Category: News

THE Killone Group Water Scheme will be forced to cease production in the coming weeks due to a lack of funding, the scheme’s chairman has warned.

Murt Redington said the scheme is in a “severe financial predicament” and he has described the situation as “becoming critical”.

The Killone plant, which was built at a cost of around € 900,000 in 2007, serves an estimated 3,000 homes, farms and commercial businesses in the wider Clarecastle area.

Mr Redington’s concerns are outlined in a letter to councillors, TDs and officials at Clare County Council.

He writes, “It appears from our projections that water production will have to cease in or about mid-May unless the subsidies held and capital works grants due to us are paid to us. As we intend to hold an EGM / AGM in the near future, we will be informing members of the group scheme of these difficulties.”

In the letter, Mr Redington requests the support of local representatives as a “matter of urgency”.

He adds, “As mentioned above, our current projections are to midMay but, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, we may be forced to cease pumping due to funding insufficiency.”

The matter of funding for the scheme was raised by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis East Electoral Area.

Ennis Town Manager and Director of Service at Clare County Council Ger Dollard, told the meeting that discussions are ongoing between representatives from the Killone Group Water Scheme and the Council’s water services section.

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.

FIFTY years after Shannon Town was born, it finally has an Oireachtas member thanks to Tony Mulcahy’s election to Seanad Éireann – a victory the former Mayor of Clare and Shannon had dedicated to the power of the social media site, Facebook.

On being elected to the upper house on the Labour Panel after the 13th count, Senator Mulcahy told The Clare People that it was the reaction to his General Election bid on Facebook that inspired him to launch his Seanad Éireann campaign.

“I was told to read the Facebook page. I read it on the Monday night after the General Election and the volume of goodwill messages that I got – people telling me to give it another go – was what prompted me to go for the Senate,” he said.

“That drove it home for me. I was going to leave it after the General Election and I decided after that to give it one good lash. It was from Malin Head to Mizen Head and every bit of it to get elected but it was worth it.”

Senator Mulcahy first stood for election in 1999 when winning a seat on both Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council, seats that he subsequently retained in the 2004 and 2009 local elections.

His first Oireachtas election was in 2007 when he polled 3.408 first preference votes in the General Election, a figure he doubled to 6,829 in the February 2011 election.

After the General Election, Senator Mulcahy, who served as Mayor of Clare from 2009 to 2010 and is the current Mayor of Shannon, was selected by the local Fine Gael organisation in Clare to contest the Seanad election, a nomination that was endorsed by party leader Enda Kenny.

“This brings closure on the General Election. We were over four months on the road. I was asked to stand in the General Election on December 19 and was added to the ticket on January 10,” said Senator Mulcahy.

“It was a tough campaign, a much different campaign to the General Election, but one that I threw myself into, once I made the decision to give it a go. I think it’s a great day for Shannon Town that it finally has an Oireachtas member.

“I say that because there was a strong view out there that people wanted an Oireachtas member from the town of Shannon and the Shannon electoral area. Shannon needed an Oireachtas member – Shannon is a major promoter for business and investment,” he added.

CLARE’S reputation as the county that makes electoral history was continued on Friday when Cllr Martin Conway was elected to Seanad Éireann on the Administrative panel, a success that been hailed as an historic breakthrough for the disability sector.

Senator Conway, who has been a Fine Gael member of Clare County Council for the last seven years, was selected to contest the Seanad election by the People With Disabilities Ireland (PWDI) group only months after his own party refused to put him on the ticket for the General Election.

Now, in being elected to the Upper House on Friday night to bring Fine Gael’s complement of Oireachtas members to an historic four, Senator Conway has created a famous first for Clare and national politics.

“From the vision impairment perspective, I’m the first person member of the Oireachtas ever to be elected with a severe vision impairment,” Senator Conway told The Clare People .

“There hasn’t ever been someone elected with the level of eyesight I have, which is less than 20 per cent.

“It is a great achievement for myself, given the battles I’ve had over the years, the disadvantages I’ve had over the years. I was born with it and lived with it all my life. It isn’t an is- sue I go on about but I speak about it when I’m asked,” he added.

Senator Conway’s success came against the odds as he was up against two former Fine Gael TDs who had the imprimatur of the party in a highly competitive seven-seater constituency.

“I had to look at long and hard about standing,” admitted Senator Conway. “It’s a separate house and I don’t buy into theory that because I didn’t get to run in the Dáil that I’m automatically going to run in the Senate as a second best option.

