Category: News

THE future of the proposed Ballyvaughan to Galway ferry link will be decided this week as an independent survey group arrives in north Clare to speak to locals and complete the feasibility study which will be used to determine whether the project should continue.

The Spyria Partnership will be going door to door in the Ballyvaughan, Fanore, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna areas this week, asking local people to complete a survey.

This survey, as well as market research into the commercial feasibility of the link, will be used by the survey team to make a recommenda- tion on the future of the ferry link.

A meeting of all stakeholders will also take place in St John’s Hall in Ballyvaughan on Friday morning from 10am. This meeting is designed to attract local business people and to allow anyone who may be indirectly affected by the link being established to have their voice heard on the project.

“This meeting is aimed at guesthouses and any tourism attractions who could benefit from this and from having more people travelling to and from Galway on the ferry,” said Gwen Ryan, chair of the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop Group.

“It is about teasing out how the service would work. This is a com- munity-based service so we want to get people’s opinions on this. We don’t have a commercial operator behind this just yet.

“They are also going to go from house to house with a survey for the people who might think of using the service to commute themselves. We will be trying to get a leaflet into every house in the area and we also have a survey that can be completed on-line.

“We had a survey in the past but the Spyria people have a more detailed survey that they need to have completed for the feasibility study. So if anyone has completed the old online survey, we would ask them in particular to come back to the website and complete the new survey again if they want to have their voices heard.”

The group from Spyria Partnership will be in the Ballyvaughan area from July 6 to 9.

The response that they receive here will largely decide the outcome of the feasibility study.

“The people who I have contacted all think that this is a wonderful idea so I guess what I am trying to do now is make everyone aware of what is going on, especially the people who are stakeholders and will benefit from this ferry link if it becomes a reality,” continued Gwen.

Anyone interested in completing the new survey should contact www. ballyvaughanbayhop.com.

REMEMBERING the late town clerk in Shannon was one of the new town mayor’s priorities immediately after she was elected last week.

Fine Gael councillor Mary Brennan paid tribute to Tomás MacCormaic, who died suddenly on June 7. He had been the town clerk for 27 years prior to his retirement two years ago and was highly regarded in the town.

A golf classic was held last week to raise funds for the senior citizens club in the town last Monday and the new mayor was one of those involved. “It was dedicated to Tomás,” she said.

“Tomás was a gentleman and was very much part of the community in Shannon. Young and old loved him. Nothing was too little or too big for him. I felt it was a nice gesture to dedicate the golf to him. He was involved with the senior citizens club.”

Cllr Brennan was elected as mayor two weeks earlier, to replace Tony Mulcahy who left the council to take up a place in the Seanad. Her fellow councillors opted to re-elect her to the position for a 12-month term. She has been a town councillor for the past two years.

She told The Clare People she enjoyed the fortnight as chairperson of the council and is look- ing forward to the year ahead. “It has been very enjoyable. I am excited about it,” said Cllr Brennan, who has worked as the caretaker in the town’s health centre for the past 23 years.

A number of priorities are on her mind for the year ahead, not least a focus on the local airport.

“I’d hope we could facilitate more work at the airport and lobby Richard Bruton. It is such a shame to see the airport being used for the wrong reasons; our children leaving due to lack of jobs,” she said.

She knows at first hand the circumstances surrounding the recession, as one of her sons has emigrated to Canada, while another will move to Australia in the coming weeks.

“I will be working with the community. I would be quite open to taking on board any ideas people would offer me for the betterment of Shannon,” she said. “I’d know a lot of people in Shannon through working in the health centre. People know they can come up to me and I will point them in the right direction,” said the mother-of-three, who is a native of Mayo. My eldest is 30 and my youngest is 23. I would be very well known in that age group. I work with vast age groups. The elderly enjoy coming in and having the banter in the health centre.”

HOMES IN seaside areas in Clare are selling at the moment, while more cash buyers have come into the market in recent weeks. However, overall house prices in Clare are showing no signs of increasing.

According to the latest Daft House Price Report for the second quarter of this year, house prices fell on average by 5.1 per cent. The average asking price for a house in June of this year was € 196,000, which is a fall of 47 per cent on the 2007 peak, according to Daft.

According to Daft, a two-bed house in Clare currently has an asking price of € 108,000. A threebed house has a tag of € 155,000; a four-bed is priced at € 229,000 and a five-bed has an asking price of € 279,000.

These prices are decreases on the figures, compared with the first quarter of 2010. Then, a two-bed house in Clare had an asking price of € 144,000, while a three bed was priced at € 194,000. A fourbed house was priced at € 276,000, while a five-bed was deemed to have a price of € 326,000.

