Category: News

OLD firm hurling – to bluebloods there’s nothing like it and this orbit awaits the hurling world on August 13 when Clare and Kilkenny go stroke for stroke for a place in the All-Ireland final.

It will be Clare’s seventh semi-final since the breakthrough year of 1995 and Kilkenny will be appearing at this stage of the All-Ireland race for the tenth successive year.

A clash of titans then, not that the bookies are holding out much chance of Clare scoring a first championship victory over Kilkenny since the 1997 All-Ireland semi-final.

Despite beating Wexford by 1-27 to 1-15 in Sunday’s quarter-final, Clare are 8/1 for All-Ireland glory, while Kilkenny are 5/4. A lopsided clash of titans then, but Clare wouldn’t have it any other way.

They’re lurking in the long grass.

CLARE County Council has given the go-ahead for a retail park on the northern outskirts of Ennis.

Earlier this year, three companies lodged plans with the council to develop a range of large retail outlets at Ballymaley Business Park.

Galvin Construction, Ennis Industrial Properties and Gainsbridge Properties Ltd were seeking to change the previously granted planning to three large retail warehouse units.

The companies are also seeking to construct seven retail warehouse units and two light industrial units on the 23-acre site.

In requesting the developers to sub mit revised plans, the council had stated that it has “serious reservations in relation to the proposed development”.

Now as part of the grant of permission, the council has ordered that three blocks of the development “should be light industrial in its entirety in the interests of proper planning and development and also due to the loss of other permitted light industrial units on site and the general lack of other industrially zoned land in Ennis”.

The council concluded that the proposed development “would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity, would not be prejudicial to public health and would otherwise accord with proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

Outlining the need for the development, the developers told the council that “there is a clear need for the proposed development when taken together with other retail warehouse proposals in the area and the development would see the introduction of a retail warehouse offer in the north of Ennis that will better service the shopping needs of a growing population in that area of Ennis”.

The developers state that the “development would not have an adverse impact on the town centre of Ennis or any other centre as established in the retail impact assessment accompanying this application”.

They say that there “is more than sufficient capacity for a retail warehouse development of the proposed scale at this location”.

The developers also state that the development “would ensure that the rural population of the catchment has easy access to a full range of retail warehouse operators in one location”.

The developers point out that the vast majority of existing retail warehouse space is located outside the defined Ennis town centre.

HOLIDAY-MAKERS and tourists travelling through Shannon Airport will be greeted with a taste of the Burren this month with the installation of the ‘Shannon Portal’ in the duty-free area of the airport.

The Shannon Portal, which is designed in the image of a Dolmen, is an interactive digital installation that will allow passengers create e-cards by uploading their holiday photographs and attaching a message, which then can be emailed for free to anywhere in the world.

Passengers who don’t own a digital camera can also interact with the portal thanks to a catalogue of photographs of Ireland which will be freely available. People can also upload photographs to an interactive gallery projected on a large display which can be browsed through movement.

The project, which has been put in place by the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick and supported by Science Foundation Ireland, will study how interactive technology can enhance public places. A dedicated team led by Dr Luigina Ciolfiwill observe how passengers interact with the portal and the level of usage of the free emailing service.

Speaking from Shannon Airport Dr Ciolfisaid “we design all our technologies after studying in depth the people who will use them and their needs, and the places where they will be located. We studied Shannon airport for approximately a year in order to develop a rationale for this project.”

“It is our hope that as well as providing us with research information in relation to the public and their interaction with technology, the Portal will become an archive of journeys to and from Ireland and an entertaining and informative exhibit at Shannon Airport,” concluded Dr Ciolfi.

The design of the Dolmen which houses the installation, was sculpted by Marcin Ziemnicki and facilitated by the Sculpture Factory in Cork.

CLARE’S deputy mayor has landed himself in hot water with Iarnrod Éireann for staging an “unsafe” photocall on the railway line in Ennis.

Brian Meaney’s publicity bid has been condemned by Iarnród Éireann as “grossly irresponsible”.

