Category: News

EAST Clare councillor Joe Cooney has told The Clare People that he would “give strong consideration” to running in the upcoming General Election, if Fine Gael headquarters sanctioned an 11th hour move to add a fourth candidate to the party’s ticket in the county.

However, moves locally to have Cllr Cooney, who topped the poll in the Killaloe Electoral Area in 2009 with a surplus of over 1,000 votes, could finally be dashed tonight, Tuesday, when Fine Gael election strategists finally reveal their full hand for the Clare constituency.

“At the moment we have three candidates,” Fine Gael Director of Elections, Phil Hogan told The Clare People .

“I don’t see that changing, but we have a meeting this Tuesday night and if a fourth candidate was added the decision would be taken there,” he added.

“I’d give it strong consideration,” said Cllr Cooney when pressed on Dáil ambitions while attending the re-enactment of the 1921 Glenwood Ambush in Kilkishen.

“I got nearly 2,800 votes in the 2009 local election. We have three men in the race at the moment and it’s up to headquarters if they want to add a fourth. If the party came back and said that they were adding that fourth candidate, I would give it consideration.

“At the moment they’re leaving it at three and if it stays like that, that’s the door closed, end of story. It’s totally up to headquarters. We are bound by headquarters and I am hap- py with that. There is a strategy here in Clare, so it’s up to headquarters. Whatever they decide we’ll go with it,” added Cllr Cooney.

“Any decision in relation to a fourth candidate is a matter for the director of elections and his team – they are Frank Flannery, Phil Hogan and Tom Curran,” said Deputy Pat Breen, who has endorsed Cllr Cooney’s credentials as a possible candidate.

“I have no problem whatsoever if they want to add a fourth candidate. I have made that quite clear to the candidates involved. We had four candi- dates in the last elections in 2007 and secured two seats.

“The advantages of running four candidates is that you maximise your vote and you get a big vote. The disadvantage is that you dilute the vote that second preferences may not transfer. It’s a call the National Executive have to make. Whatever decision they make, I’d abide by that.

“At this stage I would hope that the National Executive would confirm if they’re to add a candidate, so we can finalise our team to get ready for an election,” added Deputy Breen.

A HELICOPTER charged with bringing critically ill patients from west Clare to hospital is now a possibility, although it is unlikely to satisfy all health campaigners.

When the 24-hour accident and emergency services closed at Ennis General Hospital in April 2009, protesters warned of the dangers to the people of the west, who were hours from the nearest Centre of Excellence, and outside the Golden Hour in the case of heart attacks and strokes.

Many even suggested that the only safe and quick way to get seriously ill or injured patients to proper medical help in time was by helicopter.

Almost two years on and that wish could become a reality as former Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey announced that coast guard helicopters may be deployed to transport critically ill patients to hospitals.

This is to be part of a trial in Clare later this year.

The service will not be a full-time air ambulance service – a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) – which many campaigners have been calling for.

The Minister, who resigned shortly afterwards, told the Dáil talks were under way about the possibility of an “aero medical trial” taking place in west Clare.

If the trial is successful, the new service could be extended to other areas along the west coast.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Pat Breen he said it was hoped that the trial in west Clare might commence in the middle of this year.

“The Department maintains search and rescue [SAR] helicopters on permanent readiness at four bases for maritime emergency response, including two on the west coast in Shannon and Sligo,” said Mr Dempsey.

He continued, “These helicopters are principally employed for marine emergencies but they are occasionally used for land-based rescue tasks where other rescue agencies require assistance, as recently witnessed during the spell of severe weather, and in remote areas where the distance to hospital and a long ambulance journey would be a significant threat to a patient.

“However, the Coast Guard could not support a normal HEMS service with its SAR helicopters as this would reduce their availability for their primary task of providing helicopter marine emergency services on our coasts and waters.”

He added the new trial would be subject to a review by both the HSE and the Coast Guard to consider its effectiveness and value.

SINN Féin will not be running any General Election candidate in Clare.

The republican party did not even consider any candidate for the constituency, believing the time was not right to offer a candidate from the party to the people of the county for consideration.

The decision was taken when it emerged the structures were not in place to field a strong candidate, as the party is currently reorganising in Clare.

The decision by head office was met with disappointment in some areas, particularly by supporters of Spancillhill Garage owner Joe Corbett who hoped to be put forward as a candidate.

