Category: News

A NEW ‘Spring Tide’ can sweep Clare’s Labour Party election candidate Michael McNamara into the 31st Dáil, the former leader of the party and two-time Tánaiste Dick Spring has claimed this week.

In taking a timeout from his nephew Arthur Spring’s Dáil bid in North Kerry and turning his attention to the Clare campaign, Spring told The Clare People, “We will have Labour TDs on both sides of the mouth of the Shannon on February 26 and thus make some history.”

Spring, who served as a TD from 1981 to 2002, has claimed that the groundswell of support for McNamara’s election campaign represents a throwback to Dr Moosajeé Bhamjeé’s famous election win in 1992 when the Tralee man led Labour to their historic hight of 33 Dáil seats.

“Dr Bhamjee’e victory was the sensation of the ‘92 election. As the ‘Spring Tide’ was gathering towards the end of the campaign I was asked by Party HQ to do one final day’s canvassing in Donegal NE, Cavan/ Monaghan and Clare.

“By the time I got to Shannon the pilot said if I wasn’t back on the plane in 25 minutes he would have to leave as he was running out of flying hours.

I had a 20 minute

press conference with

Bhamjeé and there

was a feeling that he

was going well but

we did not see that we

would break through

the Dev culture in

Clare. But the people

of Clare in their wis

dom came out and

supported Bhamjeé.

Dr Bhamjeé to quote

his own words did

‘bring some colour to Dáil Éireann’.

“Given the breaking of traditional political moulds that is going on at present I believe that Michael McNamara can win a Labour seat in Clare. Ireland and Irish politics will be in a very different place after this election. With the Labour Party on course to achieve 24/25 per cent of the national vote that should suffice to bring Michael across the line,” he added.

THE CREATION of hundreds of jobs in the north Clare and south Galway area have been put on hold following the news that construction work on the € 300 million Gort to Tuam motorway is to be delayed.

Work on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was due to commence earlier this month but the National Roads Authority (NRA) have confirmed this the project has experienced difficulties due to problems obtaining funding from supporting banks.

This is the second delay which has struck the motorway, which will be used by hundreds of Clare commuters each day when completed, following a four month delay in signing contracts with the projects main contractors, the the BAM/Balfour Beatty Consortium, last September.

This delay in signing the contracts caused the construction start-time for the motorway to be put back from November of 2010 to January of 2011.

In October of 2010 a spokesperson from the NRA confirmed to the Clare People that “despite rumours to the contrary” construction work on the motorway would begin in early 2011. Despite these reassurances NRA spokesperson, Sean O’Neill, confirmed over the weekend that construction work would be delayed on the project. Mr O’Neill also said that the NRA was still committed to the 57-kilometre project and hoped that that matter would be resolved soon.

“This delay has arisen due to concerns on the part of the funding banks relating to the sovereign debt situation in Ireland, and these concerns have impacted on the timing of progressing to financial close,” he said.

It had been expected that work on the project, which would complete the Ennis to Galway motorway, will be completed by 2014 however, it is not clear when construction work on the motorway will now be able to begin.

The delay comes as a blow to the business community in north Clare and south Galway with a number of local companies expected to act as suppliers and sub contractors to the main development team.

It is also expected that the influx of workers would give a boost to the local economy.

Once completed the motorway will connect the Gort/Crusheen bypass to the M6 motorway east of Oranmore – bypassing Ardrahan, Kilcolgan and Clarinbridge. It is expected to reduce the commute time between Ennis and Galway by 15 minutes.

A MEMBER of the Clare Travelling community may soon be granted a guaranteed seat on Clare County Council, thanks to a new proposal from the chairperson of Clare County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Committee, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

At Friday’s Clare Active Citizenship Network debate for Clare’s General Election candidates, Cllr Meaney put forward the proposal that one seat should be temporally ring-fenced for a member of the Travelling community.

