Category: News

AGREEMENT with the unions on a package which would allow Shannon Airport to move forward will be achieved before Christmas. That was the prediction by Airport Executive Chairman, Pat Shanahan, when he came as an invited speaker to address Clare County Council last night.

Shanahan told the meeting that after 18 months of negotiations, he now hoped that talks, which are on-going under the auspices of the LRC, will be successful, “in time for a busy festive period.”

And he promised councillors that “no-one will be coerced or forced to take a redundancy package. Staff will be made an offer and if they don’t want it, then they can stay.”

The Executive Chairman was making a presentation and answering questions from elected representatives on the situation at, and future plans for, Shannon.

He told the meeting that passenger numbers would top 3.6 million by the end of the year. This is an increase of 21 per cent in European traffic, 11 per cent in US traffic and 13 per cent in UK traffic. The one downturn this year was in military traffic, which has been cut by 60 per cent.

He added that with the advent of open skies, “we are aggressively going after the North American market and advertising that the place people want to be flying into to spend their holidays in the west of Ireland is Shannon, not Dublin and then taking a four-hour bus ride.”

The decision to close the bar at the airport and cut back on opening hours in the restaurant was one forced by staff shortages, Shanahan said.

“We cannot afford to increase direct employment and the way forward is to provide state of the art franchising facilities,” he added.

He warned councillors that the “biggest problem facing Shannon Airport is financial viability and this needs to be addressed urgently.” He added that other cost factors besides staffing, including energy costs and rates would also have to be addressed.

As well as targeting increased passenger numbers and decreased costs, the cargo and property elements of the business would be developed.

“We are operating in a very competitive market and we want to have a world-class facility at Shannon. We need a seismic shift at Shannon and a point has been reached where management and unions are ready to make that shift. In this environment, people will have long-term, sustainable jobs.”

RURAL Resettlement Ireland (RRI) is putting an end to its involvement in bringing new families to Clare.

The voluntary organisation, which has its base in Kilbaha in west Clare, lays the blame for the pull-out squarely with the planning section of Clare County Council.

Chairman of the organisation Jim Connolly said, “it has come to a very sticky end very quickly because of planning.”

He told The Clare People that RRI had not got planning permission in the county during the last 12 months for houses in areas of rural decline, making its role in the county impossible.

These homes had been earmarked for young families hoping to relocate to the county.

Rural Resettlement Ireland was set up 15 years ago to combat the dwindling population in the west of Ireland.

To date, the organisation has built 14 houses in rural Clare and bought and restored three more.

Mr Connolly said that receiving planning permission was proving more and more difficult.

He said RRI received “a 100 per cent refusal on its first five applications”.

The latest application for planning permission to build 11 houses was also refused at first he said, but the decision was changed in four of the cases.

As a result, the group has permission to build four houses in Tullycrine, an area suffering from population decline and where the school is fighting to keep its two teachers.

RRI had to buy the land for all 11 applications before it could apply for planning permission as a voluntary organisation.

The cost is then refunded by the Government, but only if the application is successful and the houses built. The cost of the refusals is therefore crippling the organisation according to its chairman.

Mr Connolly also maintains that his involvement in the rural planning lobby group – the Irish Dwellers Association – is also making him unpopular in planning circles.

A TEENAGE birthday celebration turned to tragedy when a young girl was killed in a road accident, moments after she had left a party.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard that Charelle Howard (17), an only child, from The Watery Road, Ennis, was a back-seat passenger in a Volkswagen Polo car that was involved in a single vehicle accident at Shanaway Road, Ennis, in the early hours of July 16, 2005.

Charelle’s friend, Jennifer O’Halloran, recalled how she held a house party at her home in Woodstock, Ennis, to celebrate her 18th birthday. At around 12.30am, a number of those attending the party decided to go to the Queen’s nightclub. A young man, Aidan Quilligan from Sixmilebridge, was driving and there were six passengers in the car. Mr Quilligan had not been drinking and everybody was in good form, the inquest heard. En route to Ennis, the car overturned and Ms O’Halloran noticed that her friend was not moving.

“Charelle didn’t answer. I said to her, ‘Come on, get out of the car’, but she was not moving. I knew she was unconscious,” recalled Ms O’Halloran.

A man who was driving behind Mr Quilligan’s car, minutes before the accident, said the car in which the group was travelling was moving at a speed of “maybe 60 mph.”

Charelle’s grandfather Jack Howard, from Newmarket-on-Fergus, recalled how his daughter Sandra rang him at 12.45am to say that Charelle had been in an accident. Twenty minutes later, she phoned again to say that Charelle had passed away.