The Green Party councillor had his photo taken on a specially constructed “loco-cycle”, which he intended taking along the line north of Ennis, in a campaign to get government funding for the proposed Western Rail Corridor.

But Iarnród Éireann have condemned him for trespassing on the railway line and setting a bad example for young people.

“Trespass can kill, or maim and has done so many times in the past.

“It is the families and friends of the victims and our staff and not Cllr Meaney that have had to deal with such horrific incidents, so perhaps it is easier for him to disregard these concerns in his pursuit of publicity,” said Barry Kenny, the company’s manager of corporate communications.

“No young person seeing this ridiculous publicity stunt will differentiate between a line that is used, or disused and his actions appear to legitimise trespass of a similar nature amongst the more impressionable.”

Mr Kenny said that Cllr Meaney was “guilty, at the very least, of gross irresponsibility”.

Earlier this month, Cllr Meaney applied to Iarnród Éireann to travel north to Claremorris on the loco-cycle to highlight the need for the government to provide €74 million to allow works commence on the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor, the Ennis to Athenry line.

Mr Kenny said the company’s principal concern was not that there could have been track inspection or maintenance vehicles operating on a dormant line, like where Cllr Meaney had his photo taken, but the appalling example set by a public representative trespassing on a railway line.

Responding to the claims, Cllr Meaney said it was Iarnród Éireann who were irresponsble for allowing the line north of Ennis to deteriorate to its current condition.

“Mr Kenny mentioned the possibility of an inspection train.

“In fact, nothing can travel from the north into Ennis due to damage on the line at Ballyduff Bridge and there is no inspection train between the level crossing we were on and Limerick.

“I don’t encourage anyone to go on a railway line.

“I acknowlege that I trespassed on a disused line and if Iarnród Éireann wish to complain to the Gardaí, I would welcome it as an opportunity to highlight the company’s neglect of the line”, he said.

IF PLANNING permission is granted for the Whelan Group’s multi-million euro extension to its flagship operation at Fountain, Ennis, it will be the first time that quarrying activity on the site will be within the control of Clare County Council.

That is according to solicitor John Shaw, in his closing statement on behalf of the council, to an An Bord Pleanála hearing.

“In relation to the enforcement on this site over a period of time, it is only fair to say that if permission is granted, this will be the first time that quarrying activity on this site will be within the control of the planning authority.

“It is important to emphasise that. Any powers that we had before were strictly in relation to licensing matters.

“From the objectors point of view, all quarrying would be subjected to the rigours of the planning and development act and the controls therein.”

The oral hearing took place over four days in Ennis last week and the Whelan Group, led by two senior counsel spent an estimated €250,000 over the four days in providing 22 expert witnesses and legal advice in a bid to secure planning for the extension to the quarry. The life-span of the quarry will be limited to only a further 10 years if the council’s conditional planning is affirmed by An Bord Pleanála, endangering the jobs of the 110 workers at the site.

Mr Shaw said that this decision was appropriate and the 10 year gap could allow for development in technology and law to allow planning permission be reviewed.

Acting on behalf of the Whelan Group, Eamon Galligan SC in his closing statement said that the proposed development was acceptable and would have no significant adverse impacts on the existing environment. Mr Galligan said that the Whelan Group had put in place a considerable degree of infrastructure and it would be undesirable to transfer it elsewhere.

Consultant for the objectors, Peter Sweetman, said that the proposal should be turned down on a number of grounds: that the entrance to it represents a traffic hazard; that the proposal would result in a consolidation and intensification of an unauthorised development on site.

He said that the Board could not be satisfied that the proposal would not result in an unacceptable risk to groundwater pollution with regard to the location of the site within the Drumcliffe Springs.

He said that the proposal was completely unsustainable as a development.

Mr Sweetman said, “No decision should be made on the application as it is distinctly part of two other planning applications.”

A decision on the application is due towards the end of this year.

CARERS for elderly people in north Clare and south Galway may be in a position to take holidays for the first time in years this summer, following the instigation of respite care services at the Kilcolgan Nursing Home.

The Kilcolgan facility is part of the Mowlam Health Care Group, which is an Irish-owned company with 10 nursing homes situated at various locations around Ireland.

