdoonvarna to dance.”

STRIKE action at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick is just seven days away after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) served strike notice to the HSE last week.

The HSE last week announced that the hospital, which is the primary A&E for Clare patients from 8pm at night to 8am in the morning since the reconfiguration of A&E services at Ennis General Hospital in May of 2009, would have to close 25 beds at the hospital and reduce staff overtime by half.

According to Mary Fogarty of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the industrial action is a direct result of the pressure which has been put on the hospital by the extra volume of patients coming from Ennis. “This has been brought about by the continued neglect at the hospital. The A&E department at the hospital has been devastated since reconfiguration in 2009,” she said. “We were promised more beds and more staff and nothing has happened. We were told by the HSE that this would have no impact on the treatment of patients but this has not been the case either.

“We have seen more patients coming in from Ennis and from Nenagh and we have not been given the resources to deal with it. The patients that are coming in from Ennis tend to be the sickest patients and that is making the situations even more difficult.

The IMO have also confirmed that it is unlikely at this stage that industrial action will spread to Ennis General Hospital. The nurses organisation have also said that they will issue the HSE with details of what form the industrial action will take later this week.

Last Tuesday, September 6, members of the Accident and Emergency Department at the Mid West regional Hospital in Limerick voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.

It is understood that any industrial action at the hospital will include a work-to-rule and possibly some work stoppages. The INMO has asked the HSE to prioritise the Emergency Department at the hospital so that patients can be given a bed as quickly as possible.

A LONG awaited section of the Ennis inner relief road is due to go to tender before the end of the month, according to Ennis Town Council.

The road, which will link Clare Road and Station Road, is being constructed to ease traffic flows in the town centre.

To facilitate the project, a significant redevelopment of one of Ennis’ best known buildings, Madden Furniture, has been underway for the past 12 months.

According to owner Michelle Madden, work on the building, which was formerly Paddy Con’s Hall, is nearing completion.

“Our building is practically finished. We should be open in a few weeks. We will be opening our showrooms in a few weeks and we welcome the road and we think its going to be good for Ennis and the town and traffic in the area,” she said.

Ms Madden added, “We had to demolish one end of it and build back up the side. Last September we started demolition. We’re very much looking forward to having it open and getting back to some sort of normality. We feel it’s going to be good for Ennis in general.”

According to the latest quarterly progress report on Council projects, section E of the inner relief road should be in place in 2012.

The report states, “The Council is proceeding to tender the works on E-tenders in early September. Temporary work will be in place at side of Madden’s furniture during the tender process until the contractor takes possession of the site. It is anticipated that the inner relief road works will take six months from the date of commencement”.

Speaking at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said residents in Ardlea Road and Clare Road had concerns over the potential impact of the road on their property. He urged the Council to engage in a public consultation process with residents in the area.

IN ONE of his final interview before his tragic death last week, Clarebased Polish diver Artur Kozlowski, admitted that his mission to map the unexplored caves of North Clare and South Galway was extremely dangerous – with death the possible outcome of each solo dive.

Mr Kozlowski and his diving companion Jim Warny successfully mapped more than 13 km of dangerous underwater caves in the Burren region over the past six years. This work was achieved through of more then 60 solo dives.

“This was virgin exploration so we don’t know what is behind the next corner. We can’t see it because the visibility is so low, about one and a half metres, so it is dangerous,” Arthur told The Clare People last year.

“Because the caves are so small the dives are safer to be undertaken by one person at a time. So if you get into difficulty under there you are really on your own. You are on your own but we do have back-ups to all our equipment and we are both very well trained.”

Mr Kozlowski body was recovered from a cave in Kiltartan, just north of Gort, last Saturday, five days after he undertook his final underwater dive. His body was recovered by a specially trained British rescue team just before 5pm on Saturday, before his remains were taken for a postmortem at University college Hospital in Galway.

The British team, which was led by Coventry firefighter Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, working with the Doolin based Irish Cave Rescue Organisation and the local Gardaí, to complete the rescue operation.

