Category: News

COUNCILLORS in Ennis have backed a proposal that would see the need for specific Traveller accommodation sites removed from the next Ennis and Environs Development Plan.

Under the planning and development act (2000), Clare County Council is legally required to make provision in its 2008-2014 development plan for the provision of Traveller accommodation in the Ennis and Environs plan area. However, with the role of the council’s Traveller Accommodation Advisory Committee (TAAC) coming in for recent strong criticism,, councillors say there is no longer a need to provide specific Traveller accommodation sites in Ennis.

TAAC Chairman, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said yesterday that he had thought “long and hard” about his proposal but had concluded that the policy had been a “disaster” for Travellers, local communities and, for financial reasons, Clare County Council. Repeating a view he expressed last week that the committee represented a “fantastic waste of time”, Cllr Meaney said there had been a “complete lack of engagement” from the Traveller community in accommoda- tion policy.

Cllr Meaney had previously told the May meeting of Ennis Town Council that Travellers’ representatives had not attended one TAAC meeting in the last 12 months.

At yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis West electoral area, Cllr Meaney said Travellers could be accommodated through the provision of social housing stock, a process he described as more “efficient” and “egalitarian”.

Cllr Meaney said that the motion would be sent in as a submission to the Ennis and Environs Development Plan. He said a decision on whether or not to include a provision for Traveller sites would ultimately be made by the County Manager and the council’s planners.

Seconding Cllr Meaney’s motion, Cllr James Breen (Ind) said the council had been to the forefront of providing Traveller accommodation in Ireland. However, he added, “We have done enough for the Traveller community and now it is time to cry stop.”

Cllr Breen said that some sections of the Traveller community did not respect the fact that they are getting accommodation “gratis”.

Cllr Tom McNamara (FF), chairman of the Ennis West electoral area com- mittee, said that there was already an adequate supply of Traveller accommodation sites in the Ennis area. He said that not all of the four sites are currently being used.

Responding to Cllr Meaney’s comments, Colette Bradley, Manager with Ennis Community Development Project (CDP), said two Travellers’ representatives attended TAAC meetings in late 2010.

Ms Bradley said both representatives had “contributed very well” to the meetings and that this had been noted by other committee members. She said she was “surprised” by Cllr Meaney’s comments.

DOONBEG Golf Club has been given the final go-ahead to begin construction work on a controversial sea erosion management scheme in West Clare. An Bord Pleanála ruled last week to grant final planning permission for the work to take place at the golf course but only after it secured further guarantees that public access to the beach will not be blocked.

The erosion protection plan would see large concrete structures being inserted into the dune system at the Carrowmore Dunes, the White Strand, Doughmore Bay and along the edge of the Doonbeg Golf Course itself.

The planning authority has also ruled that Doonbeg Golf Course must agree to maintain the erosion protection at the site forever, even if the golf course itself ceases trade for any reason.

This judgement comes after an appeal taken by James McNulty of Ballinagun West in Cree against the granting of planning permission by Clare County Council for the development and an appeal taken by Doonbeg Golf Club on the conditions imposed on that planning decision by Clare County Council.

The work will see a number of heavy concrete slabs known as ‘seabees’ being inserted into the local sand dune network which will then be reshaped around the concrete. Marram grass and fencing will all be put in place to help prevent the sand from being eroded, exposing the concrete.

Doonbeg Golf Club will also have to submit full details of a monitoring programme for the erosion protection work to the planning authority. This programme will have to include protocol for assessing the effectiveness of the works including the impacts of the scheme on beach users.

Other matters that will be considered as part of this programme include the location’s Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area status, as will as the impact on marine and terrestrial flora and fauna and the dynamics of the beach formation and erosion.

According to the planing authority, the golf club will also have to employ “suitably qualified marine and terrestrial ecologists” to oversee the project. A construction and progress report for the development will also be submitted to both the planning authority and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

FRANK Nolan’s family are bracing themselves to not recognise him come May 14.

And it’s not likely that Gordon Dale’s friends and neighbours will know him after his long locks and bushy beard have been shorn in a good cause.

In fact three good causes will benefit from the shearing which Frank, Gordon, Derek Flavin and Gordon Drummy have planned for Crotty’s Bar in Kilrush that night.

