Category: News

A SECOND major climbing accident of the summer took place in North Clare this Saturday when a man had to be airlifted to safety after falling more than five metres at the Ailladee area, just north of Doolin.

The man, who is understood to be a Czech national living in Ireland, was “free climbing” with three others on Saturday evening when the accident took place.

Free climbing mean climbing without the use of ropes and is considered to be more dangerous than abseiling using ropes.

A 41-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after his climbing equipment apparently failed and he fell five metres from a cliff face, crushing several vertebrae in his back. The man was airlifted to by Rescue 115 to the University College Hospital in Galway.

Meanwhile, a passenger ferry ran aground in low tide in Doolin last week – forcing it’s crew and captain to remain on board for several hours until the tide changed again.

The Rose of Aran, which is operated by Aran Doolin Ferries, was arriving in Doolin to collect passengers before travelling to the Aran Islands when the incident took place.

The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard assessed the vessel and concluded that it was neither in danger of capsizing or a pollution risk.

“The tides were very low last week and the ship ran aground. It is something that could happen any time at Doolin except for the skill of the skippers who are navigating in that shallow area,” said Matty Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

“The boat didn’t list and there was no immediate danger. This is the sort of thing that wouldn’t happen if there was a new pier in Doolin.”

A PROGRAMME that is geared towards helping youths to develop their confidence and life skills has mushroomed in Clare this year. The Baha’iinspired Junior Youth Empowerment programme has set up nine branches across the county as up to 80 young people in Clare and Limerick are learning through the scheme.

Volunteers work with youths in the 11 to 15 age bracket. They navigate and nurture them through their daily activities. The aim is that their work with the youths will help them to build confidence and progress in life.

It initially became popular in Shannon after two young men – Mark Barry and Aron Foley – decided to take time out of their education last year to focus on working on the programme. They set up two groups in Shannon and other branches have since been set up in Ennis, Kilrush, Killaloe and Parteen.

Clare Jamal O’Brien, who lives in Ennis, works with the Junior Youth programme on a full-time basis and is thrilled to see that numbers of young people involved have increased rapidly. Clare is a member of the Baha’i community but stresses that the programme is open to all religions.

“You see the commitment of individuals who care about the progress of their communities. These young people are key to ensuring the betterment of their communities. People sincerely have a desire to contribute to their society but many people don’t know how to do that,” she said.

“This is a spiritual empowerment programme. Most of the people who used to run these programmes were of the Baha’i community but now they are from a multitude of religious backgrounds and, in some cases, no religious backgrounds,” said Clare.

The various groups all operate on an individual basis. Some meet regularly, while others hold infrequent meetings. “The groups are varied. One group in Shannon meets almost every single day. Other groups would meet at least once a week. They decide how they would meet.

“They start at the age of 11 or 12 and complete it at 15. After that they can continue on and train to serve the community or train some of their friends in Junior Youth. Parents can come and contribute. The role parents play is vital,” Clare said.

Clare believes that the increase in interest in Clare is down to the fact that “people have been interested and committed to learning. It is important that young people have spiritual relationships with each other regardless of their religious backgrounds”.

The aim is to further increase the numbers involved with Junior Youth. “Our goal is to see 200 members in Clare and Limerick in the next few months,” said Clare.

Anyone wishing to get involved in Junior Youth should phone 087 2047162.

PEOPLE with old sewing machines that are no longer in use are invited to donate them to a group in Shannon.

The Shannon Musical Society is gearing up for its spring production ‘The Pyjama Game’. The show, which will be the society’s 34th production, is based on a trade union dispute in a sewing machine factory.

This is the second time the society has staged this production, following a successful run in 1990.

The group will have its first meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Shannon Knights Inn, where newcomers are invited to attend and meet several of the society’s existing members.

“We have a brilliant crew. Our committee are very young and enthusiastic,” said the PRO of the society, Mary Forde.

“We are trying to encourage new members to join. We have a lot of new people in the past few years but we need to keep adding,” she said.

The show is based on the Richard Bissells novel Seven And A Half Cents , which has been in existence for decades.

Given the show’s topic, she said that the hunt is on for sewing machines. “We would welcome anybody out there with old sewing machines to donate them,” said Ms Forde.