A PSV inspector examined the car and noted that it was roadworthy. Dr Jeffrey de Freitas, who carried out an autopsy on Charelle’s body, concluded that death was due to cardiac respiratory failure, due to a fracture of the skull, consistent with having been involved in a road traffic accident.

County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said the accident, after a birthday party, was a “sad tragedy”. The jury agreed with her suggestion that a verdict of accidental death be brought. Ms O’Dea said alcohol was not a factor in the accident. “A young life was tragically lost, after an evening’s entertainment. It was a tragic accident,” she said.

Mr Quilligan’s family extended sympathy with the Howard family on the loss of Charelle, through their solicitor.

A CLARE county councillor has called for controls to be introduced to halt “the endless advertising of high-fat foods and in particular to audiences including children.”

The councillor was voicing concerns at the figures on weight gain in Ireland published last week by the European Commission in their Eurobarometer Food and Health Survey.

The report states that Europeans weigh more in 2005 than in 2002. In 11 out of 15 Member States, the weight of citizens has increased.

The Green party councillor – who has campaigned in the past against McDonalds locating in Ennis – says there should be more control of how fast food companies advertise.

“The fast food companies are trying to change their image but little has changed in reality. I have been informed that in some fast food outlets, fries in Kiddie’s meals could not be provided ‘salt free’.”

Supporting his call for a fight against fat, the councillor quotes figures showing that fruit consumption in schoolgoing children has nearly halved since 1998.

Just 36 per cent of schoolgirls and 29 per cent of schoolboys eat more than one portion of fruit daily. Only 43 per cent of schoolgirls and 37 per cent of schoolboys eat more than one portion of vegetables daily.

The councillor said that research showed that 40 per cent of children exceeded the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of fat.

“Irish adults consume 10 grams of salt per day. This is over 50 per cent higher than the national target of six grams per day and more than double the RDA of four grams.

“Thirty-nine per cent of Irish adults are overweight and 18 per cent are obese. Levels of overweight and obese children in Ireland are higher than the European average. Twentytwo percent of 5-12 year olds are now overweight or obese.”

AFTER months of speculation, the Health Service Executive has finally given its seal of approval to the €20.8 million development at the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis and the project can finally go to planning.

Brian Gilroy, National Director of Estates at the HSE, gave approval for the long-awaited third stage of the project on Wednesday. It allows a detailed design to be completed and the plan to progress to planning permission.

Fianna Fáil Senator Brendan Daly, who gave an ultimatum to the Taoiseach regarding the hospital before being added to the party’s election ticket, described the news as “a key decision” and “very important”.

“It will allay the fears of people in the county that there may be further delays in delivering the plan.”

Minister Micheál Martin announced the funding for the hospital development when he was Minister for Health in 2002.

In 2004, Minister Mary Harney approved the funding and a design team was put in place.

It was hoped that the hospital project would be at planning stage by last summer.

The HSE called for an analysis of the cost of the project last August after it emerged that the first phase, which was allocated €20.8 million, would cost in excess of €30 million.

The increase in cost was a result of changes to hygiene and other requirements in hospitals nationally.

THE ESB has warned of the “serious safety implications” from acts of vandalism on its overhead electricity network, following two attacks on an ESB transformer in Ennis.

These attacks rresulted in an engineer being hospitalised and homes and businesses being evacuated.

In the first of two incidents in recent weeks, an ESB Networks engineer was injured while helping to evacuate the area around a transformer that had been vandalised.

He suffered severe burns and was treated in hospital for two days.

A chain was thrown onto the equipment resulting in a small explosion and fire.

Several homes and businesses were left without power for several hours.

Two units of the fire brigade, an ambulance and gardaí attended that incident at Ashline on the Kilrush Road.

“There would have been a flash and sparks when the vandalism took place.

“A member of ESB Networks staff was hospitalised while helping in the evacuation and making the scene safe.

“He was detained in hospital for 48 hours before being allowed home,” a company spokesman said.

Vandals struck again at the same location last Monday, but no one was injured in that incident.

The same transformer caught fire when a steel chain was thrown onto it.

Emergency services again responded quickly and made the area safe.

The ESB has warned that those carrying out the vandalism risk serious injury and possible death, as well as compromising the safety of people living in the area as electricity is being brought to earth in an uncontrolled environment.

“We have passed the matter over to the Gardaí who are investigating. The matter of prosecution is one for the Garda as the matter has now been passed to them,” the company added.

One local businessman said, “The first day it happened, we were all told to leave the area and move onto the road, but away from where the transformer was. It is lucky no one was killed. When it happened the second time, we couldn’t believe it. The guards know who did this and hopefully they will take action.”

THERE has been mixed reaction to the confirmation by the HSE that the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis is to get its own CT Scan. The National Hospitals Office approved the purchase of the scanner for the MWRH Ennis, after the Mid-Western Hospital Trust agreed to provide the capital cost.