The ‘Think Pink’ evening is so named because the three charities to benefit are cancer charities Regina House Palliative Care Cenre, the West Clare Cancer Fund and the Clare 250 Cycle.

“They are all fantatstic charities and cancer is a disease which affects so many people. We all know someone who has been affected by it,” said Gordon Drummy.

On the night, their beards and hair will be dyed pink everyone is being asked to wear something pink and Jim of Jim’s Barber Shop will be on hand to shave the four Samson’s.

“Frank’s children have never seen him without his beard and his wife is dreading seeing him,” said Gordon.

Gordon Dale, unanimously voted the hairiest of the three, contacted the lads when he heard about the event.

“Gordon rang and said he wanted to take part. He’s in remission him- self so he knows how important the work done by the charities is.”

There’s much more to the night than shaving, with some great music coming from Harvest Moon and a massive raffle for a bicycle, vouchers bottles and much more.

“The local businesses have been fantastic in supporting us and Kevin and Rebecca Clancy at Crotty’s have been very generous in sponsoring us for the venue and food and the local youth group did all our posters and tickets for free. We just can’t believe how generous people are,” said Gordon.

A good night out is promised for all with the fun starting around 9pm. Tickets are available from Gordon at 085 7815917, Ann at 085 7775617 or Marie at 087 2217579.

ORGANIC food production could become one of the largest growth areas in Clare in the years to come if producers begin to take a collaborative approach to marketing and distribution.

The production of fine organic foods is already one of the few areas of the economy which have continued to grow throughout the recession but a new feasibility study has shown there is a great demand for organic produce in the UK and mainland Europe, with a number of Clare producers in line to take advantage.

This news comes as a delegation of “heavy hitters” from the Austrian organic food industry visited North Clare last week. The group spent sev eral hours at the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna on Friday morning, before taking part in a full tour of the St Tola’s Goats Cheese farm in Inagh in the afternoon.

Austria is the EU leader in organic farming, with more than 15 per cent of all land in the country farmed organically, compared to just 1.5 per cent of land in Ireland. It also has one of the largest markets for organic produce in Europe – an area which has showed continued growth in recent years, despite the downturn in the European economy.

The group, which contains more than 40 individuals involved in the Austrian organic industry, were brought to Clare as the guests of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association.

“Almost 25 per cent of the market for food in Austria is for organic food, compared to just four per cent in Ireland, so there is a lot that we can learn from these people,” said Birgitta Hedin-Curtin from the Burren Smokehouse.

“They have learned to combine tourism with organic production with tourists coming to stay at organic farms. But the real area that we can learn from them is in terms of organisation and working together.

“They have organic co-ops over there where everyone works together, especially in terms of marketing and distribution. I think that this is something that would work here in Ireland. There is a Meitheal spirit in the Irish, and people will work together, especially now in the more difficult times.

“There is a massive market for organic Irish produce both in the UK and in mainland Europe and if we work together we can make it happen.”

Austria is the second richest economy in the EU and organic agriculture is a key component of their economy.

A LIMERICK man who has served time in prison for manslaughter has been jailed after he was caught with heroin in Kilrush.

Paul Coffey (34), with an address at Steamboat Quay, Limerick, was charged with possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply at Place de Plouzane, Kilrush, on April 27, 2010.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Ennis District Court that the accused was found in possession of five deals of heroin when his apartment was searched. He said the value of the drugs amounted to € 150.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked did money change hands and was told that it didn’t.

“No. The evidence was he would share it with his friends,” said Inspector Kennedy.

Defence solicitor Turlough Herbert said his client was pleading guilty.

He said that his client’s partner had an addiction to heroin and the accused felt “he should have some control over the supply of drugs to her. She is going to get them anyway. He feels she should get them on a structured basis.”

He said that his client came from a disadvantaged area of Limerick and “has spent the greater part of his adult life in prison.”

“He wasn’t to make any money from this,” he said.

The court was told that Coffey had more than 50 previous convictions, including a 15-year jail term imposed for manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court in 2003.

Judge Mangan imposed an eightmonth jail term, to run consecutively to a 10-month term the accused is currently serving.

