Category: News

THE ARMY are to be called in to deal with future flooding problems in Clonlara. Defence Minister Willie O’Dea has pledged he will call out the troops if the River Shannon breaches its banks again.

Residents spent days doing battle with the might of the river to keep it out of their homes last week. Many, including a 77-year-old woman, a heavily pregnant woman and a family of six had to be evacuated.

Today, Springfield woman Nora Mason (77) is back in her home but her daughter, Geraldine Quinlivan, said she is “a prisoner because of the stones and sandbags we have had to keep heaped at her door. We can’t risk taking them away and she can’t get out because she walks with a Zimmerframe.”

An angry Geraldine told how her mother’s home “would have been ruined but for the efforts of my husband, brothers and sons who were down there until 5am on Friday morning, fighting to keep the river out of my mother’s house.”

The ESB have come under fire for the timing and way in which water was released through the Parteen Weir and Ardnacrusha dams, but a spokesman for the company said it was necessary because of the heavy rainfall bringing extra flows of water into Lough Derg.

“The water was being let down for days before this. There has to be better management and better communication about this,” said Geraldine.

Local Councillor Cathal Crowe had a meeting with Minster Willie O’Dea and he has “given assurances that he will use the army to assist residents if this happens again”.

In the meantime, the Fianna Fail councillor wants the river dredged at strategic points and he is “asking for the road to be repaired where part of it was washed away”.

Cllr Paschal Fitzgerald also wants to see the river tackled and cleaned, a move which local people have demanded.

“It’s not good enough for Minister Tom Parlon to tell people they have to live with it. The river needs to be cleaned and people here are rightly angry about this. Who is going to pay for the clean-up where septic tanks have overflowed into people’s gardens and what about the damage to the road?”

And while the flood waters have receded, the residents say their anger is not going to drain away.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Senator Brendan Daly believes that had a bill introduced to the Dáil years ago got the go-ahead, Clonlara may not now be under water.

“Several years ago, I introduced a Private Members’ Bill to establish a Shannon river council, the purpose of which would be to bring together the various organisations with responsibility in this complex area. The Commissioners of Public Works, fisheries, Bord na Móna and a range of environmental bodies have an interest in this issue,” he said.

The west Clare senator was critical of the delay in the various bodies coming together to respond to the flooding issue. He said the meeting on Thursday last was “a bit late in the day.”

OVER 100 non-national workers at Shannon airport could hold the key in the upcoming union ballot to decide upon the airport’s restructuring programme.

The 100 or so temporary workers mainly from eastern Europe are expected to vote on the deal next month.

It is understood that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) made a late change to the offer to unions at Shannon by including temporary workers in the €10,000 loyalty payment for those who remain.

At a series of meetings at the airport last week, workers were briefed on the deal and SIPTU is making no recommendation for acceptance or rejection.

It is understood that there are strong divisions among airport staff despite the apparently generous payouts and this puts the sizeable eastern European airport workforce in a pivotal position.

Shannon councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said yesterday that she had certain reservations over the proposed deal, especially with the scale of job losses being talked about.

Workers at Shannon will consider the €35 million ‘survival plan’ that involves the voluntary redundancy of 200 workers over the Christmas period.

As part of the deal, the DAA is seeking cost cuts of €10 million per annum. Along with the voluntary redundancies, they are seeking increased flexibility in work practices and rosters across all divisions and is looking to exit completely from the airport’s existing catering operations through outsourcing.

As part of the redundancy deal, long-serving staff will receive lumpsum packages of over €100,000 and can also avail of pensions at 55.

There is also a €3 million fund set aside for the 300 staff who stay with the company with each worker receiving €10,000 for increased flexibility. No part of the airport security operation will be outsourced and the agreement also requires francishees and outsourcing companies to recognise unions.

At the start of October, the matter was referred to the Labour Relations Commission and a press black-out was imposed on the talks.

A spokeswoman for the SAA this week declined to comment on the fresh proposals but said the purpose was to make Shannon viable without its military traffic.

“The operational costs per passenger are three times that of Dublin airport and it is absolutely essential that any restructuring plan strips away €9 million to €10 million a year in savings,” she said.

AS the fourth anniversary of the murder of Seán Poland looms close, his family is still holding out hope that his killers will be caught.

Mr Poland (39) was shot dead at his home at Blackwater, Ardnacrusha, on New Year’s Eve, 2002, after he answered the door to a group of men. They tied up and attacked his partner, Joanne Lyons, and made off with a sum of cash.

