Category: News

CLARE County Council has turned down a planning application for a € 50 million windfarm at Shanovogh near Miltown Malbay. This represents the second time in a year that the promoters of the windfarm project have had an application turned down by local authority planners.

In handing down its judgment, the planning authority said the “noise generated” by the wind turbines and development itself would “seriously injure the amenities of residential property” and “depreciate the value of property”.

Planners also ruled that the development would “pose an unacceptable risk to water quality standards”, while also noting that it was “not satisfied that the proposed development will not negatively impact on species and habitats in the area” and finally concluding that the project was “contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

In May, McMahon Finn Wind Acquisitions Ltd lodged an application to build a windfarm on a site that’s two miles away from the West Clare Renewable Energy project on Mount Callan, the green light for which was given by Clare County Council last August.

The application was for a windfarm comprising of six turbines with a height of 85 metres and was submitted to local authority planners by Cian Ó Laoithe Architects.

Last year, Clare County Council invalidated plans submitted by McMahon Wind Ltd for a 12-turbine windfarm on the same site, while a decision date on the new planning application is due in mid-July.

The second application for a windfarm development in the county falls within the guidelines of the Clare County Council wind energy strategy that has set a working target of 550 MW of wind energy to harnessed in the county by 2020.

Between 2000 and 2010, 22 applications for windfarms were lodged with Clare County Council, with one of the first projects to be given the green light being in 2002 when the ESB were granted permission for a nine-turbine € 20 million renewable energy farm at Moneypoint.

Last December, An Bord Pleanála rejected an appeal by An Taisce against a Clare County Council decision to allow Hibernian Windpower to construct a windfarm incorporating 11 turbines of approximately 2500kW capacity each, at Boolynageragh, Lissycasey.

The development site, which is three kilometres north of Lissycasey, will have total rated electrical output of 27.5MW.

The Mount Callan project is set to be the largest community-owned windfarm development in Ireland and is a € 200 million project that aims to create 300 jobs during the construction phase.

CLARE County Council has invited members of the public to submit any observations or representations concerning a number of road closures planned to accommodate the staging of Michael Flatley’s ‘Lord of the Dance at the Cliffs of Moher’ this September.

The world-famous music and dance extravaganza is expected to attract as many as 20,000 tourists to north Clare this September.

The local authority have served notice that they intend to temporally close sections of the R478 – from its junction with the L5148 at Ballysteen to its junction with the R479 Doolin Road at Garrihy’s Cross – on September 1 and 2.

The road will still be open to local traffic and all other traffic is asked to use the N67 between Ennistymon to Lisdoonvarna throughout the restrictions.

The current plan is to close the road on both days between 3pm and 1am the following morning. It is expected that the event will have a number of spin-offs for the tourism industry in the county and if successful, could become the first in a series of concerts hosted at the Cliffs of Moher.

The concert will come just five weeks ahead of the D-Day in the Cliffs of Moher’s bid to become one of the new Seven Wonders of the World and could provide a welcome springboard for that bid.

Tickets for the event, which is being organised by MPO Promotions Limited, are currently available from Ticketmaster outlets and can also be purchased in person from the Cliffs of Moher Centre.

The show itself will feature 40 precision dancers acting out the mythical Irish folk story of a battle between Don Dorcha, the Lord of Darkness, and the Lord of Light, also known as the ‘Lord of the Dance’.

Local musicians Michael O’Connell and Hugh Healy, as well as special guests, folk legend Finbar Furey and the world-famous Kilfenora Céilí Band, will share the finale with the ‘Lord of the Dance’ troupe at the top of the Cliffs of Moher.

Anyone who wishes to make a submission on the proposed road closure is asked to contact the Roads Department at Clare County Council before Friday, August 5.

ALCOHOL and alcohol addiction is playing an increasing role in the suicide rate in County Clare, with a growing number of suicides in the county having some connection to alcohol abuse.

That is according to the Clare spokesperson for the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) who told The Cla re People yesterday that alcohol is a major contributing factor to many suicides in Clare.

“Alcoholism is a killer disease; even the World Health Organisation (WHO) now recognise it as the third biggest killer on the planet and a lot of those deaths are through suicide,” said the Clare spokesperson for the AA, who asked not to be identified.

