Category: News

OBJECTORS to the site of a proposed homeless hostel in Ennis have vowed to intensify their campaign against it.

Residents on the Clare Road, where the €2.1 million transitional hostel is being mooted, have said they are will appeal the case to An Bord Pleanála if planning permission is granted.

Last week, Ennis Town Council delayed the planning decision when it requested the St Vincent de Paul to supply further information in relation to the project. If permission is granted, the hostel would have the capacity to accommodate 13 men.

In its request, the council states that any proposed development must adhere to policies set out in the Ennis and Environs Development Plan 2003.

These policies state that development proposals for new or extensions to residential institutions will be permitted provided that they do not significantly detract from the amenity and character of the area.

Under section 11.5.2 of the plan, residential institutions are generally suited to existing residential areas and properties should have adequate amenity space and room for parking.

Objectors to the proposal have outlined in a submission reasons against building the hostel on the former site of the Laurel Lodge B&B.

The council has asked the St Vincent de Paul to submit proposals on how it plans to address residents’ concerns.

SHANNON Aer Lingus workers concerned for their jobs were reluctant to speak on the record at the weekend about the Ryanair bid and proposed cuts.

With Ryanair making an aggressive bid for the airline and promising major cuts and job losses, Aer Lingus bosses are fighting back by promising cost-cutting measures.

On Friday, staff were concerned about reports in the national media that job-cuts might also be on the agenda for Aer Lingus management.

Those who did speak to The Clare People declined to be named but revealed how staff felt they are caught in the crossfire.

“If Michael O’Leary gets his way, then none of us can be certain whether we’ll have jobs this time next year. Now our own bosses are saying there will have to be cut-backs. Seems we’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” one woman worker said.

Another man working in the catering department said that staff generally were “concerned. We’ll see what the union has to say about it all, but people are worried, particularly if it looks like Michael O’Leary will take over. But it’s not even a question anymore of who you want to be paying your wages, so long as you have a wage.”

Last week, the national media carried reports that Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion called in union representatives to tell them that there would be drastic cuts if the airline was to meet the Ryanair low-fares challenge.

The 100 employees involved in sales and marketing in the US were reported to be under scrutiny. In its bid for the airline, Ryanair said it could run the department with just a handful of people. But SIPTU had a clarification meeting with Mannion in the wake of the media reports.

A spokesman for SIPTU in Shannon said that Mannion, “clarified the position. All he said was that costs would be kept under constant review. He said nothing about cutting jobs. Keeping costs under review is normal procedure for any company. All of the agreements we negotiated with Aer Lingus are still in place.”

Meanwhile, the chances of success for the budget airline’s bid for a hostile takeover now seem unlikely. O’Leary had built up a 19.2 per cent stake in Aer Lingus, but on Thursday, Aer Lingus pilots added to their existing 4 per cent stake.

STAFF and patients of Clare’s mental health services are to hold a party this evening (Tuesday) to mark the end of admission of patients under the 1945 Mental Treatment Act.

The long-awaited Part II of the Mental Health Act of 2001, which comes into force on November 1, significantly reforms existing legislation concerning the involuntary admission and treatment of patients, bringing Irish legislation into conformity with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

This legislation safeguards the rights of individuals who are detained for mental health care and introduces greater protection, providing additional safeguards for detained patients and also protects the clinician in their decision to detain.

When Part II of the Mental Health Act of 2001 is implemented tomorrow (Wednesday), the Mental Health Tribunals Division of the Mental Health Commission will be responsible for organising mental health tribunals for all patients admitted on an involuntary basis. Under the new legislation, patients involuntarily detained will have the right to attend and be represented at the mental health tribunal by a free legal representative who is appointed by the Mental Health Commission.

The commission will also arrange for an independent medical examination of the patient to be carried out by an independent consultant psychiatrist. The tribunal, which can either detain the patient or revoke or affirm the admission, will issue its recommendation within 21 days of the admission in most cases.