“This is a time for the long-standing members to meet up again after the very successful ‘Wedding Singer’. It’s also a great opportunity for new members to become involved in the society and to meet existing members and get acquainted with the organising and running of the society,” she added.

Carmel Griffin, who has been involved for several years, is the musical director, while Karen Barrett – who also features regularly in the shows – is the choreographer. Donal Cantwell from Dublin, who is involved for the first time, will be the producer.

Rehearsals will get underway on September 6, while the show will be staged at St Patrick’s Comprehensive School from February 12 to 18 next year.

Anyone wishing to get involved in the show should turn up at the Shannon Knights tomorrow, Wednesday, at 8pm, or phone 087 6270107.

THE Kinvara Farmers market will continue trading in 2011, even if difficulties in obtaining a license to trade in the town’s square cannot be overcome. The future of the market had looked in jeopardy earlier this month due to ongoing delays in completing legislation to clarify the standing of markets hosted on public areas.

The market, which has proved a huge success since it was first set up in 2009, has up until now traded on private property at Johnson’s Garden but this area will be unavailable to traders next year. The market had originally been designed to trade in the Square in Kinvara but delays in drafting market legislation had forced them to take up residence in Johnson’s Garden.

With this legislation still some way off, the future of the market for 2011 had seemed in doubt. However, an innovative new approach by the market has secured the market’s future whether the market legislation is drafted in time or not. Last week, the Kinvara Farmers Market successfully secured a road closure license which allowed them to trade at the Square in Kinvara without the need for the farmers market license. A meeting of traders will now take place next month, where the various options available to the group will be outlined.

“I think we proved that a market can work well in the Square in Kinvara. Despite difficulties with the weather, we got great feedback from customers” said Antoinette Hensey of the Kinvara Farmers Market. “What we can do next year is apply for a road closure for every Friday morning during our trading season and that will allow us to trade each week. This would, we think, cost less that a license and we are not at present able to get a license so there is a solution to our problem. The market will be back next year, one way or the other.

“This is a very unusual route that we have taken and we think that it could be used by other markets who are in difficulty with the licensing regulations. There are lot of conditions to be met but, once you have achieved this, it is relatively straightforward.

“We need to have a stall-holders meeting to see what we will do for next year. There are many who believe that business will be better in the Square but there are other who have an emotional attachment to the space in Johnson’s – which might still be available to us for next year.”

Anyone who wishes to find out more about getting a road closure licence can contact Antoinette Hensey on 065 7078042.

THE people of Clare will be given the opportunity to invest in the largest renewable energy project ever undertaken in Ireland through a local share issue being offered by the West Clare Renewable Energy (WCRE).

The co-op style company, which is made up of more than 30 local landowners, was yesterday granted planning permission to build a € 200 million wind farm in Mount Callan. According to company spokesperson Padraig Howard, the company has already been contacted by a number of international investment companies looking to bankroll the project but WCRE have decided to fund construction locally, as much as possible, by issuing a “local share” which would allow the people of West Clare to buy a stake in the company.

“We are very strongly of the opinion that we do not want to sell on the project to outside investors. We started this so that we could create jobs and as a resource for the wider community in west Clare,” he said.

“There will be debt on the project and we will be borrowing from investment funds and banks to get this off the ground but there will also be the chance for people to invest. We are hoping to put out a share offer for the local community and the wider community in west Clare that can buy into the project if they wish. If that happens then that will be absolutely fantastic, because that means that the return from the project will be shared among the wider community in west Clare.”

Construction work on the giant wind farm cannot begin until a connection to the national grid can be secured – something which could hold up the wind farm for up to five years.

“The next step is securing an offer of a grid connection from Airgrid and the Commission for Energy Regulation. That is a very slow and cumbersome process at the moment and we will have to wait for a number of years,” continued Padraig.

“The new government has promised to reform this process and speed it up – especially for projects who have a certain scale, have strong wind resources and are close to an existing grid connection – we tick all three of those boxes. So we are hopeful that we can get over the grid connection difficulty as quickly as possible.

“Without a firm grid connection offer we can only guess when we can start the process. But today is still a day to savour – we now know that this will go ahead sooner than later. We are anxious that this go ahead ASAP but we have been patient in the planning of this and we will continue to be patient.”

Mr Howard also thanked all the people of west Clare who had backed the project and also invited anyone who might have been against the planning permission being granted to further engagement on the progress of the wind farm.