The British team had been flown in as part of an inter-governmental request, due to their international expertise in cave rescue situations. Mr Kozlowski’s mother and sister also travelled to Ireland and prayers were said at the scene on Saturday evening by local priest Fr Tommy Marrinan.

Arthur went into the water at 3pm on Monday, September 5, and had enough oxygen to last until approximately 9.30pm that evening. The alarm was raised when he did not return and it was hoped that the experienced diver might have found an air pocket in a section of the underground cave.

In a statement over the weekend the Speleological Union of Ireland, the national organising body for caving, offered it condolences to his family saying that in recent years Artur has been pushing Irish cave diving to its furthest limits.

“Artur’s life was devoted to cave diving. He died pursuing his dreams, exploring to the limits,” it said.

EXACT DETAILS of Traveller accommodation costs along with costs of litigation relating to cases involving Travellers and the council will be outlined at next month’s meeting of Clare County Council.

That was the message delivered to councillors at their monthly meeting yesterday.

County Manager Tom Coughlan told the meeting that after a “difficult” first six months of this year, preparations for next year’s budget have commenced.

“It’s going to be a very difficult budget to draft. It’s going to be very challenging,” he said.

He said that expenditure in the area of Traveller accommodation “has been increasing year on year”.

“We can bring a report to the October meeting on policies and issues in relation to expenditure on Traveller accommodation,” he said.

Independent Councillor James Breen asked, “How many court cases have we taken against the Travelling community. How many have we lost? How many have we won? Who is paying for it? Have we recouped the costs?” he asked.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Richard Nagle said he was hopeful that a comprehensive report covering income and expenditure in this area would be presented. “I do think we need a full debate on it,” he said.

Mr Coughlan told the meeting that staffing at the council “is under constant review. In the next couple of months I expect we will see a number of resignations and a number of retirements. That will have an impact on services. What it will be I’m not sure, but I’m sure it will have a negative impact on services,” he said.

KILNAMONA Church was targeted by burglars at the weekend. However, nothing was taken in the break-in to the church which took place between 10.30pm on Friday and 8am on Saturday.

A window on the porch was broken and while money boxes are understood to have been searched, nothing was stolen.

According to gardaí, the window used to gain entry was small and they are investigating the possibility that the intruder was a young person or someone of slight build.

“They got nothing and they didn’t damage anything,” said the local parish priest, Fr Seán Sexton.

“It’s common place. There was no damage whatever done apart from the broken glass. It was all fixed in a couple of hours. We have moved on,” said Fr Sexton.

Gardaí across the county, meanwhile, are investigating a string of burglaries.

A house at Brickhill West, Cratloe, was broken into at around 11pm on Friday. The intruder was disturbed by the occupier and fled the scene empty-handed. The intruder is described as having a Limerick accent, aged in his early 20s and of thin build. He was dressed in black and wore a black balaclava and carried a hammer. No-one was injured in the incident.

A house in the Newpark area of Ennis was broken into at around 3am on Saturday. A handbag and wallet were taken, along with various bank cards and a driver’s licence.

A camcorder and small amount of money were stolen during a break-in to a house on the Lahinch Road in Ennis on Friday. The house was burgled between 7am and 5pm.

Gardaí in Kilkee are probing a house break-in overnight last Monday, during which a safe containing money in various currencies – including US dollars, Russian Rubles and sterling – was taken. Entry was gained after a window was forced open.

A selection of alcohol was stolen during a break-in to a house at Radharc na hEaglaise, Killaloe, overnight on Thursday.

Two incidents involving theft of property are also being investigated by gardaí. A galvanised feeding trough and an electric fence battery were stolen from a field at Moanreel South, Ennistymon, last Monday. In Cooraclare, several gates were stolen from a gate crush between 2pm last Wednesday and 10am on Thursday.

Also in Ennis, the golf club was targeted overnight on Wednesday, when a number of greens and tee boxes were damaged.