Although a number of people were arrested in connection with the murder, no-one has ever been charged. The investment of major garda resources into the investigation has failed to result in any charges being brought. Mr Poland’s sister Marie Horgan – who lives in Ballyheigue, Kerry, is still hoping that the murder will be solved.

“It does not get any easier, where there is no closure. We are still holding out hope. You couldn’t put closure on it, especially when you see other cases being solved. It is heart-breaking, especially when we knew he was innocent. Seán was a good person,” said Marie.

“We will never get over it. If we could find out who did it and why, it would help in some way,” she added.

She hopes that someone’s conscience will affect them or that someone’s memory into what happened that night will lead to a breakthrough.

“People talk. Someone has to have heard something and we would appeal to people to go to any garda station and let them know,” she said.

She said every killing in Limerick brings her brother’s death back to her. Yesterday’s murder of Noel Crawford (40) at O’Malley Park in Limerick was particularly chilling, given that he was around the same age as Seán.

Seán was a bricklayer by trade and was also a second-hand car dealer. His family originally hailed from Clontuskert in east Galway and Séan grew up just miles away in Portumna. The family moved to the Ardnacrusha area when Seán was very young. His brother Ray lives just 100 yards from where Seán had lived with his partner.

“Seán was a happy-go-lucky fella with a big heart. He would do anything for you. The family was very close always,” said Marie.

While most families are looking forward to New Year’s Eve celebrations, the Poland family will gather in Clontuskert, for Seán’s fourth anniversary mass, and will pray that his killers will be caught.

THE ENNIS student who joined an elite team to represent Ireland at a science competition in Brazil has returned home covered in glory.

Victor Akujobi, a student of Ennis Community College, has brought home the country’s first silver medal from the Junior Science Olympiad.

Victor was picked on the strength of his Junior Certificate grades in Science and Maths to take part in the DCU/Damova Irish Junior Science Olympiad in DCU in November this year. He won a gold medal in this event entitling him to represent Ireland.

“It was a really exciting journey”, said Victor who added that he was “delighted and so are my family and people at school”.

Victor was on a team of six that travelled to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the competition. Fifty-three countries competed at the Olympiad, which ran from December 3 to 12.

The competition consisted of three three-hour exams spanning both the theoretical and experimental aspects of the four science disciplines, biology, chemistry, physics and maths.

On December 12, Victor was announced as one of the silver medalists, the first silver medal that Ireland has won at this event.

The win is a dream come true for the 15-year-old Nigerian, who came to Ireland in January this year to join his parents. “The buzz of pride and excitement in the school is a clear reflection of the immense magnitude of his achievement” one of Victor’s teachers told The Clare People .

After an appeal from a friend of the family through The Clare People , generous sponsors came on board to provide spending money for Victor’s trip.

Victor said that one of the best things about the Olympiad was “making so many new friends from so many different countries and cultures. My email in box is full”.

The Ennis student is hoping for a career that will “include something to do with maths, physics and computers. Those are my three main interests”.

Ennis Community College is no stranger to this type of international glory.

In 2001, one of their students Iris Choi won gold in the IBM/DCU Irish Physics Olympiad. She went on to represent Ireland in Antalya, Turkey in the International Physics Olympiad in June of that year.

Also on the International Wall of Fame for Ennis Community College is James Martin, who won the IBM/DCU Irish Schools Programming 1998 and went on to represent Ireland in Setubal, Portugal in September of that year at the International Olympiad in Informatics.

A SENIOR Garda said yesterday that Clare Gardaí are to target a number of individuals based in Clare in cooperation with the Criminal Assets Bureau in the new year.

Acting Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that Gardaí are to focus their attention on half a dozen individuals or so who show wealth with no apparent means of income and this will be done in co-operation with CAB.

However, he said that there was an absence of gun-related crime in Clare in 2006, with no murders taking place, compared to two in 2005.

“Is that down to good policing or just good fortune? Thankfully, we don’t have the criminal elements that they have in Limerick.

“But is it only a matter of time before some of them start moving out here to escape Limerick and set up house here and certainly if they did, that would be a problem for us.”

Acting Chief Supt Kerin said that there were no armed robberies in Clare last year and while that was most unusual he hoped it would continue.

He said that the number of serious assaults this year was on a par with last year while minor assaults were down by 11 per cent.

To date this year, there have been 1,000 arrests for public order in Clare.

“Ennis is the main centre for public order offences, but I would still say it is not as bad it used to be.