THE construction of a new € 200 million wind farm in Mount Callan will stem emigration from West Clare – not just by the jobs it creates but also by showing the young local population that anything is possible.

That is the opinion of local farmer and member of West Clare Renewable Energy John Talty, who believes that the wind farm will keep West Clare communities alive.

“This will keep the next generation here. It will keep the young people here in West Clare not just by the employment that it generates but also because this will show people that anything is possible,” he said.

“What this was about right from the very beginning was generating employment in our community, in West Clare. Anyone who knows this area know that this is an area that is crying out for local employment. People are taking the Hand road down to Ennis and Shannon every day for jobs and this can now open a real opportunity for people in West Clare.

“It is not just about the construction and operation of a wind farm this will have major spin-offs for the whole region. Part of the plan is to build proper walking trails and cycle ways into the design of the windfarm and we believe that this project will become a big draw for tourists coming into the area.”

The wind farm, which has been a local project for more than 16 years, began to take shape properly in 2006 when West Clare Renewable Energy was first established. It was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála yesterday who actually increased the number of turbines allowed on the wind farm to 29, from the 28 which Clare County Council granted permission for earlier this year.

“We’re delighted today. This has come about after a lot of hard work and struggle by a lot of people and we are all really over the moon with the decision,” continued John.

“What we really want to do now is to thank all of the landowners and the wider community for the support that they have given throughout this process which has been brilliant – people like the Traders Association in Miltown Malbay who have been so supportive of this project from the very beginning.

John also paid special to the late Robert Tottenham, one of the groundbreaking thinkers in forestry in Ireland and the person who first conceived of bringing wind energy to Mount Callan almost 20 years ago.

AN AMATEUR west Clare DJ has built up a cult following for himself on German radio, with around 8,000 Germans tuning in to hear his programme each week.

Kilkee DJ Patrick Linanne began his career at Radio Corca Baiscinn around six years ago and, after taking a number of training opportunities, he began to podcast an hour-long Electrohouse show over the internet.

The podcasted show, which was entitled ‘Groove On the Loop’, built up a small cult following of listeners, which gave Patrick the inspiration to submit his shows to German dance station Wheee FM.

“I heard about Wheee FM, which is a radio station based in Munich, and I sent them a few of my sets. I didn’t think anything of it but a few weeks later I got an email telling me that I was going to get a regular weekly slot, which was amazing,” said Patrick.

“It you look at the figures from the show, we know that we are getting more than 8,000 listeners a week in Germany. The radio station has some really big-name DJ’s contributing. The ethos of the station is all about promoting new talent and putting them alongside big name DJs. Anyone can join it and if you are good enough you can get a show.

“The station broadcasts online 24 hours a day across the world. It is mainly online but it does broadcast on a frequency in Germany although there is no real way of knowing how many people are tuning in for that.

“The show is really a 60-minute set. I have put some talking between the music on some sets but sometimes I don’t even bother. When I do talk, I talk in English. Myself and Sebas- tian had that conversation back at the very beginning and we decided that, because so many German people can speak English and because they will hardly be able to understand my west Clare accent either way, that there was no point in my trying out the German.”

‘Groove on the Loop’ can be heard on www.wheee.fm/cms each Saturday at 2pm and repeated on Wednesday’s at 12 noon.

THE FUTURE of Shannon Airport can’t be about profit and can’t be about Ryanair – these twin messages were sounded out by Fianna Fáil this week as the county’s international airport prepares to unveil a new blueprint to chart its future over the next decade.

The party’s transport spokesperson, Clare’s own Deputy Timmy Dooley has told The Clare People that “pandering to the whims of Ryanair” should have no place in Shannon’s new business model.

Deputy Dooley has also warned the Dublin Airport Authority that any new drive “for profitability” or “break even situation” at Shannon Airport could signal the death knell of its seven-decade status as an international airport.

“We shouldn’t be focusing on Shannon in itself being a profitable entity,” said Deputy Dooley ahead of the publication of the first masterplan for the airport since 1999.

“The airport from a regional point of view has to be seen as critical infrastructure to allow the region to thrive, develop and grow. Dublin Airport is the cash cow and it should always be the case where Dublin Airport should be in a position to provide subvention to Shannon.

“It has got to be about cost control and cost containment, but the bottom line should not be about profitability for an airport like Shannon.