“I looked at panel system, as outdated and archaic and all that it is, from my perspective in politics, that the most appropriate panel was the Administrative panel given the outside nominating bodies are the voluntary disability sectors.

“My life experience of disability of being the only councillor the country with a declared disability, there was scope there for representing a minority group. Given that the Senate is supposed to be for minorities I felt I could competently represent that minority group.

“I sought the nomination for People With Disabilities Ireland (PWPI). I felt I could be a strong advocate for the issues that concern them. They gave me their nomination. I toured the country and I met every Fine Gael councillor I could – 90 per cent of them and got the vote out,” added Senator Conway.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny must reward Clare with “a post of significance” after the historic achievement of the Clare branch of the party in winning four seats in the Oireachtas.

Cllr Joe Arkins, who spearheaded Clare Fine Gael’s Seanad Éireann campaign among the party’s 14 members of Clare County Council, told The Clare People that “Clare cannot now be ignored by the party brains trust in Dublin”.

“In the absence of Clare getting a junior ministerial post after the General Election, Enda Kenny can now look at the county again. We have four Oireachtas members for the first time in the party’s history and we want that recognised by Government.

“It’s in the Taoiseach’s gift to do that. He has the scope to make one of Clare’s Oireachtas members the chair of an Oireachtas sub-committee. It’s the least the county deserves. The bank of talent is in Clare.

“Senator Martin Conway has a special insight into the area of disability, so to does Senator Tony Mulcahy. Both of them also have an involvement in small and medium enterprises. They could be rewarded with a post on sub-committees in these areas,” added Cllr Arkins.

CLARE has six members of the Oireachtas, but it could have been an unprecedented eight, after the election count for the 25th Seanad concluded in Dublin on Friday.

Both Cllr John Crowe (FG) and Declan Kelleher (IND) were just edged out in their bid to join Senators Tony Mulcahy and Martin Conway in the Upper House.

For Sixmilebridgeman Cllr Crowe, it was another agonising defeat, five years after he was edged out in his first national election when contesting the Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

Cllr Crowe polled 36,000 first preference votes and, after a mammoth count, was eliminated after the 32nd count when his vote stood at 82,149.

“If he had got three more transfers, Cllr Crowe would have lasted to the 33rd count and then the votes of Labour’s Joe Leydon’s would have elected him,” Cllr Joe Arkins told The Clare People .

“I’m disappointed not to be elected,” admitted Cllr Crowe. “I put in a good campaign and just came up short. It was very close but I’m proud of the performance,” he added.

Meanwhile, Corofin National School principal Declan Kelleher was edged out for one of the four seats on the National University of Ireland Panel.

Mr Kelleher, who was the INTObacked candidate for the election, re- ceived 3,771 votes in the first count, but missed out after the 25th count after he had amassed 5,410 votes.

“I needed about 700 more first preference votes and then a good transfer to get elected,” reflected Mr Kelleher afterwards.

“There were three seats and 27 candidates in the running for them and there was always the chance that I would come fourth out of 27 and just miss out. That’s what happened.

“I was disadvantaged in being a candidate from the west, because there were only 2,000 NUI votes in Clare, while there were 33,000 in Dublin.

“However, I learned an awful lot by contesting the race and I am delighted that I did so,” he added.

RESIDENTS in Newmarket-on-Fergus are being urged to take part in a local survey, the findings of which will play a key role in shaping the future of the village.

Community group Obair is spearheading a community needs assessment, with a view to putting together a range of events for locals. The aim is that those who are struggling with any aspect of their lives will be helped out.

Project co-ordinator Kirsty Horner said the aim of the project is to look at the needs of the community and build on the findings.

“We are targeting specific groups, for example one-parent families, people with disabilities, unemployed males and the elderly. The aim is to create a profile of Newmarket and find out what the needs are in the village and what is here already…what needs to be improved and what needs to be added,” she said.

Kirsty has been working on the project for the past few months and is hoping to have all the information gathered over the coming months. A public meeting will then be held and locals will be encouraged to attend this and present their ideas for the future of the village.

A number of focus groups have been set up and their findings will be made available at a later stage.

“We will form a social inclusion committee, where people who have never been on a committee before will be involved,” she said.

“It is important that people get involved. It’s a chance for them to have their say,” she said.

Kirsty recently completed her Master’s Degree in Partnership Studies at the University of Limerick and completed training with the HSE in relation to compiling a community needs assessment. Arising from this, she got involved in this project.

