Category: News

THE day before the Fine Gael party launched its health policy, party leader Enda Kenny was telling the people of Clare that while the party would cease the reconfiguration of hospital services, it was too late to undo what had already been done.

“It is very difficult to undo work in the medical area once it has happened. As I move around the country I am being asked by so many hospitals, ‘can you restore facilities that have been taken away here?’ and my honest answer is I can’t because people don’t believe a situation like that, but before a service is taken away, before medical facilities are removed that is that time to make a case and Fine Gael has been very clear about that,” he said in response to questions about the future of Ennis General Hospital. “We don’t want anything closed down unless it is demonstrated that there is something better in its place. This is clearly not the case here.

“Fine Gael is committed to retention of medical services here in Ennis and the suspension of the removal of the cardiac facilities. Obviously Fine Gael’s overall view in the longer term is to change the health system to one of universal health where hospitals should be run by local trusts.

“There is little point in proceeding with a process that is blatantly not working as the regional hospital is chock-a-block. Our view is that you should not close down something until you have something better in its place” he said.

Deputy Kenny said that once a patient gets into the system it works well, the problem is getting into the health system quickly.

He also denied allegations that universal health insurance would close a hospital like Ennis describing the suggestion as “absolute rubbish”.

Fine Gael candidate Cllr Tony Mulcahy said the leader gave a commitment to the candidates that the party would retain acute services at the hospital “in their current format”. That would mean the retention of cardiac services and the anaesthetists at that hospital that has already lost its 24-hour A&E service.

THE IRISH National Teachers’ Organisation said Government could afford to pay the cost of teachers’ pensions. The union criticised what it called plans by Government to walk away from pension responsibilities.

The claims came at a meeting for primary and post primary teachers held in the University of Limerick on Wednesday.

At present retired teachers get a pension of half of their final salary after 40 years teaching. These pensions are linked to the pay of serving teachers.

The new proposals would mean that pensions would be decided on “career average” earnings.

“These three proposed changes will be devastating for the pensions of new teachers,” said Sean McMahon. INTO Executive member representing Clare.

“There will be no net benefit from being in a pension scheme as many teachers will pay in far more than they will ever get out. This situation may be open to legal challenge especially since membership is compulsory.”

NEW byelaws which allow for the introduction of a new € 40 charge to be levied on clubs for the use of facilities at the Lees Road Sports and Amenity Complex were voted through at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

A majority of councillors present voted 5-3 in favour of adopting the council’s new parks and open spaces byelaws on the condition, proposed by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), that the laws be reviewed within one year.

A counter motion, proposed by Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) that the byelaws be introduced without the introduction of new charges, was defeated in a separate vote.

In a report, town clerk Eddie Power insisted that the proposed charges will “apply only to organised use by clubs for this area specifically”.

Mr Power along with town manager Ger Dollard and several coun- cillors insisted that the charges will not apply to individual walkers and runners.

The area to be charged for relates to a section of re-developed track that borders woodland at the rear of the facility’s synthetic running track and all weather soccer pitch.

Mr Dollard said that it costs the council almost € 100,000 to maintain Lees Road.

Mr Power defended the charges, describing them as “competitive and not excessive”.

He said they were being introduced in the interests of fairness and consistency as charges were currently in place for other facilities at Lees Road.

However, some councillors expressed opposition to the new charges. Cllr Mary Howard (FG) described them as “retrograde”, saying that groups such as the ladies Meet and Train and the Clare Crusaders who are not organised sports clubs, may be charged under the byelaws.

She said, “It’s as clear as mud to a lot of people. It’s growing legs because its not clear who is being targeted.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said that a number of athletic clubs were interested in contributing to the cost of new facilities at Lees Road.

He said it was unfair that some clubs could avail of lighting for free at Lees Road while other clubs paid for it.

LOCAL councillors have voted in favour of a proposal that would see two residents in Cloughleigh sit on an advisory group for a new youth and community resource building to be managed by Clare Youth Services.

Locals have been opposed to the siting of the € 500,000 building at Cloughleigh Road in Ennis, due to fears over anti-social behaviour and the perceived impact the centre would have on elderly residents.

Following requests from local councillors and residents, the outline of a proposed lease agreement between the council and Clare Youth Services was presented at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

The proposed advisory panel would also include one local councillor and a council official with a further eight more people with “recognised experience” to be selected by Clare Youth Service.

It is also proposed that the opening hours for the centre be from “8am to 10 pm each day”.

This proposal was criticised by Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) who said the centre should not be open seven days a week. Town manager Ger Dollard explained it was unlikely the building would be open on a seven-day basis. He said the opening hours had been proposed to allow for greater use of the building by members of the wider Cloughleigh community.

Mr Dollard said it was a pity that the building had become “bogged down in negativity” as it was a very positive project for Ennis.

