Category: News

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.

TEEN songbird, Susan O’Neill, from Rockmount Manor in Ennis will be looking to the Banner next Sunday night to vote her through to the next round of the You’re a Star competition.

16-year old Susan will be cheered on first and foremost by her parents, Jim and Helen, sister and brother Sharon and Eoin and her nana, Lizzy Neylon.

The Rice College student is currently studying for her leaving certificate but made time to polish her act enough to be chosen at the auditions in Cork when 12 people were picked to go forward out of the hundreds of hopefuls.

In further auditions and workshops in the RDS in Dublin ,the twelve were whittled down to six and the talented Ennis girl was one of the chosen ones who are now battling it out in the Helix in Dublin on December 17.

“Music is my life, I enjoy singing and playing, and I also write songs”, said Susan, who plays the guitar, the cornet and is now learning the piano.

The busy Ennis girl sings in the Ennis gospel Choir and was a member of the Ennis Brass band for six years.

On Sunday she will be singing Jeff Buckley’s ‘Halleuja’, a song which she loves.

“It would be so great to win this competition, to have a chance to record some of my songs professionally,” said Susan. “This is what I want to do. I want to be a performer and I’m not sure exactly what form that will take but I know that’s what I want to do.”

And to launch her on her way, Susan is asking for Clare people to vote for her on Sunday next.

If Susan gets through, she will be joining another Clare woman, Maeve O’Donovan from Ardnacrusha.

Maeve – who is still in secondary school – knew she was headed for a career in song after singing Sting’s “Fields of Gold” for her classmates when she was twelve.

As part of her personal profile on the show, she was filmed at home in Ardnacrusha.

If she won the record deal which is the big prize, Maeve says she would be “really happy because I’ve wanted this for so long. I’m deighted to get this far and I’m looking forward to getting to the final in the Helix.”

Both Banner contestants will be cheered on by everyone in County Clare.

THE end of a long, historic era was marked at Shannon Airport yesterday when demolition of the old hostels got underway, to make way for an enlarged carpark.

The hostels were built in the 1960s and catered for overnight passengers, over the years. In the early days, staff at the airport stayed overnight in the hostels but this changed over the years as hotels and guesthouses were built and transport improved.

As a result, most of the hostels had, over the years, fallen into a state of disrepair. They are now being knocked, to facilitate the extension of the airport’s car park by 850 spaces.

Planning permission was granted by Clare County Council for the new car park last August and came on foot of growing passenger numbers at the airport. A record-breaking 3.3 million passengers passed through Shannon last year.

Shannon Airport spokesperson Claire McEnery confirmed that contractors went on site yesterday and stressed that some of the buildings would be retained.

“Some of the hostels will be demolished, not all of them,” she said.

“This is to meet the demand due to increased passenger numbers. We signalled this a long time ago,” she added.

The car park spaces will be available by next summer and airport management is hoping to handle 3.6 million passengers next year.

“We do need those spaces to meet the demand,” she added.

Some of the buildings are understood to be listed structures and will be retained. One of them has been used as a storage area while another has been used as a training school for the airport police.

Shannon-based County Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Independent) said the demolition marked the “end of an era”.

“Even thought the hostels have been empty for a long time, this is a reminded of what Shannon started off as. Things are happening at the airport. There is a need to change and redevelop and it is time to move on. Car parking spaces are needed,” she said.

She said the idea of building a multi-storey should be considered, in an effort to put the land in the vicinity of the airport to good use.

THE decision by surfers to refuse assistance last month from the Irish Coastguard Service near the Cliffs of Moher was defended yesterday.

Owner of the oldest surf shop in Ireland, Lahinch Surf Shop, Tom Buckley, said that the surfers involved felt that they didn’t require rescuing as they did not believe that they were in danger.

Last week, it emerged that the Irish Coastguard Service is considering imposing penalties on the surfers for refusing assistance during the large-scale rescue operation that was launched.

Mr Buckley was an eye-witness to the scene and said that the rescue effort was launched after a brother of one of the surfers looking on from land called in the rescue.

He said, “It is better to be safe than sorry but the surfers themselves felt that it was not a serious situation.”

He added, “The surfers have got a bad press with reports stating that they didn’t accept the assistance because they didn’t want to leave the surf boards behind.

“That isn’t the case as they left behind a video camera which would be much more expensive than the surf boards.”

Mr Buckley said, “The people on the helicopter and the winch-man put themselves at risk, but the lads didn’t consider themselves in danger. They have surfed big waves all over the world.

“When you’re suddenly confronted and asked to go on a winch and you feel that you don’t need rescuing, how do you react?”

Mr Buckley said that a surfer on a jet ski and another on a board got washed in by a wave, while a third man was filming events from the rocky shore.