“If you reduce Shannon to where it is only at a break even point, then you have to reduce the level of facilities and services to a point that it’s not going to be able to retain its in- ternational status.

“There is a certain level of service and staffing that you need to maintain to keep status in place,” said Deputy Dooley.

Continuing, the county’s only opposition member of the Oireachtas said the key to Shannon’s future lay in “getting its cost base right” and looking to new markets. “Clearly it has been next to impossible to get an appropriate deal with low cost carrier Ryanair,” he warned.

“He [Michael O’Leary] has played ducks and drakes with Shannon for a long time. Pandering to Ryanair’s needs might seem appropiate on occasions and welcome, but it hasn’t proven to be sustainable on a longterm basis. It’s not time to forget about Ryanair, but it’s time to forget about pandering to the whims of Ryanair.

“What the airport has to do is focus on more sustainable business with airlines that are prepared to invest in routes and stick with them during difficult. It’s the path that will provide the best path for long-term sustainability,” he added.

A NEW masterplan for the development and safeguarding of services at Shannon Airport is set to be unveiled in September, just ahead of the 75year anniversary of when the first sod was turned to start the construction of Ireland’s first transatlantic gateway.

In consultation with Dublin Airport Authority chiefs, the Shannon Airport Authority are now believed to be putting the finishing touches to the blueprint that will be expected to chart a new future for the former hub of the aviation world over the next decade.

The plan’s publication will be the culmination of a consultation process between the Dublin Airport Authority, SAA and the public, by way of taking submissions on the airport’s future from key partners in the wider airport infrastructure and catchment area, before finalising the key points of concern and concentration in Shannon’s drive to usher in a new era of profitablity.

“A key element in drafting such a plan is to elicit the opinions of airport stakeholders,” a Shannon spokesper- son revealed in April, after business groups in the mid-west region were invited to a think-tank aimed at coming up with new ideas for the airport going forward.

The masterplan is being formulated against a backdrop of figures contained in the recently released Dublin Airport Authority annual report, which revealed that passenger numbers through Shannon in 2010 dropped by one million over the previous year.

This drop represented a 37 percent decline in passenger traffic, a 12-year low at Shannon.

Only 1,755, 885 passengers used Shannon in 2010, a figure that’s now lower than 1998 levels of 1,840,008 passengers when the airport was still reeling from the loss of its transatlantic gateway status in 1993.

The drastic fall-off in numbers, from 2,794,563 in 2009 represented the fourth year in a row that Shannon’s passenger count when into sharp decline.

Between 2004 and 2005 passenger numbers increased by a record 37.9 per cent as Shannon’s numbers grew to a record 3,639,046 from 2,395,116 over a two-year period.

It’s expected that the new blueprint will concentrate on stabilizing Shannon’s finances – rather that directly addressing the passenger decline with the transformation of Shannon into a worldwide cargo hub development seen as a potential saviour for the airport.

Into this category comes the Lynx Cargo trans-shipment facility, which is to be grant aided to the tune of € 6m by the DAA, while Shannon Development chairman, Dr Vincent Cunnane has said “the airport will not survive on passengers alone and needs a cargo hub”.

THE search for a missing east Clare man enters into its eighth day this morning, with friends and family joining Coast Guard and Garda search teams around the Cliffs of Moher area.

Tulla native Gerry Kelly is a regular visitor to the tourist attraction, where his car was discovered unattended last Monday evening. The 61-year-old was last seen on Tuesday, August 8. However, there have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of him in the Tulla area between then and August 15, when his car was discovered.

“The search is still ongoing and will be for the next number of days. We have been doing a protracted search of the area for the past week,” said Matty Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard.

“This man was a very regular visitor to the cliffs. He worked at the county council and a lot of his friends and family have been up in the area helping in the search. At the moment, the only real piece of information that we have is that his car was found at the cliffs.

“Our search is focusing on the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin area but I do know that friends, family and county council colleagues are searching in areas around Spanish Point and up as far as Fanore – all the different areas either side of Doolin.”

Mr Kelly, who is single, does not have his mobile phone with him which has made it difficult for gardaí to track his movements electronically. He is described as being five feet five inches tall with short brown hair, a round face and a ruddy complexion.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Gardaí in Killaloe at 061 620540 or Ennistymon at 065 7072180.