“Everybody is energised and refreshed after the break,” said Patricia Kelly, manager of the Kilcolgan Nursing Home.

“Sometimes people forget that those in need of care also enjoy the change from their normal routine.”

The €5 million Kilcolgan Nursing Home was opened in January of 2005 and has the facilities to cater for more than 50 elderly people.

Its facilities include en-suite amenities, emergency nurse call, 24-hour GP cover, private telephone and television points.

The home now caters for short- and long-term residents and respite residents while convalescent care is also provided for patients recuperating from surgery or illness as well as the visually and physically impaired.

“We have elderly people and those recovering from operations who really get a lot from the respite break,” continued Ms Kelly.

“Those who come to Kilcolgan are in safe, caring and experienced medical hands here.”

The home is fully VHI-approved and wheelchair-friendly.

A LEADING consultant psychiatrist yesterday expressed his concern over the continuing admission of Clare children into a locked adult psychiatric unit in Limerick.

Dr Moosajee Bhamjee has predicted that it might be ten years before a dedicated child unit is in place.

He was speaking after the Irish Mental Health Commission recommended that children under the age of 16 be no longer admitted to Unit 5B at Limerick’s Midwestern Regional Hospital.

The recommendation of the Irish Mental Health Commission is the sixth year in succession that the annual mental health report for the government has urged against children being sent there.

As far back as 2002, the then Inspector of Mental Hospitals, Dr Dermot Walsh said that the admission of children into the unit was “a totally unacceptable situation and created problems both for the children and the staff”.

At the time, the Mid-Western Health Board confirmed that an outline brief for a new child and adolescent unit had been drawn up, though it warned that there might be insuf ficient funding for the project under the current National Development Plan.

Over a two year period, before alternative accommodation was identified last summer, Unit 5B accommodated a young autistic teenage Clare boy.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said yesterday, “there are currently no inpatients under 16 in the unit. A total of 7 patients under 16 years of age were admitted during 2005 and year to date 2006 there have been 6 patients admitted.

“In the interest of patient confidentiality, the HSE is not in a position to provide details on medical condition of these patients. “Pending the provision of dedicated facilities, patients under 16 years of age who require emergency acute treatment will continue to be admitted to Acute Unit 5B, with care arrangements appropriate to their needs.

A dedicated unit for children and adolescents is planned and the design team has been appointed to progress this development.”

However, according to Dr Bhamjee, “Talk around a new unit has been going around for years, but nothing has happened. It reflects very poorly on the mechanisms in place for progressing projects.

“Currently, there are 22 places for child and adolescents in child psychiatric units in the country. The recommendation is that there be 156 places in places so we are very long way off.”

Dr Bhamjee said that as an interim measure, a temporary unit should be established in the vacant Coovagh House in Limerick.

A SOLICITOR’S letter from the Whelan Group informing a number of residents living near its flagship quarrying operation that the company was seeking to issue proceedings against them has been described as an ‘unwarranted threat’.

At the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into plans by the Whelan Group to extend its quarry by 40 acres on the outskirts of Ennis last week, consultant Peter Sweetman said that a letter was received by the residents on Christmas Eve, 2004 with a warning that Whelans were going to issue proceedings against Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd and its members.

Acting on behalf of the objectors, Mr Sweetman described the letter as an ‘unwarranted threat’. He said, “The residents were not told what the proceedings were about. This letter is the only consultation made by the developer with the local residents.”

Mr Sweetman read a submission from the Whelan Group at the oral hearing last Wednesday accusing Cairn Hill Environmental Ltd of objecting to every single development lodged by the Whelan Group and expressing its serious concern that the whole objective of Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd was to appeal any development made by Whelans.

Mr Sweetman said, “The objective of the Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd is to protect Cairn Hill from the Whelan Group.”

Plans were lodged for the quarry extension in 2004 and earlier this year, Clare County Council granted planning but limited the extent of the area to be quarried.

Mr Sweetman told the oral hearing that the application which is the subject of the appeal was invalid in law and “a blatant example of project splitting”.