Speaking to The Clare People after the meeting, Cllr Meaney admitted that the Clare’s multi-million strategy for the Travelling community was a failure.

“We are in a situation now where the Traveller way of life seems to be at odds with the rest of the community. The policies of the past have not worked and we can’t keep employing those policies and expect that they will work. One way that we can resolve this is to include the minority group in local government – this is done with the Inuit people in parts of Canada and the Maori people in New Zealand,” he said.

“Traveller-specific accommodation has not worked – that is saying something considering all the millions that have been spent on it – and I am not in the business of making mistakes. We have to make this work – there are responsibilities to make this work.

“This is something that is practiced in a lot of democracies to provide a seat in a local assembly for a minor- ity. This is not something that would be popular in local government, it wouldn’t be popular among elected people and I’m not sure that this would be a popular in the Green Party, this is something that I am putting forward.”

According to Cllr Meaney, his proposal should allow for member of the Travelling community to be elected without assistance in future local elections in Clare.

“This is something that would be introduced as a temporary measure during a period of transition – after that I would expect that people from the Travelling community could be elected on their own bat. This would be a temporary measure – maybe for the lifetime of one or two local elections in Clare,” he said. “It is necessary that we begin to approach the Traveller situation in a new way. We need to move away from a dependency situation – where Travelling people are treated as dependents – we need to ensure that all the people can participate in our entire society. This will require a change of attitudes from all sections of our society.”

THERE’S a line of traffic up College Road towards the imposing old convent building that stands sentinel over what could be described as the leafy Ennis suburb just after you cross the Rhine into the Lifford are of Ennis.

Erasmus House dates from the 1770s and was originally a private residence before became a convent, but more recently housed both Maoin Cheoil and Chláir and the Ennis Language School.

In their own way both the Maoin Cheoil and language school hit at the source of all the activity. There’s both music and language, albeit it’s more England than Ennis, cockney not Clare.

Adults and children alike snake around the back of the building to a small church hall that’s hidden away. And, in a way it’s appropriate that this is the new rehearsal venue for the society – an old religious house for the society that came to Ennis thanks to the oldest established residents in Ennis, the Franciscans.

It was in 1953 that the society, then called the ‘Friary Choral’ under the direction of Fr Eunan had its maiden voyage with ‘The Country Girl’ in the New Hall on Station Road.

It was six more years before the society set sail again with the production of ‘Wild Violets’, but since then the Ennis Musical Society has become one of the staples of the performing arts in Ennis and wider Clare.

And the last 50-plus years reads like an eclectic what’s what of the genre – ‘Calamity Jane’, ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘La Belle Helene’, ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and many more.

This year it’s ‘Oliver’. Bill Sikes stomps on stage; the Dodger dances; Fagin figures his next move; Oliver sits at the workhouse table, takes his deepest breath and plucks up the courage from somewhere to say he wants more.

Anyone who saw Carol Reed’s film starring Ron Moody, Oliver Reed and Mark Lester – we all did as a rite of passage – knows the lines by heart, simply by opening the trapdoor of the mind.

‘Oliver, Oliver, never before has a boy wanted more…..’

Yes, Charles Dickens’ victorian classic has always been a winner with the crowds – makes it long over due another ride on the Ennis Musical Society’s carousel. “Oliver never loses its appeal,” says society chairman Jonathon Hopper, “and it’s great to put it on again,” he adds trawling through the online archives to when it was last brought to an Ennis stage.

It was 1990 when the Ennis Musical Society contended for the industry’s Oscars – the Association of Irish Musical Societies awards – when Cecil McDonagh was runner-up in the Best Actor category and Padraig O’Reilly was runner-up in the Supporting Actor role.

“This year we decided we wanted to have something that had children involved,” said musical society chairperson Jonathon Hopper. “The kids loved being involved in shows and ‘Oliver’ is just one of the classic shows that’s brilliant for children. The response we got was absolutely brilliant. We had 80 children audition. Beforehand we were slightly worried whether we’d have enough children turn up. We needed 20 but got 80. People want to see ‘Oliver’ and the kids want to be involved with it. It’s as popular as ever.”