“Alcohol is a depressant and, if you drink a lot of it, can become very depressing. That is why a lot of people who become an addict also have suicidal tendencies. The biggest problem with alcoholism is the denial, both from the alcoholic themselves and their friends and families.

“This allows the situation to get worse and worse and worse until eventually it gets too much and suicide or attempted suicide is the way out for some people.”

There are currently 24 AA meetings taking place at different locations throughout Clare every week, evidence that no part of the county is unaffected by alcoholism abuse.

According to Ruth*, a recovering Clare alcoholic who contemplated taking her own life last year, the connection between alcoholic abuse and suicide in Clare is increasing.

“The amount of deaths that I have heard about through [alcohol] overdose and alcohol-related suicides is more than I’ve heard about through illnesses and natural causes. And that is despairing,” says Ruth.

“I have gone to funerals and I have seen how the children of someone who has done that [committed suicide] have reacted. But I can relate to what that person would have felt. I felt like my children would have been better off without me.

“I remember when I was at the Bushypark Treatment Centre, there was a lad in there in his early 20s. When I heard of this young man’s suicide, the thing that I remember most is the look on the counsellors’ faces at Bushypark. It was like they had lost one of their own.”

Anyone who feels that they might have a problem with alcohol can contact the local branch of the AA in confidence on 061 311222. To read about Ruth’s struggle to overcome her alcoholism and the help she found at the Bushypark Treatment Centre, turn to page 29.

KIERAN O’REILLY was ordained Bishop of Killaloe on August 29 last, but now, less than a year into his tenure as leader of the diocese that takes in parts of Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Limerick and Laois, he should tender his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. That’s the controversial call made this week by Clare Fine Gael senator, Martin Conway, who has told The Clare People that “a complete wipe-out” of the Church hierarchy “is the only way forward” and that Bishop O’Reilly should be one of the casualties.

“It may be seen as being a dramatic call,” said Senator Conway, “particularly in Killaloe, given that Bishop O’Reilly is in situ for less than a year. However, I firmly believe that there has to be a complete clean-out.While there are some in the hierarchy I would have a regard for, like Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, I think what’s needed in the church in Ireland is a change. A complete change.

“People have absolutely no confidence in the hierarchy. There are good guys there and there are people there who are not culpable for what’s happened, but at the same time there has been an institutional failing.

“That has been proved in the Cloyne Report. The Church systematically failed – not just the Irish hierarchy, but the Vatican as well.

“The only way as a practicing Catholic that I can have any confidence going forward is if there is a complete wipeout of the present hierar- chy and new people are appointed to lead the Church going forward. All bishops in all dioceses must go and must be replaced by younger people who are more in tune with how modern Ireland views these things,” continued Senator Conway.

Turning his attention to the Galway diocese, which takes in vast tracks of his political base in north Clare, Senator Conway said the handling of sex abuses cases again highlighted the urgency for Bishop Martin Dreannan to resign.

“I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in Bishop Drennan,” he said. “My confidence in Bishop Drennan has been eroded a long, long time ago. He is there against the wishes of the vast majority of people in the Galway diocese. He does not in anyway reflect the mood of genuine Catholics within the Galway diocese.

“I, as a public representative in the second instance, but in the first instance as a practicing Catholic, have absolutely zero faith in him whatsover. The best thing he could do in the interests of the people, in the interests of the Church and in the interests of the genuine people who are in the Church for the proper reasons, is resign.

“The Church has to look people in the eye and say that everyone who has been involved in the Church at hierarchical level is gone and we are starting again. It’s the only way forward,” he added.

HUNDREDS of jobs could to be created in Clare in the coming years as a result of a number of new Irish wave energy projects which are set to come online off the Clare coast in the coming decade.

This follows the granting of a foreshore license for the WestWave Project at Killard Point off the Doonbeg coast last week, which will see a number of companies use the water off the Clare coast as Ireland’s first wave energy power station.

When completed the prototype wave power station will create an estimated 5MW of electricity. According to Andrew Parish, CEO of wave energy company WaveBob, each megawatt of energy created will equate to roughly 15 jobs onshore, with many more during the construction phase.