“We have to build up a profile of the area and put together statistics on social housing units, unemployment and rent supplements in Newmarket,” she said.

“The aim is to help people who are struggling with childcare or who are going back to education. We felt it would be good to have a community fund,” she added.

Anyone wishing to get involved in the project should phone Kirsty in Obair on 061 368030.

CLARE national teachers have vowed to take industrial action over pay and the threatened closure of up to 44 schools in the county, because they say “this country’s current financial Armageddon was caused by reckless banks and unscrupulous developers aided and abetted by governmental policies and not by public servants”.

This militant action by the county’s teachers was heralded at last week’s Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) congress in Sligo, which was attended by over 30 Clare delegates and led by their union leader Sean McMahon.

“We are living in the economic aftermath of national economic sabotage generated by rampant capitalism,” McMahon told The Clare People in a hard-hitting statement in which he declared that the county’s primary school teachers are refusing to bear the brunt of Ireland’s economic meltdown.

“There is no room to reduce teachers pay any further,” he blasted. “If government recommence an attack on public servants and teachers for further wage cuts then I firmly believe we must as a union cast off the Croke Park and all agreements and immediately ballot all members for a sustained campaign of industrial action including the ultimate right of every worker the withdrawal of their labour.”

McMahon, who is Clare’s delegate of the INTO national executive, also said that Clare primary schools would not stand idly by if the Department of Education presses ahead with the controversial McCarthy Report plan to close all schools in the county with under 50 students.

“The threatened closure of schools with under fifty pupils is of particular interest to teachers and communities nationwide,” he said, “Within Clare in particular, as there are 44 such schools. Clare INTO delegates argued that primary consideration should be given to the needs of pupils, their parents and the wider community.

“A significant rationalisation of small rural schools has already taken place in Ireland and any consideration of future school provision must bear that in mind and be particularly sensitive to community wishes,” Mr McMahon said.

Speaking on this issue, the principal of Knockerra National School, Brid Finnegan, said, “rural Ireland has much to thank its small schools for, not least being the cement that binds rural communities together, giving them an identity.

“Rural schools, large or small, or indeed rural Ireland did not drive the financial madness that became the Celtic tiger. This was instead driven by the greed of banks and the self interest of large developers allied to the inaction of central government to regulate. We must not now allow our small, often isolated, rural communities to pay the price in terms of the educational opportunity of our children.”

THE Sisters of Mercy have donated two East Clare properties worth in excess of € 500,000 to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann who now plan to transform the old Tulla Convent and the Girls’ Primary School in Tulla into a Comhaltas Cultural Centre.

A major fundraising effort was launched in East Clare yesterday, to raise the money needed to develop the building, with a mock wedding planned to take place on June 5.

Plans are currently being prepared to develop the convent buildings into a cultural centre, with particular emphasis on the cultural traditions of Clare. Once complete, the building will become Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s seventeenth cultural centre in Ireland.

When completed, the centre will be called ‘Cnoc na Gaoithe’ or the windswept hill.

“This is an exciting and challenging project in which the whole community will have a role,” said Breda McNamara, Cathaoirleach of the project in Tulla.

“We will draw on the experience and contacts which Comhaltas have built up over the years. We intend to make it a shop window for the cultural traditions of Clare which have won international acclaim.”

The director general of Comhaltas, Labhrás O’Murchú, said that this was a “very generous gesture” on the part of the nuns who have made a “huge contribution to the educational and cultural life” of the area.

The Sisters of Mercy’s long history in the East Clare region dates back more than 100 years and a number of sisters still live in the area. These include Sr Eileen Callinan, who chose the name for the new building, Sr Bosco Griffen, Sr Ita Quinn and Sr Annette Sexton.

A number of well-known local faces have already been lined up to take part in the mock wedding, which takes place on June 5. Clare TD Timmy Dooley (FF) will act as priest for the day, while local pharmacist Morna Toibín and mechanic Cyril Hogan will play the roles of Mona Hogan and Bill Tobin for the wedding.

Within the drama, the bride comes from a staunch Fine Gael family and the father of the bride, Paddy Hogan (Cllr Joe Arkins), has serious reservations about the success of this marriage. To stir the pot even more, his wife Bridie (Kitty Leyden) is in love with Fr Falvey – the role played by Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley.

Tickets for the event are available at a cost of € 25 and are available from the Tulla Pharmacy, the Tulla Post Office and Custy’s Music Shop in Ennis or online at www.custysmusic.com.

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.