He warned that unless councillors voted to accept his recommendation to agree a lease with Clare Youth Service, then the building would remain “vacant”.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said that at a time of unemployment when there is a “crying demand” for youth and community services, it would be “reprehensible for elected members to leave that building empty”.

Five councillors – Tommy Brennan (Ind), Peter Considine (FF), Johnny Flynn (FG), Brian Meaney (GP) and Paul O’Shea (Lab) – voted in favour of progressing the lease agreement on the condition that two residents sit on the advisory panel.

Three councillors – Mary Howard (FG), Frankie Neylon (Ind) and Michael Guilfoyle – voted against the proposal. Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) was not present at the meeting.

WHEN IT comes to election issues for 2011 there is only one topic in town – jobs.

Almost four years ago the political landscape was so different when budding politicians went to the doors and canvassed the people.

Apart from it being summer time and the ground being relatively dry, the issues facing them revolved around services – the need for a proper hospital, smaller class sizes, better community services.

Now the first thing more than 10,200 people in Clare are looking for is a job.

They need a way to pay the bills that crept in with the Celtic Tiger and never left.

Homes where once two adults drew a wage are now without any, as companies close and staff are let go.

As of the end of December 10,619 people were signing on in Clare, 368 more than the previous month.

This in turn was an increase from 10,117 the previous month, and all indications suggest that number will be even higher for the first month of this year.

The figures represent more than a 70 per cent rise in unemployment in the county since August 2008.

The largest number of people signing on is in the county town of Ennis – with as many as 5,816 people on the live register.

North Clare has also been badly hit by unemployment with 1,708 people signing on in Ennistymon.

In Tulla there were 1, 578 names on the live register at the end of December, while Kilrush’s social welfare office had 1, 517 names on its books.

There are almost twice as many men signing on as women in the county 6,812 males to 3,807 females.

As many as 8,723 people over the age of 25 years old are now on the live register in Clare, again almost twice as many males as females.

In the under 25-age group – 1,230 young men are without jobs in the county, with 666 young women also signing on.

Emigration has also become a follow up issue, with many young people and families going as far as Canada to seek work.

This election will begin and end as homes foreclose, banks repossess cars and young families struggle to pay their every day bills.

Ironically our politicians will be queuing up looking for a job from many of the people are in the unemployment line.

CLARE County Council this week confirmed that it had spent almost all of the money it was allocated to care for the county’s roads – completing all work with the exception of two projects.

Fears were expressed at the end of last year by Deputy Joe Carey (FG) that the roadwork’s budget would not be spent and therefore lost.

In total the local authority spent € 22.687 million on all road works.

The allocation confirmed by the Department of Transport in relation to Regional and Local Roads for 2010 was € 15, 586,498, € 15, 281,462 of which was spent by the council.

The shortfall of approximately € 300,000 was attributed to the fact that a sum of € 500,000, allocated in respect of the Killaloe By-Pass/ Shannon Crossing, could not be spent as planning and design stages documentation were under consideration by the Department of Transport.

According to senior engineer Tom Tiernan, “To all intents and purposes the council completed its Roadworks Programme in 2010. Any minor elements, which were not completed, were as such due to circumstances outside of the council’s control. For example, it became apparent in early summer 2010 that it would not be possible to spend a sum of € 300,000 allocated to Blakes Corner, Ennistymon, due to the complexity and sensitivity of the procedures involved because of the conflict between the proposed junction improvement and the location of adjacent protected structures.

“The Roadworks Programme was implemented systematically while taking account of the specific needs of the various work sites involved, the climatic conditions required in each case, optimisation and allocation of plant resources available etc. Certain difficulties were encountered both at the beginning and the end of 2010 because of the very severe weather conditions, which pertained. Certain improvisations and strategy alterations were required but ultimately the job was completed as effectively as it could be in the prevailing circumstances.”

Among the routes to benefit from road improvement works were the N68 at Edenvale, Caherea, Lissycasey and Kilrush, the N67 at Moyasta and the R352 in Tulla. The main road north of Lisdoonvarna to Corkscrew Hill has also been upgraded while the road between Corkscrew Hill and Ballyvaughan is currently being upgraded. Works are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks at Ballyduff beg, Inagh on the N85.

AND they’re off. The race to the 31st Dáil has begun, and it was a particularly exhaustive first stage for the first two out of the blocks – Independent TDs James Breen and Jim Connolly.

The two Independent candidates were up and down ladders and polls more often than a New York fire crew.

When the Green Party pulled out of Government more than a week ago, the two Clare candidates began hanging their posters in preparation for the election.

After a weekend of hard work they were contacted by Clare County Council who informed them they were in breech of new legislation that did not allow the erection of any election posters until the election date officially named.