This mean that the WestWave Project could create as many as 75 Clare jobs before 2015. With commercial production likely to be roughly ten times the size of the WestWave prototype, the number of Clare jobs to be created could quickly into the several hundred. The Clare, Mayo and Kerry coastlines are considered to be three of the top locations for wave energy in the world.

“Clare has a huge potential for wave energy, indeed the west coast of Ireland has one of the largest wave energy capacities in Ireland. Clare is one of the three counties best served with the potential to exploit wave energy. That is not just about the waves, it is also about the coastline, port facilities and the grid connection,” Mr Parish told The Clare People yesterday.

“The official estimates from the European Commission is that there would be 10 to 15 jobs created for every megawatt of capacity added. So you can see that there is a good number of jobs here.

“We would estimate that about half of these jobs would come in the supply side of the operation – the people who are providing servicing, maintenance, transport and boats. That is on an ongoing basis but during construction there are additional contractors who would be brought in work on that,” he added.

The WestWave Project aims to develop the first wave energy project in Ireland by 2015 by generating an initial 5MW of clean renewable electricity. WestWave is a collaborative project being led by ESB in conjunction with a number of wave energy technology partners including Ocean Energy and WaveBob.

CALLS for a properly benchmarked judicial investigation into the Church’s dealing of child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy that took place in Clare have been sounded out this week as the fall-out from the findings of the Cloyne Report gathers momentum.

Fresh from Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Dáil Éireann broadside against the Vatican, Clare Oireachtas member Martin Conway has told

THE success of the Loophead lighthouse tourism initiative has been hammered home in the first week of its operation as thousands flocked to the most westerly point of the county.

Figures secured by The Clare People this week revealed that over 2,000 people have now passed through the doors of the famous landmark building – a volume that has already prompted its Clare County Council promoters to extend the opening hours.

“It was initially planned to open from 10am to 4pm, but now we’re going to go from 10am to 6pm,” a council spokesperson revealed. “This is because of the interest that’s there. We have had over 2,000 visitors in its first week.”

The official opening of the light house took place last Monday week, and brought to an end a two-year process that was started when the idea for opening the facility was first floated at Clare County Council.

Local Loophead councillor, Gabriel Keating, made the initial move in July 2009 when calling on “Clare County Council in conjunction with tourism bodies and the Commissioners of Irish Lights to develop the lighthouse as a tourism centre”.

It was the Fine Gael representative’s first ever motion to Clare County Council, having been elected to Clare’s premier decision-making body the previous month and now on the back of the facility’s early popularity has called for additional facilities to be added to the visitor attraction.

“This is only the start,” said Cllr Keating. “This is bringing jobs to the peninsula and there are 10 people employed. I would hope that a museum can be developed in one of the rooms on site. The past week has shown the potential that’s there in Loophead and it’s about moving it on and bringing more people into the area,” he added.

Clare County Council’s Director of Services, Ger Dollard, has revealed that “in the autumn we will be continuing to work with our partners in Shannon Development and Loophead tourism to arrive at a consensus on the future development of the tourism product”.

A NEW community church will open its doors to both English- and Portuguese-speaking Christians in Gort next month, in an effort to help establish positive relationships between the local Irish and the large Brazilian migrant community.

A number of incidents of race-related antisocial behaviour have been reported in Gor t in recent months and the economic crisis has led to increased tensions between the Irish and Brazilian communities.

The new church will begin in Gort from August 14 and will offer both English and Portuguese services, as well as a number of community events and services designed to help bring the local population together.

“It is important that we reach out to the English-speaking people and let them know that they can become part of this church. We want people from all communities to mix together and mingle more,” said Reverend Sebastian Baptista.

“It is natural for people to want to mix among their own people, that is fine, but there also needs to be integration between the different peoples. There is a cer tain discrimination between all communities.

“It is natural for people to mix with thei r own people but if that is all they do, then it inevitable that there will be discrimination. As people learn to work with each other, then their attitudes can change very quickly.”

The church is open to anyone from any Christian faith, with services in English set to take place on Sunday mornings from 11am while Portuguese services will take place from 7pm on Sunday evenings.

One of the key aims of the new church is to establish a number of non-church-based activities which will help bring the community into the centre.