“The Gardaí are a lot stricter, make arrests quicker, intervene earlier and we are putting more people on the streets. Even with that, there have been some nasty enough incidents during the year.

“I am reasonably happy and of course I would prefer if some of the assaults didn’t happen, but the lads throughout the county are on top of the public order situation”

He said that drink-driving arrests were up 72 per cent on last year – an increase of 197 to 469 to date this year.

“Last year, we had twelve fatalities on Clare’s roads and this year is it seven. That is a drop of 40 per cent but we are working off small figures. Seven is a relatively low figure and we want to keep it as low as possible,” he said.

CLARE householders could send 2011 tonnes of valuable recyclable material to landfill this Christmas, according to Clare County Council who are anxious to divert used packaging to its recycling centres at Lisdeen, Scariff, Ennis and Ballyduff – where everything from plastic and aluminium to cardboard and glass can be recycled.

According to council statistics, this year’s Christmas binge will see Clare householders consume

508,110 bottles of wine; 1.4 million cans and 406,488 bottles of beer; 745,228 cans of soft drinks and 101,622 boxes of sweets as well as 101,622 rolls of wrapping paper.

Over 711 tonnes of cardboard and paper from gift boxes, selection boxes and packaged foods will be disposed of in the county.

In total, it is estimated that each Clare household could produce an average of over 59 Kilos of used packaging waste that could be recycled this Christmas.

The Council is calling on all householders to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost this festive season.

The Lisdeen Recycling Centre will be closed from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (10.15am to 4.15pm); December 23 (9am to 3pm); December 27 – 29 (10.15am to 4.15pm); December 30 (9am to 3pm) and January 2 (10.15am to 4.15pm).

The Scariff Reycling Centre will be closed from December 24 to 27 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (2pm to 8pm); December 23 (12pm to 6pm); December 28 (2pm to 6pm); December 29 (2pm to 8pm); December 30 (12pm to 6pm) and January 2 (2pm to 6pm).

The Ennis Recycling Centre will be closed from December 23 to 27 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (12pm to 4pm); December 28 (12pm to 8pm); December 29 (12pm to 6pm);

December 30 (9am to 5pm) and January 2 (10am to 5pm).

The central waste management facility at Ballyduff will be closed from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 23 (9am to 1pm for commercial customers and 9am to 3pm for public civic amenity site); December 27 to 29 (usual opening hours); December 30 (9am to 1pm for commercial customers and 9am to 3pm for public civic amenity site) and January 2 (usual opening hours).

THE significant increase in burglaries and theft in Clare this year is partly attributed to the growing number of people taking heroin.

That’s the view of Acting Chief Superintendent John Kerin who said that the growing number of people using heroin and cocaine in Clare was a particular source of concern.

He confirmed that arrests for people selling drugs this year is up to 46 from 26 last year – an increase of 77 per cent.

Supt Kerin said that people don’t appreciate what a drug-related conviction will do to their prospects of securing a visa for the US or Australia or securing a job in the public sector.

“We believe that if we control our drugs trade, we control our crime and if we don’t control it, more and more young people become involved in it.”

He also expressed concern that that younger offenders are getting involved in public order incidents where there is a lack of respect for anyone in authority. He cited an incident last weekend in Ennis when Gardaí gave chase to two youths and, when they came back, found their patrol car had been broken into although they were only gone two minutes.

“We got one person and the other is being interviewed today. There is that kind of breakdown with young people and the biggest problem would be drink – and drugs – related.”

Giving a commitment for larger numbers of Gardaí policing rural areas, he said that if they got additional resources, they would be deployed to rural areas where people want to see more Gardaí.

Supt Kerin said that additional Garda resources have been assigned to Lahinch, Miltown Malbay, Sixmilebridge and Tulla.

MONEYPOINT, the country’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases, could be a candidate for technology which would allow the pollution to be buried.

The Clare power station is belching more poisons into the air than any other industrial source in the country, a recent report revealed.

But Carbon Capture – a technology which will be up and running in less than ten years – would enable the ESB to grab carbon dioxide and bury it before it can get into the atmosphere and do damage.

Figures published by the European Pollutant Emission Register show that Moneypoint tops the list for highest emissions of a number of environmentally damaging chemicals.

The coal-burning station near Kilrush is the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that between 2003 and 2005 Moneypoint emitted 16.8m tons of carbon dioxide.

It also featured as the leading source of arsenic and its compounds along with five other chemical pollutants.