Ennis-based auctioneer Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry Fitzgerald McMahon said yesterday that the Daft figures “are consistent on asking prices. They are not on sold prices. Prices nationally have fallen by between 40 per cent to 60 per cent between 2007 and now and have fallen in Clare by between 40 per cent and 60 per cent”.

“We’re seeing a lot more cash buyers coming into the market. There are apartments for sale around the town of Ennis that you would get rent for between € 450 and € 500 per month and that you would buy for between € 50,000 and € 60,000,” said Mr McMahon.

“The majority of our sales now are cash buyers. They are coming back into the market now because they can see value,” he added.

“Some of the seaside properties are selling well. We are selling a lot in Kilkee; selling for prices the vendors are willing to accept,” he said.

Some property owners in seaside resorts are not losing money because they bought before the peak in 2007.

“They are selling. The prices are down considerably,” he said.

Looking ahead, Mr Mahon predicts, “I’d say the best scenario by the end of this year is stabilisation. I think that stabilisation is starting to happen in better locations. Good quality houses will trade at prices that I think will be the same in six months’ time. I think eventually, in four to five to 10 years, you will get price increases but they would be in line with inflation.”

A QUIN woman has won an award for her new business, which develops learning support computer games for children with reading difficulties.

Linda O’Sullivan’s company Footbridge Interactive won first prize at the LEAP Business Awards at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) last week and earned a prize of a € 50,000 investment from AIB’s Seed Capital Fund.

Footbridge Interactive games are aimed at improving reading fluency and comprehension for children with dyslexia. It is integrated into fun stories, which makes it appealing for children. It is aimed at seven to 12-year-olds, initially in Ireland the UK and possibly further afield at a later stage. The games are designed for children to play independently, at home or at school.

Linda established her company in 2010, as she felt there was an opening in this area. She won the award after she did a 12-month (LEAP) Enterprise Acceleration programme at LIT.

“I set it up last year. Jennifer Keane joined the company in January of this year. Jennifer has a background in animation and design. My background is in developing content for kids TV. I worked with a number of companies in Galway (including the Galway Film Centre),” said Linda.

“There wasn’t a huge choice of products. We have worked very closely with dyslexic experts and educational experts in all of this. We have worked closely with Limerick Dyslexia Support Centre as well,” said Linda, whose 14-year-old son Oisin Mac Criostail is dyslexic.

She explained how the new game works. “The child logs in and plays with the game. The game progresses the child. The child’s strengths and weaknesses are tracked. It is very good for learning resource teachers in schools. It is for the child when relaxed at home. In a computer game environment, they are quite happy to repeat things which they need. It compliments the work they do in school,” she said.

Linda has enjoyed the path to setting up her own company.

“My first step was I got a feasibility grant from Clare County Enterprise Board. It allowed me to look into the feasibility of it. I got an innovation voucher from Enterprise Ireland. We got further Enterprise Ireland funding from there,” she added.

“Everybody was very enthusiastic about it. It will be available from September. It will be a subscriptionbased production,” she said.

In advance of the final touches being put on the games, Linda will have a few very busy months ahead. “We are going to be working very hard over the summer to get the product released for the start of September. We will have a big launch in the UK and here,” she said.

INDEPENDENT councillor Michael Guilfoyle was last night elected as the new Mayor of Ennis.

Cllr Guilfoyle secured the backing of a majority of councillors at yesterday’s annual meeting of Ennis Town Council to beat off the challenge of Fine Gael councillor, Johnny Flynn by five votes to four. Cllr Guilfoyle replaces outgoing Mayor, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).

He was proposed for the post by Cllr Peter Considine (FF) and seconded by Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind).

Cllr Flynn was proposed by Cllr Mary Howard (FG) and seconded by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab).

Nominating Cllr Flynn, Cllr Howard said her party colleague had fought three elections and had been elected on either the first or second count on each occassion.

Cllr Considine said Cllr Guilfoyle had handled the position as Chairman of the Council before and had done an “excellent job”.

Councillors Brennan, Considine, Neylon, Guilfoyle and Brian Meaney (GP) voted for Cllr Guilfoyle. Councillors Howard, O’Shea, Flynn and Mary Coote Ryan (FG) voted for Cllr Flynn.

Cllr Guilfoyle was first elected to Ennis Town Council in 1983. He served as Council chairman in 1988 and 1991 and was the town’s first Deputy Mayor when the position was introduced in 2004.

In the same year, Cllr Guilfoyle lost his seat in the local elections. He regained his Council seat in 2009 and served as Deputy Mayor in the same year.

Cllr Guilfoyle told the meeting that as a person “born and bred” in Ennis he said it was “great honour” to be Mayor.

