Category: News

THE SEAT vacated by newly-elected Senator Tony Mulcahy on Clare County Council is likely to be contested by two candidates.

Town Councillor Seán McLoughlin and Bunratty teacher Marinella Raftery are expected to go head to head in a contest for the Fine Gael seat in the Shannon electoral area.

A decision on who will take the seat will be made when the Shannon District of the Fine Gael party meets on June 2.

The Shannon branch has selected Seán McLoughlin, a cab driver, while the members of the other sections of the Shannon area – Sixmilebridge, Cratloe, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Bunratty – will also cast their votes on that date.

Sources within the party have told The Clare People that Ms Raftery is likely to contest the seat. She narrowly missed out on a seat on Clare County Council when she polled an impressive 766 first preferences in 2009.

She comes from a family with strong political roots.

A lot will be decided on how the party members from the Sixmilebridge area vote.

There are almost 90 party members in the Shannon electoral area; more than 40 of which are in the Sixmilebridge area.

Meanwhile, the Shannon branch of Fine Gael has selected Vincent Coleman to take Tony Mulcahy’s seat on Shannon Town Council. 33-year-old Mr Coleman, who works in Servisair in Shannon, has been the branch chairman for the past year and has been strongly involved in the party in recent years. His selection will be rubber-stamped on May 26.

Secretary of the Shannon branch, Cliona Curley, said Mr Coleman is the best candidate for the vacant position on the town council.

“He is the only one going for that. Vinny (Vincent) has put a lot of time into the party and we feel he is the best person for the job,” said Ms Curley.

DINGLE business interests’ success in making the West Kerry town a haven for tourists on the back of the bay being home to one dolphin over the past 28 years contrasts sharply with West Clare’s failure to cash on the tourism potential of Shannon Estuary dolphins.

The May monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council heard councillors bemoan the fact that West Clare is the poor relation to Dingle when it comes to dolphin-watching tourism.

“Dingle have one dolphin and they’ve managed to make a multimillion euro industry out of it over the years,” said Cllr Ian Lynch.

“The Shannon Estuary has a family of dolphins, but we don’t seem to be able to market this properly and we haven’t exploited the resource that we have.”

This has led to calls for the Gateway to Shannon Dolphins Committee to make renewed efforts to kickstart the dolphin-watching industry on the estuary.

This committee was established a number of years ago but last Thursday’s meeting heard that it has been inactive over the last number years.

“The committee is led by Paul Edson, with the help of Dr Simon Berrow [Irish Whale and Dolphin Group], but it hasn’t met for the last couple of years,” revealed town clerk, John Corry.

“There is huge potential for the Shannon dolphin project and it should be developed, because it’s something that’s unique to the estuary and we should do everything to market this,” said Cllr Tom Prendeville.

WEST Clare tourism is set to get a huge boost in the coming season as Kilrush Town Council spearheads an initiative that will see Knockerra Lake opened up to anglers once more after an interval of many years.

Details of a local authority plan of action for the 50-acre lake north east of Kilrush that comes under the council’s jurisdiction were unveiled at Thursday’s monthly meeting, which has opened up the prospect of the facility being open for use in time for the peak tourist period of July and August.

“It was used as a recreational facility for a long number of years, but hasn’t been in the last ten years,” revealed Kilrush Town Clerk John Corry, “and to open up the facility again has involved a process of engagement with anglers and landowners. It has been a long process, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.

Knockerra Lake hasn’t been open to public use for ten years, but in recent years Kilrush Town Council has made moves to re-open the facility, setting aside money is its annual budget for fencing and signage, while also making the lake more accessible. The lake is also set to be restocked with fish.

“There has been negotiations with the landowners and we hope to see the restoration of facilities provided at Knockerra,” Mr Corry told town councillors. “We are now at an advanced stage of finalising a lease agreement between the Town Council, the West Clare Angling Association and landowners.

Mr Corry also revealed that as part of the process “a local committee involving Kilrush Town Council, representatives of the angling association and landowners will be put in place” to oversee the operation of the facility.

“We will be meeting all the parties over the coming weeks and for the June meeting of the council we will have a update on the situation.”

LOCAL authority housing tenants in Kilrush are not being forgotten about, the town council has claimed this week as it unveiled plans to have every council house in the West Clare capital fitted out with central heating.

And, as part of this new Kilrush Town Council blueprint, it’s envisaged that many houses that are boarded up and vacant will be refurbished and made available for families who are on the council housing list.

“This is a positive and good news story,” Kilrush Town Clerk John Corry said in outlining the authority housing plan of action. “Significant works are taking place and it is important to give an element of hope and assurance to people living in John Paul Estate that they’re not being forgotten about.

“Tenants have been paying rent and living in houses without central heating, but we are addressing that now and there is a lot of work taking place. The contract for refurbishing 11 houses in John Paul Estate has been signed.