The work on the 2011 production is almost done with now. The sets are built, costumes made, rehearsals ramped up in frequency over the last while as everyone involved close in on showtime in Glór from March 8 to 12.

“It’s a big undertaking every year,” says Hopper, “but a big budget needed to bring everything together, so there’s fundraising involved, people helping out with the sets and the background stuff. There are a lot of people involved and I’d say that the musical society is a family.

“I’m Australian and I decided to come to do the Europe thing for a year and I came to Ireland. I’ve been five years. I was around town, wondering what I’d get involved in and I had the idea ‘what about getting involved in musicals’.

“I had done some in high school. I was working in Shannon at the time and a friend was telling me he was involved in a musical and I said to myself ‘I can do that’. I just turned up and got involved and have been involved ever since.

“It has had a huge impact on myself. I would say that almost everyone I know in Ennis is someone I know through the musical society. To be honest it’s one of the reasons why I ended up staying in the country. It’s a huge part of my life.”

The society itself has been a huge part of Ennis life for countless generations of performers.

Expected Glór to be play to full houses between March 8 and 12.

CLARE’S most important hidden architectural gem will soon be destroyed as a result of rising sea waters. A 700-year-old medieval fishing weir, located on Boarland Rock the estuary of the River Fergus, will be completely destroyed in just 10 years.

According to Dr Aidan O’Sullivan of the School of Archaeology at UCD, the weir is one of the best preserved medieval fishing sites in Europe.

The weir was protected for centu- ries by a large bank of mud at Fergus estuary but changes in the flow of the river in recent years has exposed the structure to the tidal water.

Dr O’Sullivan has been forced to abandon a programme of scientific research on the weir, conducted by a team of UCD experts and a number of local fishermen, because of recent funding cuts to the Irish Heritage Council.

“There is little we can do to preserve the medieval fishing structures because they are totally exposed to the forces of nature on the mudflats, after being buried for centuries be- neath the mud,” he said.

“They are likely to be entirely destroyed within the next ten years. We had hoped that by working with the local community we could record this significant archaeological site before it is destroyed.”

The structure itself is located almost two kilometres from dry land in the very middle of a large network of mudbanks and water channels. The site can only be accessed by boat for a few weeks each year when the water level on the Fergus is at its lowest.

“We can see wooden ropes with knots tying together the structure and most remarkably, we have even found woven, conical baskets intact in the clays at the ends of the weirs. It is almost as if someone had walked off and left these baskets there last year,” continued Dr O’Sullivan.

The team from UCD has been assisted in his research of the weir by local fishermen in the Clarecastle, including Flann Considine.

“Flann knows the Fergus like the back of his hand. He is very knowledgeable about the tides, the currents, submerged rocks and the likely impact of changing weather condi- tions on the boat,” said archaeologist Conor McDermott.

“It’s simple. We wouldn’t be able to investigate and record these archaeological sites without his help and that of his colleagues.”

Dr O’Sullivan will speak at the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis on Tuesday, March 1, at 8.30pm.

Dr O’Sullivan has close family connections with Clare. His father John O’Sullivan (1938-2006) played hurling with Killaloe Smith O’Briens. He captained the Clare minor team in the 1950s and played senior hurling with Clare in 1957.

MULLAGH Entire Drama Group is celebrating a decade of bringing fun, thought and entertainment to the people of west Clare.

The amateur dramatic society is marking its 10th anniversary by entering its latest play in competition for the very first time, when it takes part in the Doonbeg Drama Festival early next month.

The group will perform ‘A Wake in the West’ written by playwright Michael Joe Ginnelly.

Set in the 1960s in a rural village in the west of Ireland the play explores drink, relationships, the role of the clergy and poverty.

“It is a comedy with a twist,” explained actor Anthony Morrissey.