So the two candidates and their followers were back up the ladders on Tuesday morning removing all evidence of their political ambitions.

Meanwhile fellow hopefuls Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) and Michael McNamara (Lab) have also been busy with their followers in the county town of Ennis ensuring their message was getting through letterboxes, even if no one was home to let them through the doors.

Fine Gael’s two sitting TDs Pat Breen and Joe Carey are also busy wearing down the leather on the soles of their shoes, when they were not busy wearing out the tires in their cars returning to Dublin for votes on the Finance Bill.

Unlike his running partner Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF), Dr John Hillery (FF) has yet to brave the front door of Clare homes to make his case, and to begin canvassing this week.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) is also braving door steps this week, but the Green Party man is preparing for a lot of shut doors, complaints and in some cases even abuse as the only representative of the junior coalition party in the county.

And if our voxpop this week is anything to go by, all candidates do well to heed Cllr Meaney’s wariness as the mood of voters is somewhat tetchy. Many people who spoke to our reporter, but refused to go on the record, gave endless lists of how political decisions had negatively affected their lives in the last two years. Many others said the political system was now so damaged it made little or no difference that they voted for, and almost everyone said change was needed.

As the candidates face into a week when the Dáil is finally dissolved and a date for voting more than likely decided upon, the best most can hope for on the doorsteps of Clare is apathy or anger.

A CHANGE to the Litter Pollution Act proved a potentially costly lesson to two Clare candidates.

Independent candidates Cllr James Breen and Jim Connolly were told to remove their election signage or face a hefty fine from Clare County Council.

The warning came following a reminder being issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government stating that changes to legislation last year meant that election posters could not be erected until after the Taoiseach went to the President and dissolved the Dáil.

Under an amendment to the Litter Pollution act in 2009 the time period from which posters can be put up commences on the date of the order for the holding of the poll or 30 days prior to the date of the poll, whichever is the shorter period.

Both candidates said they were unaware to the changes to this legislation when they began work on their poster campaign.

Mr Connolly was particularly critical of the council’s speed and eagerness to implement this legislation.

He told

A MAN was fined € 1,000 for his role in an assault that took place in Ennis town centre.

Kevin Conroy (22), with an address at 48, The Punch Bowl, Ennis Road, Gort, appeared before a sitting of Ennis District Court last Wednesday.

Mr Conroy was charged with assault and a public order offence arising out of an incident at Abbey Street, Ennis. The court heard that Mr Conroy had no previous criminal convictions.

The court was told that on the night in question, Gardaí parked on Abbey Street observed the accused pushing another man up against a wall and striking him in the face.

Inspector John Galvin told the court that when Gardaí approached Mr Conroy, he was ‘quite drunk’ and ‘very disorderly’.

Insp Galvin said that the accused had resisted Garda efforts to restrain him. He said that Mr Conroy had met the other man as both of them left a nightclub.

Solicitor for the accused, Billy Loughnane, told the court that his client was “very sorry” and that he had too much to drink on the night in question.

Mr Loughnane said that his client had been on serious medication at the time and that this had ‘caused him to act out of character’.

Mr Loughnane said his client was a very hardworking man who worked as an agri-machinery driver.

Judge Joseph Mangan said that it had been suggested by gardaí that there had been ‘existing issues’ between the accused Mr Conroy and the other man’s family.

Insp Galvin said that while the defendant didn’t know the man, he knew his brother.

Judge Mangan fined Mr Conroy € 1,000 and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

ENNIS’ reputation as a haven and hotspot for traditional music was given a shot on the arm on Friday night’s Late Late Show as local Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann activists prepare to crank up their campaign to bring Fleadh na hÉireann back to the county to the county capital.

And, the boost to the county capital’s traditional music came from the unlikely source of Bob Geldof – the former Boomtown Rat and Live Aid promoter, who told Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy of the time he spent in Clare that helped him reconnect with Ireland and realise what he was missing.

“I went on a brief holiday a number of years ago to rediscover,” said Geldof.

“I’d forgotten how beautiful it was. I’d told my friends to lay out a plan – I want to do Ireland – but that I may not know the places to go. I went down to a couple of sessions in Ennis and I said to myself ‘I miss this so much. This is so cool’,” he added.

Geldof’s praise of Clare traditional music in Ennis – a reputation developed on the back on the huge success of the Fleadh Nua event in the 1970s – comes as amid a growing wish among Comhaltas Ceoltóirí activists that Clare be chosen as a Fleadh na hÉireann venue for the first time since 1976.

Geldof’s association with Clare dates back to the late 1980s when he became a key component in the efforts of the late Dr Brendan O’Regan at fostering world peace.

Along with media mogul Ted Turner, President Patrick Hillery and others, Geldof was a keynote speaker at the 1988 International Peace Conference organised by O’Regan’s Shannon-based Centre for International Cooperation.