WHILE the drama of the Ryanair takeover bid continues, Shannon Development have been drawing up plans to bring in tourism revenue from the destinations served by the airline out of Shannon.

As part of its regional tourism development role, the development agency plans to forge links with a number of tourism authorities in key countries where Ryanair routes have emerged.

“The launch of the new Ryanair routes this month from Shannon Airport to Biarritz and Carcassonne in the South of France, Faro in Portugal, Krakow in Poland and Venice in Italy, and newly announced routes from Madrid in Spain, Edinburgh and Bournemouth in the UK, as well as increased frequency on routes from Shannon to Barcelona Malaga and Milan, gives us an ideal opportunity to form strategic partnerships with local tourism authorities in these cities to facilitate a marketing alliance, and ultimately attract more visitors to the Shannon Region”, says John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development.

The first initiative of this type will see key Shannon Development tourism executives head to Biarritz early next month for what they are calling a ‘Biarritz Blitz’.

While in the area, they will target tourism travel media and invite them to a briefing on the Shannon Region as a tourism destination.

“If this pilot run proves successful we will roll it out in other Ryanair destinations important to Shannon Airport.

“We believe that we must keep aggressively marketing these routes to ensure the best return for the Shannon Region in terms of attracting additional tourists to our region”, said Pat Daly, Tourism Marketing Manger, Shannon Development.

He added that as “part of our ongoing tourism strategy we will be working with our colleagues in Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland and Ryanair, we will be inviting travel media from these destinations to visit the Shannon Region.”

THE Garda overtime bill for County Clare for 2006 has amounted to €1.4 million – a rise of €200,000 on the bill for 2005.

According to statistics provided by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, the annual cost of policing the county has now risen to €14 million.

In response to a Dáil question from Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, Minister McDowell confirmed that numbers in the Clare Garda Division had risen from 219 at the end of 1997 to 318 to October 12 this year.

He said, “This represents an increase of 99 (or 45 per cent) in the number of personnel allocated to the Clare Division since 31 December, 1997 and an increase of 59 (or 23 per cent) in the number of personnel allocated since 31 December, 2004.”

The figures also show that since the start of the year, numbers in the Clare Garda Division have risen from 261 to 318 – a rise of 57.

In the breakdown of the overtime figures, Minister McDowell said that the overtime bill for 2004 was €1 million and this increased to €1.2 million in 2005.

However, due mainly to the enhanced security operation at Shannon Airport, the overtime bill to October 12 this year was at €1.4 million.

The figures show that €12 million has been paid out in salaries this year, compared to the €14 million for the entire of 2005.

Minister McDowell said, “It is the responsibility of Garda management to allocate personnel to and within divisions on a priority basis in accordance with the requirements of different areas.

“These personnel allocations are determined by a number of factors including demographics, crime trends, administrative functions and other operational policing needs. Garda management state that such allocations are continually monitored and reviewed along with overall policing arrangements and operational strategy. This ensures that optimum use is made of Garda resources, and that the best possible service is provided to the public.”

Pointing out that the Government was engaged on a recruitment drive to bolster Garda numbers to 14,000, Minister McDowell said, “The Garda Commissioner will now be drawing up plans on how best to distribute and manage these additional resources and, in this context, the needs of the Clare Division will be given the fullest consideration.”

Business organisation ISME, has questioned the Government’s commitment to competition, “in light of their policy of protecting Aer Lingus at all costs.”

According to ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding, the business community is “perplexed at the hypocrisy of, on the one hand fighting tooth and nail to ensure competition in the air, but on the other preventing competition on the ground through disallowing the break-up of the ESB and not allowing competition in other State controlled sectors of the economy, such as Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus.”

Fielding is claiming that the motive behind the Government’s move is to “protect the interests of the unions as opposed to any belated Pauline conversion to the merits of competition.”