And while the group will be entering a competition for the first time, the area has a long tradition of drama and plays.

The people of Mullagh took to the stage long before this relatively new group was formed by the ICA a decade ago. Back then the first play was written and directed by Eilis Merriman. The drama group has expanded and developed since then, and now boasts up to 25 members.

“The goal has been to bring a play to Doonbeg and take the group to the next level,” said Mr Morrissey.

Those wishing for a sneak preview of the play before it enters it first competition can see it in Mullagh Hall on Friday next, February 25, or Sunday February 27. The play will also take to the stage in Mullagh on March 20. Doors will open at 7.30pm with curtin at 8.30pm.

A LOCAL traders group has said they have serious concerns over a proposed large-scale retail development on the outskirts of Ennis.

Planning permission has been sought by Michael Lynch Ltd for the development of a retail park at five hectares of land at Limerick Road and Tobertascáin.

It is projected that as many as 500 jobs could be created if the project gets the go-ahead.

According to planning consultants DPP (Development Planning Partnership), 300 temporary jobs will be created in construction while with a further 200 full time jobs in retail on completion.

However Gearoid Mannion, Chairman of the O’Connell Street Traders Association, has said there are concerns about the potential impact of the development on business in the town centre.

He explained, “It is a significant worry. It would be bad, not just for O’Connell Street but the town centre. It would be a huge matter for Ennis town centre. We would be very concerned.”

The O’Connell Street Traders Association has written a letter to Ennis Town Council outlining their observations of the proposed development.

Mr Mannion explained, “We are saying that we would be very concerned that it would be detrimental to existing business in the town centre. Such a development is unnecessary in size and scale and is way in excess of what could be considered suitable for a town the size of Ennis.”

Ennis chamber and An Táisce have also written submissions to Ennis Town Council outlining their concern over the project.

Three businesses have closed on O’Connell Street since the start of the year. However Mr Mannion be- lieves Ennis has not been affected as badly as other similar sized towns.

He said, “It is the time of year when it is most likely to happen. I would be hopeful and confident that we have seen the last of the closures.”

He added, “We are still in a slightly better position than other towns. Tralee and Nenagh would be in a significantly worse place than we are. Limerick, even though it is a city, has also been badly hit. That’s very clearly as a result of the success of the Crescent Shopping Centre.”

Noreen Twomey Walsh of the Parnell Street Association said businesses all over Ennis are “feeling the pinch”. She added, “It’s universal, it’s in every town and city. It’s not just Parnell Street, O’Connell Street and Abbey Street, but we’re optimistic that things will start to turn the other way.”

She added, “It’s sad to see shops close down but we’re hoping that things will get better.”

ONE of the first nuns to qualify in medicine, Sr Dr Maura O’Donoghue has been named as the Clare Person of the Year.

Sr O’Donoghue was honoured at the annual meeting of the Clare Association in Dublin last week.

A native of Lickeen, Kilfenora, Sr O’Donoghue was one of the first members of the religious order to practice medicine. Presenting the award, Liam O’Looney of the Clareman’s Association noted that Sr O’Donoghue qualified at a time when some people “were not happy that the religious sisters were qualifying in medicine”.

Mr O’Looney continued, “Sr Maura had a very distinguished career in the missions and most of her work was carried out in different parts of Africa and other developing countries. She initiated welfare schemes and clinics for the hungry during some of the very serious famines they suffered in those countries during that period.”

Sr O’Donohue now lives in Booterstown, Dublin, where she is very ac- tive campaigner on the issue of women being trafficked as sex workers.

Acclaimed singer and writer Robbie McMahon from Spancill Hill was nominated for the association’s 2011 Hall of Fame award.

The ceremony also saw the launch of the Clare Association’s new website, clareassociationdublin.com.

The primary aim of the website is the reach out to generations of Clare migrants living in Dublin.

The website was launched by businessman and prominent Clare supporter, Pat O’Donnell, who brought Clare GAA’s most sought after trophies – Jack Daly (football) and Canon Hamilton (hurling) – to the event.