Cllr Guilfoyle acknowledged the role of outgoing Mayor, Cllr Brennan, highlighting the opening of new playground and youth centre facilities. He said he hoped to introduce a new civic awards scheme to recognize local people.

He also paid tribute to Cllr Flynn, hailing his commitment to the town before adding, “I hope you’re turn comes”.

Cllr Guilfoyle added, “I hope I will be as fair around this table as Cllr Brennan and other councillors were”.

Cllr Considine said Cllr Guilfoyle had represented the town with “great dignity and some panache”.

Cllr Neylon said people in the Turnpike, where Cllr Guilfoyle lives, had described him as “the comeback kid”.

Cllr Flynn wished the new Mayor every success, saying he had the energy and skills for the job.

Cllr Neylon was elected Deputy Mayor ahead of Cllr Paul O’Shea. He was proposed by Cllr Brennan and seconded by Cllr Meaney. Cllr O’Shea was proposed by Cllr Flynn and seconded by Cllr Howard.

Councillors Brennan, Considine, Neylon, Meaney and Guilfoyle voted for Cllr Neylon. Councillors Howard, Flynn, O’Shea and Coote-Ryan voted for Cllr O’Shea.

Cllr Brennan thanked his family, councillors, council officials and council staff. He added, “Without the support of family you won’t do much.”

MEMBERS of Clare County Council last night narrowly voted to nominate Independent candidate Seán Gallagher to contest the 2011 Presidential Election.

Despite legal advice that the Council was not entitled to nominate a candidate before the election writ is officially moved, a majority of members present voted 16/15 in favour of supporting Dragon’s Den panelist Gallagher.

A decision on the motion was delayed last week after councillors requested legal advice.

Prior to last night’s vote, County Manager Tom Coughlan said that he had to draw attention to the legal advice that stated that any challenge to the Council’s proposal to nominate Gallagher would be likely to succeed. He added that the Council would then be liable to pay costs.

The motion, put forward by Cllr Michael Begley (Ind), stated, “That we the members of Clare County Council pledge our commitment to nominate Seán Gallagher to contest the 2011 Presidential Election.” The motion was seconded by Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind).

The motion was strongly critcised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) and Fine Gael councillors.

Cllr Meaney described it as “extraordinary”, adding that he felt sorry for the normal members of Fianna Fáil whom he claimed were being forced to support Mr Gallagher, “a de-facto member of Fianna Fáíl”. Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) reprimanded Cllr Meaney asking him not to comment the decisions of other political parties.

Cllr Meaney said that if Mr Gallagher is a “de facto Fianna Fáíl candidate” then he should be declared as the party’s official candidate.

Fianna Fáil councillors asked Cllr Meaney to withdraw his remarks. Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) told the meeting that he would be voting against the motion.

He added, “I’m a bit concerned that this is a bit premature.” Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said that the motion represented “closing the stable door before the horse even got in”. He added, “We can’t formally nominate a candidate before the writ is moved.”

Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) warned that the Council could be legally exposed if the motion was passed.

When a vote was taken, 16 voted for and 15 against. Fianna Fáíl councillors present voted for the motion while Fine Gael councillors present voted against. Labour councillor Pascal Fitzgerald voted in favour of the Council nominating Mr Gallagher. The Labour party has nominated former Galway TD, Michael D Higgins, as its candidate in the Presidential Election.

SIGNS directing tourist towards Fanore and the R479 coast road will be re-erected by Clare County Council later this week.

MOVES to name a significant piece of infrastructure after the founder of the world’s first Duty Free Zone, Dr Brendan O’Regan, was begun yesterday by Clare County Council.

The Sixmilebridge man – who died in 2008 at 90 years of age and was key to the development of industry and tourism in Clare – established Ireland’s first hotel school in Shannon in 1951 and was Chairman of the Irish Tourist Board from 1957 to 1973.

Following a motion put forward by Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind) at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, has been asked to make contact with the Shannon Airport Authority to discuss renaming a major road in the area after Dr O’Regan.

It was suggested at last night’s meeting that a section of road from Drumline to the airport would be name The O’Regan Way, while it was also suggested that an area of road between Drumgeely to the airport also be renamed.

“He seems to have been honoured in every other county and every other country except for his own county. In the airport itself there has been very little recognition for him in the place where he contributed so much to,” said PJ Ryan (Ind). “I wouldn’t have a problem with the suggestion that the council talk to the airport authority in relation to this. But I know that airport authority does not move too fast so I would hope that Tom Coughlan would move this forward sooner rather than later.”