“Those houses will be fitting out with central heating. We are doing a survey on the remaining houses without central heating and hope to be in a position to commence work on those houses in the third quarter or fourth quarter of this year. We are in the process of preparing tender documents on those remaining 21 houses, 20 of which are occupied,” he added. This refurbishment programme is also set to include an upgrading of council housing on Wilson’s Road, which have been vacant and boarded up for a number of years. “It has been suggested that they be brought back into housing stock,” re vealed Mr Corry. “We are planning to restore these houses to the housing list and contracts for the restoration of two of the houses have been awarded and three others are going to tender. “The remaining two will be surveyed by the end of the third or fourth quarter of the year, so the plan is to have all the houses refurbished and let to tenants on the housing list,” he added.

FOCUSING ON the safety of walkers will form a key point in the road safety campaign in Clare over the coming months.

Clare County Council has put together a campaign as part of its role in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The aim is that there will be no road deaths in the county by 2020.

There were four road deaths in Clare last year, compared with seven in 2009.

So far this year, there has been one road death in the county – 36year-old Limerick woman Aileen O’Brien died in a single-vehicle crash at Hurler’s Cross near Shannon earlier this month.

Clare County Council’s Road Safety Officer Barry Keating said that every effort is being made to ensure road safety is a priority.

“We are concentrating on pedestrians. We are giving out high visibility vests. Since last Wednesday, we have given out 200. We are trying to keep pedestrians safe. So far this year (nationally), there have been 71 fatalities; 19 of whom were pedestrians,” Mr Keating told The Clare People .

“High visibility makes drivers aware. We are all out walking so it is important especially in rural parts where you don’t have the infrastructure; you don’t have footpaths. It gives traffic the chance to slow down,” he added.

The council is focusing on educating children from their early years right through to adulthood, in their efforts to promote road safety.

“We are going into the schools on an ongoing basis. We are trying to encourage the children. Hopefully they will give the vests to their parents and they will wear them,” he said.

“We have been going to the preschools giving them talks and handing out the vests and also to primary and secondary schools,” he added.

“It is an apt time for Clare, given that we had our first fatality on the county’s roads last week. It is time to focus on this,” he said.

“We have ambitions to reduce our fatalities on Clare’s roads to zero by the end of the decade. We have reduced our numbers considerably.

“There were 93 road deaths on Clare’s roads in the last decade. In the last five years, that was reduced – to 41,” said Mr Keating.

As part of the council’s efforts to encourage children to get involved in promoting road safety, the school warden scheme is ongoing. As part of this scheme, young pupils play a role in assuming the role of wardens in the vicinity of their schools.

KILRUSH Town Council is to take the lead and spearhead a new marketing strategy for the entire West Clare catchment area – a plan of action that is set to be rolled out in the coming weeks and involving all media in the county.

The new blueprint to try and bring extra tourists into the Corca Baiscinn area was agreed upon by all councillors and member of the town council executive at the May monthly meeting of the local authority on Thursday night.

“This would be the first step,” said Cllr Ian Lynch in calling on town authority to launch a media marketing campaign ahead of the 2011 tourist season, by way of a notice of motion calling on the council to look beyond its town boundaries and into other West Clare areas.

Cllr Lynch motion said that “the council in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce would consider commencing a marketing campaign for the entire West Clare region by initiating a print and radio media campaign highlighting the wide variety of activities”.

He said the Kilrush Town Councilled plan would help tourism interests in West Clare “maximise from their events and build and straighten working relationships with all towns and villages”.

“It would build trust between communities,” added Cllr Lynch, “and it would be a great show of strength from the council that would be showing itself to be leading the way in promoting tourism in the area.”

THE Government decision to follow through on a pre-election promise of abolishing the airport travel tax can kickstart passenger growth at Shannon Airport, if airlines that use Clare’s international airport are up to the challenge.

Shannon Airport Director, Mary Considine, has put it up to Ryanair, Aer Lingus and other carriers to boost passenger throughput to deliver muchneeded growth to the airport.

In a statement to The Clare People , Ms Considine said that the scrapping of the travel tax and the airport authority’s new growth incentive scheme for airlines are the carrot for increased numbers in Shannon.

“These initiatives are an extremely important and timely boost for our efforts to develop new services at Shannon Airport and support our existing routes,” said Ms Considine.

“The Growth Incentive Scheme will be of particular benefit to Shannon as airlines will be rebated all passenger charges for every new passenger they deliver once the airport surpasses the 1.755 million passenger mark we achieved last year.

“The air travel tax change in the Government Jobs Initiative is a further significant development. Its suspension, subject to the airlines delivering additional passengers, is another real incentive for them to grow passengers,” she added.

The controversial travel tax of € 10 was introduced by the Fianna Fáil/ Green Party coalition in 2009, only to be reduced to € 3 in the dying days of the government in Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s 2010 budget.