But as it produces 14 per cent of the country’s energy, closing the coal-burning station down is not an option.

Moneypoint is currently undergoing a €360 million makeover designed to reduce emissions, mainly of sulphuric and nitrous oxides, which will extend it’s life by 15 years.

A spokesman for the ESB said that it would “look at any new technology aimed at reducing emissions”, but added that the carbon capture technology is so new that there has been no chance as yet for energy bosses to study it.

Harry Audas, general manager of the International Energy Agency(IEA) greenhouse research and development programme, said that Carbon Capture is viable.

“It could be demonstrated technically viable within the next five to ten years but there’s still no commercial incentives, so it’s up to the politicians to get the commercial incentives in place.”

The IEA is the organisation which advises governments in developed nations on energy policy.

A breakthrough which would enable power generators to capture and bury carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas, widely blamed for heating the planet – would be a technological leap towards greener energy production which would be worth millions.

Also featuring in the list for certain chemical pollutant emissions were the neighbouring, the Tarbert County Limerick ESB plant and Aughinish Alumina.

A WAR of words look set to erupt between Clare farmers and GAMA Constructions Ltd if flooding problems caused by the construction of the €190 million Ennis bypass are not resolved in the next four months.

Lands belonging to between 20 and 25 farmer in the Barefield area have been effected by flooding as a result of run off from the roads construction over the last number of months.

This flooding has been compounded by record high levels of rainfall in the county since September and there is a fear among farmers that flooding will become a yearly event if corrective action is not taken.

“People feel that there is a real danger that there will be a problem with the flooding of farmland because of the road and we would like this to be addressed before it is opened,” said Seamus Murphy, President of the IFA in Clare.

“They have said that their specifications for the road is capable of getting rid of the water and not causing flooding. There is a lot of water and the pressure on the water system is far greater than it has ever been before.”

A top level meeting between Clare IFA and the Turkish construction company failed to reach a resolution to the problem when it took place in Ennis last week. Representatives from GAMA agreed to monitor the situation and another meeting has been scheduled for January of next year.

Local farmers have expressed concern that, should the flooding situation not be resolved before completion of the Ennis by-pass, that they will not be able to challenge GAMA when they have left the area.

“GAMA is coming to the end of their contract and the fear is that they would just walk away and leave when it is up,” continued Mr Murphy.

“They said that there would not be a problem and they have given us a commitment to meet with us again in January and address the issue again at that time.”

The Ennis by-pass is scheduled for completion on April 11 of 2007.

Since construction began on the Ennis bypass, GAMA has been embroiled in a number of high profile controversies including planning issues relating to a number of quarries opened by the Turkish company to facilitate construction work on the bypass and a dispute with employees involving payments below the minimum wage.

SHANNON Development has announced the appointment of eleven leading business figures from around the Region to the company’s new Shannon Region Tourism Development Board. The new board held its first meeting last Thursday at Shannon Development’s head office in the Town Centre, Shannon.

The Board is being chaired by well known Ennis Solicitor Michael Houlihan. Board members were nominated by local authorities, regional tourism and tourism industry groups. The new Board has been appointed for a three-year term during which time their role will be to advise Shannon Development on the preparation and implementation of a strategic tourism plan for the Shannon Region.

Announcing the new Board appointees Kevin Thompstone, Chief Executive Shannon Development said, “I would like to welcome the new board members, I look forward to working with them. The tourism industry in Ireland is at a crucial point in its development. The factors central to our success in the past are not necessarily the ones to carry us forward into the future. Tourism is one of the most important indigenous industries in the Shannon Region.”

Accepting the position of Chairman of the new tourism Board, Houlihan said that “all of the board appointees are very successful in their own fields and I believe that the variety of experience they can bring to the task ahead will be invaluable”.

In 2005 more than 1 million overseas visitors came to the Shannon Region along with a further 750,000 domestic visitors. Tourism spend of €400 million in revenue to the Shannon Region was recorded in 2005.

“New accommodation coming onstream in 2007 will bring the Region’s total accommodation base to an estimated 7,500 beds. The challenge for Shannon Development and the tourism industry will be to develop and sustain the Shannon Region as a high quality and competitive tourism destination. To achieve this we will work closely with the tourism industry, local and regional bodies, and our colleagues in Fáilte Ireland /Tourism Ireland to provide focused, strategic, and practical actions to deal with the critical issues”, said John King, Director, Heritage and Tourism, Shannon Development.