The two could not restart the jetski valued at around €10,000 and it was abandoned.

Two surfers then paddled out through the waves with one returning with two surf boards to retrieve the third man and Mr Buckley said that it was at this time that the winchman descended to offer assistance.

The wave was surfed for the first time last year and, over the past 12 months, it has attracted world-wide attention in the surfing community and is now regarded as one of the world’s best tow-in surf spots, though opportunities to surf the wave are rare.

BUDGET 2007 has been described as “broadly positive” for farmers by the Clare representative on the IFA Farm Business Committee Senan Cunningham.

Mr Cunningham, whose tenure on the Farm Business Committee comes to an end later this month, did sound a note of caution, however, saying that the finer details of some of the proposals will decide how much much real benefit Clare farmers will get from the budget.

“We will wait for the finance bill to be published for the finer details of how the issues will work out on the ground,” said Mr Cunningham. “A lot of the measures had been already agreed under the partnership talks but there was a number of new areas for farmers which could be useful.

These areas include changes to the vat refund system and measures designed to help on small and fragmented farms.

“Quite a number of items were taken from the IFA’s pre-budget submission. This budget will help to improve farm competitiveness and will address some of the problems of scale and farm fragmentation which is a big problem here in Clare,” continued Mr Cunningham.

“The vat refund would be a major Friday 22nd December thing. It will go a long way to counterbalancing the vat paid on fuel, veterinary fees and things like that. A working group was set up between the farming organisation and the Department of Agriculture to look at this issue and we didn’t expect to get an increase until after this group made it’s report.”

ITS fate will not be known until early 2007 but, whatever the outcome, the people of Ennis must have a say in the future of Cusack Park.

That’s according to one local councillor who has strong family connections with the grounds.

At last Monday’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said the people of Ennis must have their say before any final decision is taken.

Members were discussing the lack of suitable services for the elderly in the town as well as a proposal to construct a two-storey library in the Post Office Field.

“Where are the people of the town who owned Cusack Park? It was bought for €500 in 1934. Just because €80 million is plastered across the front of The Clare Champion doesn’t mean that the people of Ennis can be ignored in all this. Where are all these facilities gone to?”

Earlier this year, Cllr Neylon questioned whether or not the County Board retained full ownership of the grounds which were given by the Royal Irish Constabulary to the town in the 1920s.

Cusack Park was subsequently developed by the Dalcassians Club but after their demise in the forties the County Board then assumed ownership.

Cllr Neylon’s father Pat was a caretaker at the ground for 20 years from 1952 to 1977.

GAA chiefs in the county have delayed a decision on whether or not to sell the county grounds located in prime retail location.

At last month’s County Board meeting, a special committee was picked to assess the various options open to the Board.

It was recommended that, given the complexity of the proposals, more time should be given in order for a decision to be taken.

It was also confirmed at that meeting that 10 developers are interested in acquiring the site.

It is expected that, under the terms of the deal, the successful bid would have to first build a completed stadium at a location within a close proximity to Ennis.

The development would involve the construction of state-of-the-art facilities, including a 40,000 stadium, carpark, training facilities, floodlights, all-weather surfaces and a gymnasium. A site on the Quin Road has been mooted as one potential location for the new stadium.

A CLARE councilor has accused the Government of trying to “buy it’s way out” of dealing with Global wrming instead of facing up to the problem.

Cllr. Brian Meaney of the Clare Green Party said that out of the €300 million announced for the environment in this budget, €270 million will be spent on purchasing carbon credits.

“Ireland ‘s failure to meet its Kyoto obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions means that two to four million euro will leave the Irish economy every week between 2008 and 2012 to purchase carbon credits. This exemplifies the current Government’s slow and irresponsible approach to climate change and its serious implications,” he said.

The councilor added that Ireland should be be concentrating on reducing emissions through more investment in renewable energy, public transport and higher building standards.

He also lashed out at the Government’s failure to deliver on carbon tax and added that while his party welcomed the extension of the Greener Homes Scheme, “even the piloting of a National Home Insulation Programme would have been a small step in the right direction.”

But Environment Minister, Dick Roche said the comprehensive package of environmental measures contained in the Budget demonstrated that the environment is now at the centre of Government economic policy.

“We saw the bringing together of the most comprehensive package of environmental measures ever announced in a Budget.”

THE BISHOP of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has hit out at people from wealthy backgrounds indulging in drug taking.

Speaking in Ennis last Friday, Dr Walsh said the drugs culture was not confined to areas of deprivation and there was a growing number of people using drugs in the more wealthy parts of society.

“We use the word ‘recreational’ in relation to drug taking but drugs really are not recreational at all. They are destructive and the people using drugs in the better off areas are contributing to the violence we have recently seen in Dublin.”