After its introduction, Ryanair immediately scaled back its operations in Shannon with the loss of 100 jobs, while passenger numbers reduced from a peak of 53 routes delivering 1.9m passengers down to only 300,000 passengers per annum. Now, under the new growth incentive scheme, airlines using Shannon will be rebated € 12.65 per departing passenger for every passenger delivered over and above the threshold of 1.755.

“We are confident that 2011 will see an increase in passenger numbers at Shannon Airport,” said Ms Considine. “I have no doubt airlines will be keen to take advantage of this given the financial benefits set out in the incentives package. Ultimately, this will be good for the airport and for our region.”

Reacting to the news, Ryanair spokesperson Stephen McNamara told The Clare People that the suspension of the travel tax was “a welcome move by the new Government towards change and reform of Irish tourism. “Hopefully the DAA cost obstacles can also be removed to enable Ryanair to deliver rapid tourism and jobs growth in response to today’s welcome announcement,” he added.

AN 18-YEAR-OLD man has appeared in court, charged with wilful neglect of a baby in Shannon.

The charge has been brought arising out of a lengthy garda investigation, after the authorities’ attention was drawn to injuries sustained by a 10-month-old baby boy last December.

The baby was taken to hospital with serious injuries, including a burn mark, two broken arms – one of which was broken in three places – and a broken leg. He had also sustained bruising to several parts of the body.

Earlier this year, gardaí prepared a file on the matter for the DPP, who directed that the case be brought to court.

Larry Connors, of Cronan Lawn, Shannon, is accused of wilfully illtreating, neglecting or abandoning a child or allowing the child to be neglected, at Town Court, Shannon, between December 15, 2010 and Janu- ary 3, 2011.

At Shannon District Court on Thursday, Garda David Laing told the court he charged the defendant that morning.

He said that he did not reply to charge after caution.

Inspector John Galvin told the court that the case will be tried in the circuit court, on foot of directions from the DPP.

He said that there was no objection to bail and sought an adjournment until next month, for service of the book of evidence.

Inspector Galvin sought bail conditions; that the accused stay away from the baby’s mother and her immediate family; reside at Cronan lawn, Shannon; sign on twice a week at Shannon Garda Station and abide by a curfew.

Defence solicitor Jenny Fitzgibbon said there was no issue with any of the bail conditions set out by the State. Bail was granted and the accused will appear again in court next month.

A MAN in his 50s has appeared in court, charged with more than 200 alleged offences of a sexual nature.

The 57-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of the alleged offences between February 1, 1982 and November 30, 1992, at a number of locations around the State, including County Clare. The alleged victim is a female. A number of the charges are alleged rape, while several others relate to allegations of indecent assault.

At Shannon District Court on Thursday, Detective Sergeant Kevin O’Hagan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.

He told Judge Joseph Mangan that the accused was arrested last Wednesday evening and brought to Shannon Garda Station, where he was later charged.

The accused did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody, to appear again in court later this month. The case was adjourned for preparation of the Book of Evidence by gardaí.

A NEW attempt to spark a jobs revival in West Clare is to be kick-started and spearheaded by a Clare County Council task force that has charged itself with responsibility for breathing new life into the region’s economy.

The West Clare Economic Task Force move to take a lead role in stimulating growth comes just as one member of the county council has called for a Dragon’s Den-style approach to promoting new business ventures in the county.

“There’s still people in Clare with money,” said Cllr Gabriel Keating in a rallying call for the county’s rich-list, “and there are still people in Clare with good business ideas that would be worth investing in. The scope is there for West Clare to have its own Dragon’s Den,” he added.

It was at meeting of the West Clare Economic Task Force that Cllr Keating’s call for “a think-tank of the major agencies in job creation be brought to west Clare” received the unanimous backing of the council, which has paved the way for a major seminar that takes place in Kilrush next week.

Kilrush Town Manager Nora Kaye has told The Clare People that “all the key players” will be at the meeting that takes place in Kilrush Golf Club on May 25.

“We want people who are thinking of expanding their business, people establishing a business, or people with business ideas to come, because all the main players will be there, such as the banks, credit unions, Enterprise Irelande, Leader, Shannon Development, Chambers of Commerce, FÁS and the VEC,” said Ms Kaye.

“It will be a one-stop-shop. If people have an idea or have questions, they will be able to get all the information they need. It’s a plan to kick-start development and jobs for west Clare,” she added.

The finer deatails of the task force think-tank were sounded out at last Thursday’s meeting of Kilrush Town Council, just as former town mayor, Cllr Tom Prendeville called on the council to spearhead its own campaign for local economy.

“This council, in conjunction with its Community Development Fund, should invite ideas, suggestions and recommendations for Bright Ideas for Kilrush to help the tourism products of the area, boost trade in the commericial sector and encourage entrepreneurs to create sustainable employment,” said Cllr Prendeville.