Sinn Féin last ran a General Election candidate in Clare in May 2007, when then student and Enniswoman Anna Prior represented the party.

Two years later and the then 24year-old stood in the Galway local elections under her married name Anna Marley, having moved to Oranmore.

Ms Prior secured 1,929 first preference votes in the 2007 General Election for Sinn Fein in Clare.

It had been 15 years before this when the party last ran a General Election candidate, when Mike McKee contested the election of 1992.

He received 459 votes and was eliminated in the first count.

Since then, Sinn Féin has had some success in elections in Clare having secured a seat on Shannon Town Council in 2009.

Cllr Cathy McCafferty (SF) was the seventh councillor to be returned on the nine-member council.

Sinn Féin has already selected 16 candidates to contest the General Election in other parts of the country.

It currently has five TDs in the Dáil including Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Arthur Morgan, Martin Ferris, Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Pearse Doherty.

ONE of the mid-west region’s largest independent providers of therapies for children with special needs is reporting a “massive” increase in demand for its services.

Ann Norton, Director of the Clare Crusaders, said calls to the charity’s Barefield-based clinic have increased steadily over the past 12 months.

Ms Norton explained, “There is a massive demand. Monday and Tuesday alone, I got calls from seven parents. The problem that is out there, with the embargo in the Health Services Executive (HSE), is that one of the therapists in the Shannon area has gone on maternity leave and they don’t actually have someone to replace her. So we have just been inundated. I could not say that a day goes past that we don’t get a phone call from somebody.

“A few years ago, people had extra money and you were putting the money into your children. You were paying anything up to € 120 an hour for speech and language or for occupational therapy. Unfortunately people don’t have that anymore. The majority of people that have children with special needs would be getting different grant, respite or carers allowances but it has all gone. Everything has been reduced. So people don’t have that extra spare cash to put into the children.”

Founded in 2005, seven therapists are employed at the Clare Crusaders

clinic in the areas of re

flexology, physiothera

py, speech and language

therapy, occupational

therapy and Montessori.

170 children attend the

clinic on a weekly basis

while the Clare Crusad

ers also conducts ther

apy sessions in schools

in Ennis, Barefield and

Newmarket on Fergus.

Ms Norton added, “We do hands-on therapy. We don’t do assessments. We use the assessments that are provided by the HSE. We work with the kids one-on-one. We can’t do an assessment on a child and go around and say, well there is a waiting list for two years. By the time that two years comes up, you’d have to have an assessment again. So they are literally going around in circles again and it’s not good enough.”

A FORMER first citizen of Clare, who stood for Labour in three general elections but left the party over a quarter of a century ago, has pledged her allegiance to the cause once more as the local organisation bids to return a TD for the county for the first time in 19 years.

Former mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy has embraced the Labour Party campaign, actively joining in the canvassing campaign of Michael McNamara that was officially launched by party leader Eamon Gilmore on a visit to the county last Thursday.

And, the current mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin, another former Labour Party member, hasn’t ruled out the possibility of backing Mr McNamara’s campaign. Mayor Curtin revealed that “the jury is out on who I will be backing – I will wait to see that the policies are to see if I backed the Labour candidate”.

“This is the first time I have endorsed a Labour Party candidate since I resigned from the party in 1985,” McCarthy told The Clare People . “I haven’t canvassed for any candidate in the 26 years since then, other than Mary Robinson’s presidential campaign in 1990.

“I’m doing it because I like the candidate. I’m doing it because I admire his stand on issues. I admire his ap- proach to issues – he’s young and he’s energetic and he’s committed to County Clare. The Labour Party policies are attractive and I like what I’ve seen of them. We need a fair and just society and the Labour Party and Michael McNamara in Clare holds those views – those views that I hold,” she added.

Cllr McCarthy, who stood for Labour in the 1977, 1981 and February 1982 General Elections outlined her commitment to the Labour campaign after party leader Eamon Gilmore said that “the big thing with this campaign is that Michael McNamara has the support of the extended Labour family election in Clare”.

Meanwhile, Cllr McCarthy has revealed that while she still holds on to her independent status on Clare County Council and Shannon Town Council, she hasn’t ruled out re-joining the Labour Party on a full-time basis.