Among the other attendees were previous Clare persons of the year, Martin Donnelly, Michael Tubridy and John Lynch.

WORKERS based at the old Halifax Insurance centre in Shannon will have to wait more then six week before being told which among the 300-strong workforce will lose their jobs. The St Andrew’s Group in Shannon, formerly known as Halifax Insurance, confirmed last week that 80 people are to be let go from their Shannon operations.

These latest job cuts come less than a year after Lloyds Banking Group, who owns the the St Andrew’s Group, announced that 21 people were to be let go because the company no longer going to operate in the payment protection insurance market.

Workers at the St Andrew Group were told last week that as much as 80 per cent of workers in some departments are to be let go while other departments are to be largely untouched. The Clare People also understands that every worker at the Shannon company is to be interviewed in the coming weeks before any decision on final redundancies is made.

These 80 redundancies form part of an overall cut of 200 jobs from the insurance section of the Lloyds Banking Group in the UK and Ireland.

“Lloyds Banking Group is today announcing 200 role reductions mainly within its insurance division as part of its ongoing integration programme. Lloyds Banking Group is committed to working through these changes with employees in a careful and sensitive way. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager,” said a spokesperson from Lloyds. “The group’s union partners, Accord, LTU and Unite, were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted throughout the process.

“The group’s policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. By making less use of contractors and agency employees, it reduces the impact on permanent staff. Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering vol- untary severance.”

These latest cuts mean that the Shannon-based operation will have lost just over 30 per cent of it’s entire workforce in just 12 months.

The St Andrew’s Group is a leading specialist creditor insurance provider. It manages claims and customer service on behalf of clients such as MBNA, Sainsbury’s Bank and AA Personal Finance.

In June of 2006, Halifax Insurance Ireland announced that it would be generate 185 new jobs in Shannon over the following five years.

COME what may there will be massive changes in the representatives put forward by the Galway East constituency after this month’s General Election.

That much was signalled early on when three of the four sitting deputies – Fianna Fail’s Noel Treacy and Fine Gael’s Ulick Burke and Paul Connaughton – announced their decision not to run, leaving Michael Kitt as the only member of the current Dáil left standing.

Despite the decision of Libertas leader Declan Ganley to sit this election out, there is still plenty to talk about in Galway East during this campaign season.

Possibly the biggest talking point is the emergence of the Labour Party with long serving party activist Colm Keaveney in with a fighting chance of taking a seat.

With his Labour Party running mate Lorraine Higgins also pooling well for a first time candidate, inter parties transfers could see the party take it’s first seat in Galway East in living memory.

Another major talking point in the constituency is the wrangling over who would make up the Fine Gael ticket.

With three men – Paul Connaghton Jnr, Jimmy McClean and Tom McHugh – left standing after the party convention, the Fine Gael top brass put a cat amongst the local blue-shirts by adding the former Progressive Democrat leader, Ciaran Cannon, to the ticket.

Cannon, who switched allegiances following the collapse of the PD’s last year, was added to the ticket in what has been seen by party insiders as pay-back for defecting to Fine Gael in 2009.

There could be a further twist to this tail as Cannon, despite being relatively unpopular within the local party, is proving very popular with the public and looks in line to take a second seat for Fine Gael ahead of both McClean and McHugh.

The one certainty, if such a thing exists in this election, is that Paul Connaghton Junior looks set to take the seat vacated by his father.

As for Fianna Fáil, many within the local party organisation have consigned themselves to retailing only one seat in what was always considered a party stronghold.

Unless there is a major shock, sitting TD Michael Kitt will have enough to see him home with running mate Michael Dolan unlikely to have a major impact on election day.

Independent Sean Canny looks likely to end up in a dog fight for the last seat with Labour’s Colm Keaveney, Fine Gael’s Jimmy McClean and Independent Tim Broderick.