The Whelan Group also appealed the Council’s recent decision on the proposed quarry extension, claiming that the jobs of 110 people could be under threat because the Council restricted the multi-million euro expansion of the operation to a ten year lifespan.

The Whelan Group is seeking permission to extend the life of the quarry by 26 years and will have an operating capacity of producing 370,000m of limestone product a year.

AS THE new Road Traffic Bill came into effect over the weekend, gardaí in Clare arrested 10 people on suspicion of drinking and driving.

Four drivers were arrested in the Lahinch area, three in the Ennis/Shannon district, two in west Clare and one in Killaloe, over the weekend.

This follows a revelation last week that the number of people arrested for the alleged offence had increased by 60 per cent in Clare Garda Division during the first six-and-a-half months of the year.

The new Road Traffic Bill, which cracks down on the use of mobile phones while driving and allows random breath testing to be carried out, came into effect on Thursday night.

A Garda spokesman confirmed that one driver was arrested in Ennis, under the new legislation, on the night of its introduction.

Meanwhile, eight garda motorcyclists will travel around the county today (Tuesday), advising drivers that the use of mobile phones whilst driving will no longer be tolerated.

“They will travel in pairs to towns throughout the county, and along the N7 and N18, advising people of the new legislation,” said a garda spokesman. “Drivers should be reminded that fixed charge penalty points for using mobile phones while driving will not come into effect until September. People are liable to be summonsed to court for this offence, until September,” added the garda.

Random checkpoints were put in place over the weekend in all of the main traffic locations in the four districts in Clare, to focus on the new legislation.

“It appears from early indications that there is a high level of compliance with the new provisions,” added the spokesman.

Meanwhile, Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said further steps must be taken in an effort to deal with drink drivers and other offenders on the roads.

“I welcome the level of detections over the weekend. There is a need for continued patrolling,” she said.

She said gardaí must take tough measures against people who drive whilst under the influence of drugs.

“These people are often more dangerous on the road than those under the influence of alcohol. We cannot choose to ignore this issue,” she said.

She suggested that a new scheme be introduced in an effort to address the high number of drivers arrested in rural areas on suspicion of drink driving.

“A transport initiative should be introduced, late at night. It is regrettable that so many drink drivers are detected in rural areas. Small rural pubs have been adversely affected because of the new laws. It is difficult to balance it,” she said.

“TINDER BOX” conditions have resulted in more grass and forest fires during the first five months of this year than all of last year.

The Clare fire services were called to as many as 52 grass and forest fires in the months to the end of May, almost twice as many as during the same period in 2005.

Clare’s chief fire officer Adrian Kelly associated the rise in the number of fires with the weather.

The fire chief explained that the long dry spell had been the cause of a lot of the fires.

The lack of greenery also made it difficult to contain fires, he said.

While some of the large fires might have resulted from people leaving smaller fires unattended, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt on dry terrain or broken glass left in the countryside also resulted in blazes breaking out in Clare.

The Clare fire services have been called to 94 fires up to July 21 last.

There were just 49 such fires in all of 2005.

In 2004, there were 90 fires during the 12 months, while there were as many as 164 the previous year.

While Chief Kelly recognised the role the dry weather played in the varying number of fires, he said there were a number of ways people could prevent the fires starting.

“When in the country, people should be aware of their surroundings at all times and consider the habitat at all times,” he said.

He warned visitors to the countryside not to throw cigarette butts, or leave broken glass in fields.

The current weather makes for tinder box conditions, he warned. Burning is prohibited between April 15 and August 31 each year.

Clare County Council’s Fire Authority issues an appeal to landowners every year to contact the fire brigade before carrying out any burning.

Burning should be started early in the day with a fire break of at least 50 feet (16 metres) made at the outside of the area to be burned.

People should check the weather forecast and not burn in exceptionally dry conditions where strengthening or variable winds are likely.

The guidelines state that fire should be burnt against the direction of the wind and that no one should carry out the operation alone.

“Remember that strong fire creates its own wind currents so don’t allow it to burn too fast,” the council warns.