“The option of re-joining the party has always been there for me,” she said, “but it’s not something I’m thinking of at the moment. What I’m thinking of is what has been happening to our country and have grown more dismayed, anxious and angry at what has been happening at the way the ordinary people are suffering.”

AS MANY as 85,360 Clare residents are already registered to vote in the upcoming General Election, but almost five per cent of those people from the Banner will be voting outside the county.

A total of 4,200 Clare people are registered as voters in the constituency of Limerick East, despite living in Clare and being registered with Clare County Council.

According to the breakdown of the new Clare register to be published in February, 88,474 people are registered to vote in local elections.

However not all will have a right to cast their vote in Clare during the General Election, as this is restricted to Irish and British citizens only.

In the case of a presidential election and a referendum, just people with full Irish citizenship can make their mark.

More than 4,000 people will also be voting for candidates in the neighbouring Limerick City constituency.

Included among those Clare people exercising their voting rights in Limerick are people living in areas that the Boundary Commission controversially believe should belong to Limerick.

Limerick East was always a largely urban constituency that contained small parts of County Clare.

A report by the Constituency Commission was published in October 2007 that also recommended changes to the electoral set up of this area.

As a result of population decline, Limerick East was replaced by a new four seat constituency called Limerick City which will also contain parts of Clare.

It is not too late however for Clare people to have their say in the democratic process as there is still time to register for the supplementary elec- tion register.

According to the Clare Registrar’s Office people have 14 working days in which to register from the date the Dáil is dissolved and the Minister has announced the official polling date.

This supplementary register can also be used if a person has changed address from one electoral area to another or from one county to another.

It is also available to teenagers who turn 18-years-old on or before the day of the election.

For citizens who wish to vote by post, they must register within two days of the dissolution of the 30th Dáil.

Application forms for those wishing to register to vote are available to download on line on the Clare County Council website.

A member of the gardaí must sign all forms before they are submitted.

SHANNON Airport would be allowed to prosper under a Labour government, but party leader Eamon Gilmore has given mixed messages to the Clare electorate on whether the former hub of the aviation world would be given its independence from the Dublin Airport Authority and fly as a stand alone airport.

“No, it’s not about being independent,” Gilmore told The Clare People on Thursday after a visit to Shannon to launch the campaign of local Labour Party candidate, Michael McNamara. “It’s about government policy on Shannon Airport.

“The Labour Party is hugely committed to the development of Shannon Airport. It is the one of the most important pieces of public infrastructure that Ireland have – a piece of public infrastructure that has been neglected by the government and neglected by Fianna Fáil.

“The first thing I did as leader of the Labour Party in 2007 was come to Shannon, because it was the very week that the announcement that Shannon-Heathrow flights were stopping and that’s why I came back to Shannon – to show Labour’s commitment to Shannon and its development.

“Shannon Airport will be able to compete with Dublin or anywhere else. That’s the policy of Labour – that will be the policy of Labour in government. Shannon needs to be able to function independently to compete with other airports and grow,” he added.

However, Mr Gilmore has stressed that Shannon being able to “function independently” doesn’t mean a change to the status which means that the DAA effectively calls the shots. “The institutional arrangements are of secondary importance,” he said in pouring cold water over any prospect that Shannon would be freed from the constraints and strictures of the DAA. “The priority is that we grow the business.

“What we believe to be more important is that we develop the business of Shannon Airport. In this country we spend far too much time looking at what structure in this and that, and who is on the board.

“The Labour Party policy in relation to Shannon is to grow the airport. The policy for Shannon Airport will be decided by government through the Minister for Transport and a Labour minister will be committed to developing Shannon,” Deputy Gilmore said.

“The Labour Party is hugely committed to the development of Shannon Airport. We need to be getting more value from Shannon Airport. Shannon Airport and the business around Shannon Airport has huge potential for growth and the Labour Party in government is committed to that.

“I believe we should be using Shannon much more inventively, to attract employment in the area to the area. We will be proactive about Shannon.

“We want a strong Shannon Airport. You have an airport of international standard in the mid west – an airport not being utilised to its maximum potential. We have to increase passenger numbers at Shannon – Labour are committed to that.

Deputy Gilmore continued, “When you have an airport – an airport with Shannon’s facilities, you have the possibility of developing other businesses around the airport. You have to maximise flight potential in and out of Shannon, but you also have to look at ways in which business can grow around the airport and in which you can use the airport to grow additional business.