Meanwhile, a disagreement concerning the council’s financial operations broke out last night meeting when Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) suggested that the local authority was not complying with its own rules for reporting budget deficits to the elected members. Cllr Kelly said that, while he did not entirely support the laws as they stood, the council was in breach of Section 104 of the Local Government Act.

County Manager Tom Coughlan said that the local authority had not overspent on its overall budget in the last two years and that the elected members would be advised before any over spend would take place.

Mr Coughlan did admit however, that minor over spends in some areas had taken place, but that these were balanced off with under spends in other areas. He said that if the Council was to take a very strict interpretation of Section 104, it would make the day to day running of the local authority almost impossible.

“Towards the end of last year the Council was able to get some extra funding from the NRA – between € 1 million and € 1.5 million. If I had to wait for four weeks to tell the [elected members of the] Council that we would be spending that money then there wouldn’t be a hope we could spend it in time,” he said.

“If there is going to be over expenditure I will, of course, bring that issue before the council. There is over expenditure in certain areas but then there’s under expenditure in other areas, but we balance the budget. If the council was to apply very strictly the issues outlined in 104 then we would be back before the Council every week. It would be impossible if I had to go back to the Council every single week.”

THREE culinary entrepreneurs will embark on a new business venture in Quin later this month.

Husband and wife, Tony Molloy and Clare Colleran McKenry and sister Colette Colleran are the team behind Quincy’s – a new 30-seater restaurant that will open in Quin in two weeks time.

Chef Colette has over 20 years experience working in restaurants and hotels in Ireland and England, including a nine-year spell in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis.

She said, “That’s where the experience really came from. I just felt that the time is right to run my own place.”

Despite the difficult business climate, Colette explained that the trio aim to work hard to ensure Quincy’s becomes a success.

She added, “The opportunity arose, the location is great and we are local to the area for almost 50 years.”

Ennis native Tony is well known in Ennis from his days at men’s clothes shop Tony’s fashions.

Tony ran the business for 21 years prior to its closure last October.

Currently employed on a seasonal basis as a starter and caddy master at Lahinch Golf Club, Tony, who previously worked at the Old Ground Hotel, said he is looking forward to the challenge of starting a new business. He continued, “I’ve always loved dealing with people and I’ve missed that part of the job very much. My skills are meeting and greeting.” Along with Tony, Clare will have responsibility for front of house du- ties in the restaurant. A practicing barrister on the South Western Circuit, Clare also has experience of working in restaurants and hotels.

She said, “Quin is a beautiful village and the restaurant will have a homely feeling and ambiance that we hope will compliment that.”

Apart from the owner/operators, it is intended that Quincy’s will employ two full-time and three parttime staff. The restaurant, which is located in the heart of Quin village, will open seven days a week, serving what Tony called “top quality food at reasonable prices”.

The restaurant has also helped raise money for the local primary school – Scoil na Mainstreach. Students were invited to enter a competition to guess the name of the restaurant with all money raised going to the school.

A wine and canapés reception will take place at Quincy’s on Wednesday July 13 (5pm to 9.30pm) followed by an official opening on Friday, July 15.

CLARE County Council is to hold a special meeting on the ongoing controversy over the iconic Ballyvaughan sign.

At last night’s Council meeting, a group of councillors put a forward a motion requesting a meeting to discuss the removal of the sign which has been strongly opposed by residents and business people in North Clare. The motion also proposed that the sign be re-installed at its original location and that it be listed as a protected structure.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) asked if the Council could provide a list of accidents that have occurred on the road near the sign. He said that it was within the remit of the Council to place a conservation order on the sign.

He added, “It was iconic and had particular relevance for people of Ballyvaughan and its removal was due to a vacuum of information.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that signage is a big issue in Clare. He told the meeting that there are three different spellings of Lahinch and two different spellings of Ballyvaughan. He said, “If you were a tourist in this county you wouldn’t know whether you were coming or going.”

Cllr Arkins added that the different spellings of towns and villages had made Clare an “international laughing stock”.

Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) called for the National Roads Authority (NRA) to take a more realistic approach to signage. He said the removal of the sign had left people in North Clare feeling “outraged” and “victimised”.

He added, “The people in North Clare are relying on the sign for their livelihoods and this should be pointed out quite forcefully to the NRA.”

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) told the meeting that if the NRA had “nothing to do but to look at signs, it should be abolished”.

County Manager Tom Coughlan said there had been contacts on an hourly basis between the Council and the NRA. He said he could not comment too much on the current situation regarding the sign, as he had not yet had a chance to speak with the Director of Service.

However he added that as far as the Council was concerned, it was the view of the NRA on Friday evening that the sign should not go up.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) described the level of ambiguity coming from the NRA as “dreadful”.