Anyone with information on any of those incidents should contact their local garda station or Ennis Garda Station on 065 6848100.

ENNIS Town Council will mark the second anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s visit to Ennis with an event to encourage young people in Ennis to be ‘The Best You Can Be’.

The event, which is due to take place in October, will promote excellence in different areas of life including sport and academic studies.

Ali, a former world-boxing champion, drew crowds of thousands when he visited Ennis in September 2009.

Details of plans to mark the occasion were revealed at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Town Clerk Eddie Power explained. “To mark the second anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s visit it is intended to host an event in Glór. The theme for the event will be ‘The Best You Can Be’ and will be aimed at second level students. It is planned to have notable speakers who can relate their own stories and achievements to the attending stu- dents. The objective of the speakers will be to motivate and encourage the students to aim for excellence in whatever they do and to capitalise on their natural skills and abilities.”

Mr Power continued, “Preparatory discussions have taken place with the Clare Youth Service and contact has been made with secondary school principals in Ennis. The idea has been warmly welcomed and it is anticipated that it will attract high numbers of students.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said more should be done to promote Ennis’ links with Ali.

“Our slice of the cake is getting very small and this town has to be promoted like it never has been before,” he added.

Welcoming the initiative, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the event would encourage young people in Ennis to achieve excellence. He said that any project that gives hope to young people should be welcomed.

Questioning if the Council could use Muhammad Ali’s name in promoting the event, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “We’re celebrating something that we can’t explicitly mention.”

Town Manager Ger Dollard said the Ali name will not be used by the Council to mark the second anniversary of the sporting legend’s visit to Ennis.

Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said ‘The Best You Can Be’ event could be developed along the lines of the Young Scientist competition.

A RADICAL plan that would see Shannon Airport given its freedom from Dublin Airport Authority control has been tabled with the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, but the controversial move by management at Clare’s international airport has polarised political opinion in the county.

Despite the sale of state assets being firmly on the Government agenda, local Labour Party TD Michael McNamara has rounded on the SAA proposal that the airport be leased out to private intererests for a period of between 15 and 35 years.

This is also the stance taken by Clare’s lone Fianna Fáil TD, Timmy Dooley, who also doubles as his party’s transport spokesperson, but local Fine Gael TDs, Joe Carey and Pat Breen have reserved judgment on the SAA submission, until more details of its contents become available.

Deputies Dooley and McNamara have emerged as the leading voices of opposition to the plan for the aiport, which will celebrate the 75th year of the sod turning that marked the building of the airport on October 8 next.

“Government have responsibility from a regional development perspective to promote and retain the airport,” said Deputy Dooley, “and if it’s passed to a private entity, leased to a private entity or sold, it’s responsibility is gone and they’ve washed their hands of it. That’s not the best thing for the airport,” he added.

“I hope that we don’t ever see the situation whereby there is a shortterm effort to turn a buck in Shannon to the detriment of the long-term development on the region, to which Shannon Airport is central,” said Deputy McNamara.

“What’s to be gained from leasing Shannon. I don’t see that there’s going to be any financial gain – I can see a potential gain for hawkish investors, but I’d be very reluctant to see people who are involved in Shannon Airport turn a buck in Shannon,” he added.

“I’d like to see the full proposal that the management in Shannon are putting forward,” said Deputy Carey, while his party colleague Deputy Pat Breen told The Clare People that ahead of making a decision of Shannon’s future within the DAA “Minister Varadkar is very much aware of the airport’s role in balanced regional development while at the same time conscious of the need to secure the airport’s future on a sound economic footing”.

Ryanair, which has called for Shannon’s separation from the DAA has told The Clare People that government backing for the SAA submission could represent a new start for the airport.

“This could help the airport do what it needs to do and that’s return to a low cost model and have low cost ethos,” said spokesperson Stephen McNamara.

“That’s where it is at across Europe. It’s about a local focus and a local delivery of a really good tourism product. If they can get that the airport can return to growth.”