“The National Hospitals Office will then over the coming weeks agree the revenue costs for the project and will make available from 2007 onwards,” a statement from the HSE said.

Leader of the opposition Enda Kenny (FG) expressed his concern that the scanner on offer was “minimal in capacity.”

During his visit to the county, the Fine Gael leader said the scanner would be “out of action” in three to five years time. “It seems like a false economy,” he added.

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) said he was not prepared to accept the delay in sanctioning the purchase of the six-slice CT scanner when the money was already available from the MidWest Hospitals Trust.

“The absence of a CT scanner has a negative effect. Only very urgent cases at Ennis Hospital are considered for CT scanning,” he said.

“These patients must be transferred to Limerick by ambulance and, in some cases, be accompanied by a consultant anaesthetist.

“It is estimated that 3,000 scans per annum are required at Ennis Hospital,” he added. “Until now, however, only approximately 1,000 patients receive a scan by transferring to Limerick.”

QUILTY fisherman, Michael Galvin, has hit out at the government over it’s handling of last weeks ban on drift net salmon fishing. Mr Galvin claims that the ban will bring hardship to fishermen in the county and all along the western seaboard.

“All up and down the coast of Clare there are salmon fisherman and this is the main source of income for us,” said Mr Galvin. “With a stroke of a pen they have taking it all away. It’s crazy what they are doing.”

Mr Galvin says that fishermen are angry because of the lack of consultation between the government and local fishermen before the ban was brought in.

“They didn’t consult any one of us about this,” he continued. “I know that there are declining fish stocks but we feel that climate chance is a factor. Climate change is bringing fish to the rivers later. There does seem to be a later run of fish.

“We feel that climate change is the bigger issue. What we are allowed to fish is only a drop of water in a lake compared to pollution. Salmon have knowledge and they won’t go into a river if it is polluted.”

There is also considerable anger among Clare fishermen about the level of compensation being offered.

“We are just supposed to take this on the chin. There should be a setaside system for three or five years and see what happens from there,” continued Mr Galvin.

“I’m sure if we were farmers or white-collar workers that we would get a fair crack of the whip.”

ENTERPRISE Minister Micheal Martin has hit back at claims that Enterprise Ireland has no intention of decentralising to Shannon.

The minister was in Shannon last week to announce 350 new high-tech jobs for the region. The jobs are to be created over the next five years by Digital River Ireland, which is setting up its European Headquarters in Shannon. The company, which has just clinched a contract with Microsoft, handle all of the online trading requirements for companies including Adobe, Canon and CompUSA Inc.

Shannon Development were instrumental in bringing the company to Shannon.

Answering questions after the announcement, the minister said that a recent move by Enterprise Ireland to sign a 25-year lease on premises in Dublin was not a statement of intent to stay in the capital.

He was reacting to criticism that just a handful of people had expressed an interest in moving to Shannon under the decentralisation scheme. He said the new lease “is a sensible move,” which allowed functions of Enterprise Ireland, currently scattered, to come together under one roof.

The minister added that the signing for 25 years does not mean Enterprise Ireland would stay in Dublin for that length of time. “There are get-out clauses,” he said. The Minister added that a site had now been identified in Shannon for the move and negotiations were under way.

“The first to be up and running in Shannon will be the new unit which has been given a special brief to support the county and city enterprise boards. I would hope there will be 70 staff in situ by next February,” he said.

Stating that the “government decision to decentralise Enterprise Ireland stands,” the minister admitted that they had “greater success” with departmental decentralisation than with the various other bodies listed to move.

“There are discussions going on with the social partners to see how best we handle the move with the agencies,” the minister said.

Asked why he had rowed back on his decision to give Shannon Development’s foreign investment brief to the IDA, Minister Martin said that they had made a convincing argument for it.

“Shannon Development came to us a year ago and put the argument to us that they are a catalyst for economic development in the region. They felt that they still had a role to play in the Shannon Free Zone and I accepted their overall argument,” he said.

FINE Gael leader, Enda Kenny admitted last Thursday that Deputy Pat Breen had not made him aware of the contents of the letter threatening libel action against The Irish Examiner .

The legal threat is based on critical comments made by Cllrs Madeleine Taylor Quinn and Joe Carey about Deputy Breen tabling a Dail question inquiring into the eligibility of an early release for a sex offender.

The Clare People reveals today that Deputy Breen has contacted two victims of convicted child rapist, Joseph Nugent (74) of Drumellihy Cree.

In a letter to one, Breen blames Justice Minister, Michael McDowell and sections of the media for the controversy over the Dail question.

There is no apology in the letter although the second victim reveals that Breen apologised to him for the offence caused by the question.