“There is no doubt that there is a very serious growth in violence in society and this is very often related to justice issues. Take our prisons for example where the vast majority of prisoners come from areas of deprivation, particularly in our cities.”

“When you speak about violence, you have to speak about justice as well.”

Dr Walsh’s comments come against the background of a doubling in size of the Clare’s drugs unit in recent months with substantial drug seizures being made in a number of locations in the county.

Dr Walsh cited the statement on violence released by the Bishop’s Conference last Thursday.

“Our social fabric is being torn apart by a culture of violence that leaves people dead on our streets and gunned down in their own homes. Our society seems to be growing numb to human loss and suffering as yet another murder or assault is reported, another family devastated by a road death, and certain housing estates, themselves the subject of poor planning and inadequate maintenance, are constant reminders of the destructive culture of violence on an almost daily basis.

“Fundamentally, our society needs a moral revolution to replace a culture of violence with a renewed ethic of justice, responsibility and community. New policies and programs, while necessary, cannot substitute for a recovery of the old values of right and wrong, respect and responsibility, love and justice,” Bishop Walsh concluded.

THE BISHOP of Killaloe has stated that the proposal to reduce the age of consent to 16 almost puts pressure on 16 year olds to start engaging in sexual activity.

Bishop Willie Walsh said that the proposal to reduce the age of consent to 16 was sending out the wrong message to young people still in school, in school uniform and was almost putting pressure on youngsters to engage in sexual activity.

Dr Walsh was responding to the Joint Oireachtas Committee report on Child Protection which recommended that the age of sexual consent be reduced from 17 to 16 years.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the country’s Catholic Bishops expressed their alarm over the proposal and speaking at a function in Ennis on Friday, Dr Walsh said that the appropriate age of consent was 18.

“We have a law against children under the age of 18 buying drink, buying cigarettes. People aren’t allowed to vote until they’re 18 and we see 18 as a figure accepted by society which marks the passage into adulthood.”

“The reality is that not every teenager of 16 or 17 is involved in sexual activity. A lot are but a great deal aren’t and lowering the age of consent would be unfair to those young people who are not sexually active.

“We would be almost putting pressure on them to have sex, that somehow they haven’t grown up unless they have indulged in sexual activity. One of the mistakes is that we think that young people mature at an earlier age these days. I think the opposite is true.”

“I am very conscious of the dilemma that many parents are facing to give moral guidance to their teenage children. Then a law comes out and undermines the authority of parents in this area and sends out the wrong message. Sexuality is something very precious, mysterious, extraordinary, wonderful and anything that trivialises that is highly dangerous.

“We are not asking people to legislate according to Catholic teaching, we are asking people to look at this from a human point of view and look at it very seriously.

“I believe that if you ask parents of teenage children what do they believe is the appropriate age of consent, the vast majority would say 18 instead of 16. Many parents are struggling with these things and they are entitled to the backing of the law.”

Dr Walsh expressed concern that the Government was being steamrolled into changing a law, just because it is being broken.

BISHOP Willie Walsh has urged Travellers to become involved in social issues directly affecting their own lives.

Speaking in Ennis on Friday, Dr Walsh said that often in the past he would have found himself doing something for Travellers or to the Travellers when he was not fully aware of their needs.

Dr Walsh was launching a new Traveller newsletter as part of the implementation of a three year strategy for co-ordination of public services to the Travelling community in Clare as part of National Traveller Focus Week.

The strategy aims to strengthen the culture and self-governance of Travellers in Clare, while enhancing their quality of life and identifying gaps in the current provision of public services.

After hearing of the various initiatives being undertaken within the Traveller community, Dr Walsh said the meeting was a revelation and there are so many positive things going on.

“Very often in life, we seem to focus on the problems and see that such a problem isn’t soluble and we forget about all the things that are being done.”

Dr Walsh urged people from both the Traveller and settled communities to speak to each other more in order to break down the prejudices that exist in each community.

“One of the constant difficulties between the Traveller and settled communities is very often lack of awareness or lack of knowledge of each other, that we don’t communicate together or simply talk to each other or get to know each other better”.

On the high unemployment rates and lower life expectancy in the traveller community, Dr Walsh said: “There is no doubt, there is a long way to go, but up until now, we thought very little about anything except accommodation.

“In fairness to Clare County Council and I would have been critical, they have made extraordinary progress in recent years, having made that progress with accommodation and now the new challenge is to move onto the employment and healthcare challenges.”

He said the Traveller strategy was a very welcome and important initiative. Very often public services were not well co-ordinated and one group didn’t know what another was doing. This led to a duplication of services and caused unnecessary confusion and waste.