The ISME chief criticised the Minister for Transport, whom he claimed was “loathe to fully deregulate the bus market where the bus licensing system discriminates against private sector operators. Consequently, we are left with an inefficient public transport system that does no justice to the public it serves.”

With electricity costs due to increase by a further 20 per cent in January, Fielding said it “beggars belief that the Government continually refuses to break-up the ESB to generate competition.

“How can a Government that outwardly proclaims to encourage competition, dismiss their own consultants’ recommendations to increase competition and in the process bolster the ESB’s dominant position?”

Fielding called on the Government to “put the same commitment into opening up competition in other parts of the economy as they have belatedly applied to protecting competition, when it suits, in air transport.”.

THE increased costs of policing Shannon Airport this year are linked to the outrageous threats by anti-war activists to shut down the civilian airport, according to Clare’s Deputy Mayor, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

He was responding yesterday to figures released by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, showing that the cost of policing Shannon this year had almost doubled.

The cost this year of the ongoing Garda operation at Shannon to the end of September was €1.31 million, excluding salaries.

This is almost double the €738,018 that was spent on the operation in the entire of 2005.

Minister McDowell revealed that, since 2002, the State had spent €4.2 million on Garda-related security at Shannon Airport.

In a Dail response to Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, Minister McDowell said that he was satisfied that the Garda policing arrangements at Shannon “remain both necessary and appropriate”.

The annual breakdown in costs is: 2002 – €486,603; 2003 – €762,999; 2004 – €975,091; 2005 – €738,018; and €1.3 million to the end of September in 2006.

Minister McDowell said, “The Garda authorities are required to allocate resources in an appropriate fashion to protect critical State infrastructures in accordance with assessed threat, so it is the latter which ultimately determines the associated costs.”

Cllr Meaney said yesterday, “The security costs for Shannon are very significant, especially when one takes into account that the numbers going through the airport are dropping considerably.

“However, the increase in costs of security must be linked to the outrageous threats by anti-war activists that they wished to shut down a civilian airport, which plays a massive economic role in the west of Ireland.”

During the five-year long operation, security at Shannon has been breached on a number of occasions and twice in the space of five days in 2003 when anti-war activists attacked a US navy plane.

To date, this year, 250,220 have passed through the airport. Last year, the troop traffic contributed €9 million in profits to the Shannon Airport Authority, with 340,600 troops going through Shannon.

FURTHER doubt was cast on Enterprise Ireland relocating 400 jobs to Shannon this week with Enterprise Minister, Michael Martin conceding that it wasn’t possible to say when the decentralisation will take place.

Last February, Minister Martin said Shannon Development would sell a prime 13-acre town centre site for Enterprise Ireland’s new Shannon headquarters. However, in his latest Dail response, Minister Martin admits that no progress has been made on relocating Enterprise Ireland to Shannon.

To date, only 19 existing employees at Enterprise Ireland have indicated their willingness to transfer to Shannon, while an additional 33 public servants have also expressed an interest to move to Shannon, giving a total of 52.

In his Dáil statement last week, Minister Martin said: “It is not possible, at this stage, to say with certainty when the full move of Enterprise Ireland’s headquarters will take place”.

“The agency’s regional development headquarters will be established in Shannon as well as a new unit to work with city and county enterprise boards. It is intended that these will be operational in Shannon by mid-2007”.

“The functions hitherto carried out by Shannon Development under delegated authority from Enterprise Ireland will revert to Enterprise Ireland on January 1, 2007. The transfer of functions will also involve the transfer of a number of staff from Shannon Development to Enterprise Ireland”, he said.

IT’S crunch time for the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis this Thursday as the HSE’s Capital Steering Group meet to discuss the cost benefit analysis of the hospital’s development project.

The analysis has been sent to the HSE group for its meeting and a decision is expected almost immediately. PRIMARY school students across Clare are set to increase their knowledge of the county’s natural environment thanks to a new educational tool developed by the Clare Biodiversity Group.