“The critical thing as regards Shannon is that its business is grown – that’s the bottom line. That’s where the problem has been with Shannon. That’s what Labour is committed to. The infrastructure is there around the airport.

“The roads are there, the industrial base is there, the university (UL) is there. I come from the west of Ireland and Shannon was always the airport for the people of the west of Ireland and Labour are committed to ensuring that is so again,” Mr Gilmore added.

A COUPLE living in Shannon have been given seven-year sentences after being caught in Dublin handing over cash they brought from Limerick to exchange for heroin with a street value of almost € 50,000.

The couple got lost in Finglas as they headed back to Limerick with the drugs before gardaí pulled them over. They told gardaí they were in financial difficulties and were to get € 500 from criminals for the drugs run.

Ross Buckley (22) and Barbara Campion (23), both with an address at Delacey Park, Shannon, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to possession of the heroin for sale or supply at North Road, Finglas, on August 4, 2009.

After the couple were arrested they each attempted to take responsibility for the offence and absolve the other. Their co-accused, Gerard Ledwidge (26) of Cappagh Road, Finglas, also pleaded guilty to having heroin for sale or supply on the same date and was also given a seven year sentence.

Judge Katherine Delahunt commented it was a difficult case involving the parents of young children but said she was satisfied they were all fully aware of what they were doing and had engaged in it willingly. She suspended the final two years of each sentence.

Gardaí, on foot of certain information, observed a car driven by Buckley with Campion as a passenger, being driven up Cabra Road before stopping at the junction of Ratoath Road.

Two males approached the car, one of which was later found to be Ledwidge, and the window was rolled down.

Ledwidge handed in a small package and Campion handed out a bag. The car left the area and was followed by gardaí. Ledwidge was arrested in a nearby house shortly afterwards.

Gardaí following Buckley and Campion, activated their sirens and pulled the car over on North Road. They found a bag in the glove compartment which contained heroin with a street value of € 48,060.

Campion told gardaí she had come from Limerick with € 8,000 in cash and guessed she had to collect heroin. She and Buckley were to get € 500.

She said they had been asked to go to Dublin and had been given a phone number to ring to find out the location of the hand over. She said she rang the number and handed over the money to Ledwidge in return for the drugs.

Campion, who worked as a catering assistant, said she did not have a drug problem and would not name the person she was working for.

Buckley initially told gardaí he was committing the offence to clear a drug debt but later admitted he had done the run in return for cash payment. He mentioned at one stage the money was to be used for a holiday to Spain.

He said they were to return to Limerick with the drugs for a drop off but he did not realise the value of the drugs.

Ledwidge has 31 previous convictions while Campion has one conviction and Buckley has five convictions.

Det Gda Byrne agreed with Ms Grainne O’Neill BL, defending Campion, that the couple’s role was “amateurish in nature” and they had no plan if they were stopped.

Ms O’Neill submitted that Campion had a disruptive childhood but a strong work ethic. She said she had suffered post natal depression and had been in financial difficulties after returning to work on a part-time basis after her maternity leave.

She said Campion made “a very, very bad decision” which she and her child will have to live with. Det Gda Byrne agreed with Mr James McCullough BL, defending Buckley, that the couple made no attempt to evade gardaí and there was no evidence of high living. He said he was not aware of any threats being made.

Mr McCullough said Buckley, who played soccer at underage and senior level with Shannon Town, was remorseful and that he was a vulnerable man who was quite naive. He said the couple were devoted to their young child who would suffer trauma as a result of her parents going into custody.

IMPROVING the quality of healthcare to the people of Clare will be a priority for the Labour Party if they return to government for the first time in 14 years, with party leader Eamon Gilmore telling

A MAN HAS appeared in court charged in connection with the illtreatment of horses in the county.

John Joe Fitzpatrick (57), of Mountbellow, O’Briensbridge, is facing two charges of cruelty to an animal, on January 25 and January 27, 2010.

He is also facing two charges of permitting a carcass to remain unburied at Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge, on January 25, 2010.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shannon District Court on Thursday that the case could not go ahead this week as he required veterinary inspectors and personnel from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) to be present for the hearing and he sought a later date.

Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned the case until February 17, when a date for the hearing will be fixed.