“We want to reach out to the community. We have a ver y big building here and we want to work with people like the community centre to organise events for people. We want to give the youth here another option instead of being out on the street doing things that they are not supposed to be doing,” continued Reverend Sebastian Baptista.

“Religion in the church is great, but if you look at the scriptures you see Jesus out there mixing with the people. It is not just about what is happening inside the four walls of the church – it is about what happens out in the community.”

The church is located at Warehouse Unit 1 on the Kinincha Road in Gor t.

GARDAÍ are warning holidaymakers and people visiting the county’s tourist hotspots over the summer to be mindful that thieves are targeting parked cars in “opportunistic” spates of crime.

Every summer, tourist spots including Spanish Point, Kilkee, Lahinch, Dromore Woods and the Burren are hit as parked cars are broken into. Thieves mainly attack cars where they see valuables visible. Property including mobile phones, sat. navs., valuable clothing and handbags placed under seats are commonly targeted.

Last week, tents that were camped in Spanish Point were targeted. Personal belongings including handbags, mobile phones and money were stolen. Gardaí are warning that similar incidents may take place over the coming weeks unless people are vigilant.

The Crime Prevention Officer in the Clare Garda Division, Sergeant Joe Downey, said crimes of this nature are “opportunistic”.

“We see a bit of it and we see an increase of it at summer time because people are visiting resorts,” said Sgt Downey. “We would appeal to people not to leave property visible in cars and if they have valuable property with them, take it with them. Also, we would advise not to park in isolated areas,” he added.

“It is pure opportunistic. They (thieves) drive into an area and see things inside cars and take them,”

said Sgt Downey.

“The areas that at

tract them have large

amounts of people; tour

ist attractions and places

of interest. They break

windows and steal the

property,” he added.

While gardaí monitor

those areas, it can be

difficult to solve many

of those crimes in the

absence of concrete evi

dence.

“Unfortunately they

are not easy to solve. Seldom is there evidence left that we can use to solve them. Those who engage in this know where there are rich pickings,” he said.

People visiting tourist areas who see any suspicious activity should contact their local garda station.

THERE are four more priests serving in the Diocese of Killaloe than there were this time last year.

That’s according to the annual list of Diocesan clergy changes, which are being announced by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly today.

Currently there are 99 priests in full-time parish ministry in the Diocese, compared to 95 in 2010.

In addition, there are six priests involved in teaching, school chaplaincy, Diocesan administration and other pastoral work. Eight priests attached to the Diocese are in various ministries overseas, while seven others are retired.

The Diocese also benefits from the service of four priests from other dioceses or religious congregations serving as priests in parishes of the Diocese.

At present there is one student stud- ying for priesthood for the diocese of Killaloe, at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

As part of the changes, Fr Brendan Quinlivan, who is the priest in Feakle, will now also have responsibility as parish priest of Scariff, where Fr Pat Sexton has retired. Newly ordained priest Fr Ger Fitzgerald from Castleconnell in Limerick has been appointed to Ennis, while Fr Ger Jones from O’Brien’s Bridge, who will soon be ordained, will be based in Nenagh.

“With the changes this year we become aware once again of fewer priests available to serve the current pastoral needs of the Diocese. A central concern for me is the well-being of our personnel in ministry – given the age profile of those engaged in ministry in the Diocese. This concern will necessitate a close look at the present organisation of clusters,” said Bishop O’Reilly.

“This year, changes in the East Clare Cluster highlight the need to closely examine the organisation of Mass schedules in this cluster. I hope, after the summer holidays, to visit and meet together with the members of each cluster to deal with similar organisational matters and other issues relevant to the different clusters,” he added.

Among the other changes include Fr James O’Brien moving to reside in Feakle; Fr Michael Collins, Kilrush, moving to the formation staff of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth; Fr Martin Blake, Ennis, moving to Kilrush and Fr Fergal O’Neill to continue as curate in the Cathedral in Ennis and residing in Clarecastle. Fr Michael Cooney will be the Killaloe Diocesan representative on the National Justice and Peace Commission, while retired Bishop Dr Willie Walsh will be available pastorally to the parishes surrounding Ennis.