OFFICIALS at Ennis Town Council have admitted frustration with the National Roads Authority’s (NRA) policy towards motorway signage for Ennis.

The issue was raised at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council, where members discussed a motion put forward by Councillor Brian Meaney (GP).

Cllr Meaney urged the Council to consult with the NRA, pointing out that there are no signposts for Ennis on numerous sections of the motorway network in the mid-west.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Meaney said a stronger case should be made to ensure Ennis is “identified as a major junction in the midwest”.

In his response to Cllr Meaney’s motion, Senior Engineer Tom Tiernan said the NRA does not regard Ennis as termination point.

He explained, “The main reason Ennis fares poorly on the national road signage relates to NRA standard policy, which dictates that the number of destinations to appear on signage should be minimised and that priority is given to destinations at termination points of relevant routes. Unfortuneatley Ennis loses out in a number of situations where one would expect it should feature due to the fact that it is not a termination location on the N/M18. I have received this explanation from the NRA on a number of occasions when I have raised this issue previously.”

Mr Tiernan continued, “Ennis isn’t indicated on signage along the approaches to the Tulla Road interchange because a decision was taken in advance of opening the Ennis bypass that it would not be appropriate to encourage Ennis bound traffic to take the Tulla Road route into town for a number of reasons including: concerns regarding traffic capacity of the route; the risk associated with encouraging increased quantities of traffic (particularly large vehicles) to enter Ennis under the Corrovorrin railway bridge whose clearance above road level is less than desirable; the extent of residential development along the route.”

Senior Executive Engineer Eamon O’Dea admitted that the issue of ter mination points had been “extremely frustrating” for the Council.

“We’re not happy about it and we will talk to them about it,” he added.

Councillors were critical of the NRA’s policy towards Ennis. Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) said it was not “satisfactory” that on main motorways “you find every other sign but no sign for Ennis”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the NRA does not seem to realise that there is a community beyond the Ennis bypass. He claimed Ennis had been “treated appallingly” in comparison to other large towns like Athlone.

THE success of the Loophead Lighthouse visitor project that has been running on a pilot basis for the past seven weeks is set to be built on as Clare County Council and its partner bodies put plans in motion to develop a range of tourism products in place for the 2012 season.

That’s the message delivered this week by the local authority’s director of service for tourism, Ger Dollard, who has revealed that a wide-range of new visitor experiences could be in the pipeline as tourism interest groups bid to build on the success of lighthouse experience.

“We went into it thinking that we were going to spend € 20,000 or € 30,000 over the three months and lose it – we were willing to do this on the basis that we were trying to see if we could build something at Loophead,” Mr Dollard told The Clare People this week. “The fact that it has been so successful, every single box has been ticked. The big thing we learned is that there is a very strong tourism product in Loophead – it’s how we develop that,” he adds.

Up to date figures released by Clare County Council this Monday have revealed that 15,507 have visited the tourist attraction since it opened its doors to the public, with children making up 3,793 of these.

Now, a new range of visitor attractions are set to mushroom around the lighthouse, with the county council director of service revealing that the challenge is now to “marry everything together, develop it into something on the tip of West Clare that can financially sustain itself”.

“It’s hoped to rebuild the lookout post between now and next summer – that’s part of history being put back in place. There’s a walk planned around the lighthouse and in this we have worked with local community and are getting it costed,” said Mr Dollard. “That should be in place for next summer. We have been talking to a geology group – a lot of geology work is being done in the area. It’s an element that could developed in a display of the geological history of the area.

“We have been talking to Inis environmental consultants who are working with UCC – they have ideas about a bird observatory on the site and we are seeing how that could be incorporated in an overal visitor product.

“Our biggest problem is that we have too much stuff between maritime, geology, the lighthouse itself, the flora, the fauna, the walks, the lookout post, the coastwatch service. It’s how you bring it all together in a coherent way and to try to prevent the natural beauty of the Loophead area being destroyed,” he added.