He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

CLARE Fine Gael is to move quickly to select to new members of Clare County Council, following the election of sitting councillors, former Mayor Clare Tony Mulcahy and Martin Conway to Seanad Éireann.

And, The Clare People has learned that Shannon Town Councillor Sean McLoughlin and the president of Young Fine Gael, Eric Keane, are poised to fill the two vacancies on Clare local government’s premier decision making body.

The Mayor of Shannon, Cllr McLoughlin, was a leading supporter of Senator Mulcahy’s campaigns for Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, while Mr Keane from the Ballyvaughan/New Quay area is geographically placed to fill the vacancy that will be created in the North Clare Electoral Area when Senator Conway resigns his council seat.

Under Oireachtas legislation passed in 2004, members of Dáil Éireann are unable to hold down a dual mandate, a rule that in the past has obliged current Fine Gael TDs Pat Breen and Joe Carey and former TD James Breen resign to their council seats.

When Deputy Pat Breen resigned his Dáil seat in 2004 he was replaced by Oliver Garry, while in 2007 Joe Carey’s seat went to Paul Murphy, both of whom were from the same geographic area and close allies of the two TDs.

A party insider has told The Clare People that “this will be the case again this time around”, with Cllr McLoughlin and Mr Keane emerging as the two leading candidates in the immediate aftermath of the Seanad successes of both Mulcahy and Conway.

Senator Conway’s wife, Breege Hanniffy, who is a Fine Gael party activist was mooted over the weekend as a possible nominee for her husband’s council seat, but The Clare People understands that she will not be co-opted, leaving the door open for 23-year-old Keane to be become the second youngest ever member of Clare County Council after Fianna Fáil’s Cathal Crowe, who was only 21 when he was elected in 2004.

A FINAL decision on the proposed change in the boundary between Clare and Limerick will be made in eight weeks.

The new Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan (FG) told The Clare People last week that a final decision would be before the cabinet before the summer break at the beginning of July.

Minister Hogan was in Ennis to officially open the new fire station and training centre on the New Road but also attended a one-hour, behindclosed-doors meeting with members of Clare County Council. The Clare People understands that 14 elected members of the local authority met with Minister Hogan during the meeting, with each councillor making a two minute presentation on why the current boundary should remain.

The minister also rejected claims that he had reopened the boundary debate, which many people felt had been resolved before this year’s General Election.

“You will have to talk to the previous government if they [the voters of Clare] feel that they are let down by them because this is the first opportunity that I have had to deal with an issue that it there and I will deal with it in the next couple of months,” he said.

“After six or seven week you wouldn’t expect me to have a resolution found but I am working on a resolution and I am here today to hear the views of the Clare local authority and Oireachtas members to get their views on the issues raised in the Bro- snan Report. I’ve already met with members of Limerick City Council and I’ve met with Mr Brosnan and I’ll be coming to conclusions in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m not going to announce today [what I intend to do]. I am in a con sultation phase and I am going to listen to people here in Clare as I have been listening to the people in Limerick.

“I have a lot of legacy issues to deal with. After just six weeks in office I think I need a little bit more time o deal with these issues. I have a lot of issues that I have inherited from the previous government and previous minister but I am going to consult widely on this matter. It has far reaching decisions for Clare and for Limerick but I won’t be dragging out that process. I would expect a recom mendation to be before cabinet before the summer recess.”

Speaking after the behind-closeddoors meeting, the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin, said that the councillors had restated their opposition to the boundary change in the strongest terms possible to the minister.

ANY help for the County Clare’s struggling rates payers will only be introduced hand-in-hand with new taxes, The Clare People has learned.

Businesses around the county owed more than € 5.6 million to Clare County Council when figures were last compiled in December of 2010. This represent a massive increase on the € 600,000 end of year rates arrears figure recorded by the local authority in 2006. Much of these arrears comes from the tourism sector where a number of Clare flagship tourism businesses have been unable to pay their rates in full in recent years.

Speaking to The Clare People last week, the Minister for the Environment said that changes to the current rates situation would be tackled by “broadening the base” by which Clare County Council funds itself.