An interactive CD-ROM titled ‘Exploring the Biodiversity of County Clare’ was officially launched in Ennis last Friday by Clare senior hurler Tony Carmody. The CD provides information on the county’s biodiversity and will act as a tool for primary school teachers to introduce the natural environment and a practical element to lessons.

Biodiversity is the variety of all plants and animals and their natural habitats and the CD-ROM features detailed information and photographs of some of the native mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and plants found in Clare.

Explaining the need to develop the CD-ROM, Elaine Keegan, Biodiversity Officer with Clare County Council said the county has a rich variety of different animals and plants as well as some of the best examples of habitats in Europe but it was rapidly disappearing with animals and plants becoming extinct and habitats being damaged. It was imperative then that the younger schoolchildren should learn how to protect their surrounding natural environment.

‘Exploring the Biodiversity of

The HSE called for the analysis last August after it emerged that the first phase of the project, 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.

It is believed that the new costings sent to the HSE in Dublin include all necessary changes and are within the € 20.8 million budget. County Clare’ has been produced by Ms Keegan and Clare Heritage Officer Congella McGuire, with the imput of a number of other organisations and individuals who provided material for the project. The CD-ROM is linked to the Science and Geography curricula as both include a strong element of environmental awareness.

According to Elaine Keegan, “The study of plants and animals and their habitats through this CD incorporates basic literacy, numeric and computer skills and also provides a practical element to lessons. The CD is most suitable for 3rd-6th classes in primary schools. However, the local natural environment is also a strand

It is now hoped that the development, which was initially expected to go to planning last Summer, will get the seal of approval and be with Clare County Council in weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ennis General Hospital is awaiting formal written approval from the HSE before it orders a Computer Axial Tomography (CAT) scanner.

The expected confirmation must also include approval of funding for unit in younger classes, and the photographs and information could be a teacher’s resource for those classes. A copy of ‘Exploring the biodiversity of County Clare’ will now be sent to all primary schools in County Clare.”

Further information can be had from Elaine Keegan on ekeegan@clareccoco.ie or 0656846456. staffing and other costs estimated at €750,000 per annum.

Chairman of the Hospital Development Committee Peadar McNamara said that while the Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust had already provided the capital funding for the CAT scan, commitment had to be given to the staffing of the service.

A new CAT scan has been ordered for the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, which is currently responsible for patients in Ennis that require the diagnostic service.

The current scanner, which has broken down 16 times in 10 months, was condemned at this month’s meeting of the HSE West Forum Hospital’s Committee. Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said that the councillors present at the meeting were told the scanner was breaking down due to pressure of use and need of repair.

THE Minister for Enterprise, Michael Martin moved to conclude talks on the revised mandate for Shannon Development after been told that the continuing uncertainty had given rise to a deep level of concern and frustration, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show.

In July of last year, Minister Martin announced a new mandate for Shannon Development, which removed from the company responsibility for the promotion of the Shannon Free Zone and transferred indigenous promotion functions to Enterprise Ireland. SIPTU firmly resisted the new mandate.

The talks dragged on for months and Mr McElligott wrote to Minister Martin in March to state: “To be frank, there is a deep level of frustration and concern.”

The documents released also show that at a meeting with Minister Martin one month later, Mr McElligott and chief executive, Kevin Thompstone told Minister Martin that “the new mandate provided 95 per cent of what the Board has sought and while it is difficult to assess the SIPTU position, it seemed clear that most staff now wished to move on”.

A note of an internal Departmental meeting on July 27, 2006 stated that during an informal meeting between the minister and SIPTU officials, it emerged that the union was not in a position to deliver any compromise proposal.

“As a result, Minister Martin ordered that the clarification process with SIPTU be regarded as concluded and the mandate implemented.

Later, it was announced that Shannon Development would retain responsibility for the Shannon Free Zone, though no documentation was released as to how the minister arrived at this decision.