“We are actually signed up to the EU/IMF agreement – the previous government signed up to it and we are obliged to implement it. This year we will be bringing forward proposals for utility charges and that will broaden the base of financial support for local authorities and hopefully take the pressure off the rate payers,” he said.

“There are significant cash flow problems in every business and it is not just because of rates, there are other issues as well. We will be asking the valuation office to apply more resources towards carrying out re-valuations which are essential throughout the country – this is too slow at the moment and will take too long. I am conscious at the moment of having the costs of local government as low as possible to allow business people to protect employment and to create other employment. There are problems in Clare but these problems are replicated right around the country and this will need a national response.”

Besides speeding up the process by which businesses can have their rates re-valued, the Minister has also agree to examine Irish Hotel Federation proposals to completely change the way in which rates are calculated.

“We have received a number of submissions about that [changing the way in which rates are calculated] and I am looking at them at the moment. I have asked the department to examine how we could actually improve the situation with regards to deploying resources to the valuations office – which is a matter for the Department of Finance – but also to look at ways that we can get local government to broaden its tax base and the opportunities in other ways and to take the pressure off labour intensive industries like the tourism sector,” he said.

Meanwhile, Clare local authorities have restated their commitment to work with Clare people in solve individual rates arrears.

“Calculation of rates is primarily determined by the valuation attributed to the property. This is determined by the Valuation Office independent of the local authority. Pending any change in the current system we will continue to work with rate payers to put in place flexible payment arrangements to discharge rates due,” said Ennis Town Manager and Director of Services with Clare County Council, Ger Dollard.

THE state of the art fire and rescue service and training centre opened in Ennis last week is set to become the blueprint for regional fire services all over the country.

The centre, which was officially opened by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), is set to become a centre for fire training for professionals from all over the midwest.

“This is a wonderful boost for the county – it is a fabulous training facility and one that should be replicated all over the country if resources are available,” he said.

“I can see how this can be a regional centre for other counties as well. I wish the fire service well and all who work here. They are doing a very im- portant job as a front-line service to protect the people of Clare and the surrounding counties.

“The training needs of today’s fire service personnel are wide and diverse. The opening of this new facility in Ennis will ensure the provision of high quality training to fire fighters into the future.”

Minister Hogan was joined at the launch by the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin (Ind); the County Manager, Tom Coughlan and a number of members of both Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council.

The € 470,000 facility is located right beside the offices of Clare County Council on the New Road in Ennis. Speaking at the official opening, Minister Hogan also paid tribute to the work done by the county’s fire fighters during major flooding events in the winter of 2009 and 2008 and to the efforts of County Manager, Tom Coughlan; Clare’s Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly and Clare County Council Director of Service, Ger Dollard, in getting the new facility in place.

“I understand that management and staff worked around the clock to ensure that the threat posed by the flood waters to property and life was minimised [during the flooding],” he said. “The response was a credit to everyone involved. The experience and insights gained will no doubt shorten the learning curve for others in the emergency management sector.”

A FATHER of two, charged with the murder of a woman in North Clare in March, has secured bail in the High Court – subject to conditions.

Colm Deely (39), of School Road, Ballyvaughan, made his third court appearance last week in connection with the death of Deirdre McCarthy (43), whose body was found on Fanore beach on March 31 last.

She was last seen alive on Sunday, March 27, and was reported missing the following day, after she failed to turn up to meet a friend.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy asked that the accused be further remanded, to appear in court again on May 13.

His solicitor did not object. She told the court that her client had appeared in the High Court the previous day, where a bail application had been made. She asked that her client be brought back to Limerick prison, saying, “He’s currently being detained at Cloverhill.”

However, Inspector Kennedy said this was not a matter for the court; rather it was a decision to be taken by the prison authorities.

In the High Court, a ruling was made that a new address was to be approved by gardaí, at least 30 miles

away from Bally

vaughan, if bail was

to be granted. A number of bail

conditions were at

tached, including

that the accused

reside at an address

approved by gardai;

that an independ

ent surety be pro

vided; that he sign

on at a nominated

garda station; that

he abide by a cur

few and not contact

the family of the

deceased. Another condition was that the accused surrender his passport.

The matter will have to get district court approval, prior to bail being taken up.