Category: News

THE WINTER Olympics Torch arrived in Ennis yesterday as part of a new campaign highlighting the Samaritans 24/7 service.

The Ennis branch of the Samaritans was one of twenty branches visited by members from the organisation’s headquarters.

A specially decorated car was dispatched from Dublin early on Monday morning with a team of volunteers who aimed to visit 20 branches from Coleraine to Cork. The team arrived in Ennis early yesterday morning where they were greeted by volunteers and other representatives including the Mayor of Ennis, Joe Reidy (FF).

The Samaritans chose July 24 to officially launch a fund-raising and awareness campaign entitled Open 24:7 . The date has been specifically chosen to remind people that as a registered charity, their branches are open 24 hours a day to offer confidential and emotional support to anyone experiencing emotional distress.

In the Ennis branch alone, there are over 80 volunteers on call seven days a week. The organisation hopes that by highlighting the extent of the service, they will be able to reach out to more people. There are 1,958 volounteers in branches nationwide.

According to a spokesperson for the Samaritans, “There are always volunteers on duty throughout the day and night, ready to support those in need of confidential and nonjudgemental support.”

Mayor of Ennis Joe Reidy (FF) paid tribute to the work being done at the Ennis centre.

“This is a very important awareness campaign that is needed throughout Ireland. Its important that a service such as this is highlighted as much as possible. The volunteers who maintain the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week are doing a fantastic job keeping the service going. They are providing a wonderful service.”

Mr Reidy (FF) said the Samaritans provided an essential service in Clare and across Ireland.

“It is important that the 24/7 service is highlighted as some people in need of help might be afraid to reach out”.

The campaign was launched in Dublin by the recently elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Vincent Jackson, who commended the Samaritans on the “wonderful work they do.”

The entourage also carried with them the Winter Olympic torch from the recent Turin Olympics.

A spokesperson added; “In many ways the Samaritans can often seem like a light in the darkness for many who may be sad or worried or despairing because of a time they are going through. That time could happen to anyone at any time and that is why the Samaritans will always be there.”

THE POPULATION of Clare has increased by 7.3 per cent since the last census in 2002.

That’s an overall increase of 7,523 people, according to the preliminary results of the census of population taken last April.

And analysis of the figures paints a picture of the economic fortunes of the Banner from the depression of the 1950’s when people were leaving in droves, to the explosion of people coming in during the Celtic Tiger and post Celtic Tiger years.

The overall figures puts the county’s population now at 110,800 compared to 103,277 in 2002.

Men outnumber women, with 56,000 males registered in Clare in comparison with 54,800 women.

The first State run census in 1926 recorded 95,064 people living in the county. The lowest population ever recorded here was in 1966 when there were just 73,597 residents.

There was a natural increase due to births and deaths of 3,504 made up of 1,617 more men and 1,887 women.

The records show that between 2002 and 2006, there were 9.4 people coming into the county for every 1,000 people already here.

The largest influx was between 1996 and 2002, when there were 10.4 extra people arriving in Clare for each thousand living here.

Between 1951 and 1956, 15.9 out of every thousand residents were leaving Clare, probably in search of work elsewhere.

There was a slight recovery between 1971 and 1979 – the years which saw massive investment in Shannon – with 7.3 people coming into the county for every thousand already here.

Clare was again haemorrhaging people from 1986 to 1991 when more than 6 in each thousand residents were getting out.

The recovery which is now seeing migrants returning, economic migrants flooding in and refugees and asylum seekers finding a haven here began with an increase of 2.7 people per thousand between 1991 and 1996.

The population of Ennis grew by 7. 5 per cent in the period, with the town now home to 10,305 people, an increase of 1,404.

The areas of Ennis defined as rural also grew, in this case by 9.4 per cent.

Kilrush town lost 2.6 per cent of its population while Ballyvaughan was up by the same amount.

Corofin’s population is up by 7 per cent, Ennistimon by 3.1 per cent, Killadysert by 7.1 per cent and Kilrush by 3.8 per cent. The Meelick area has gained by 10.8 per cent, Scariff by 2 per cent and Tulla by 14.9 per cent.

EVEN though more people are putting their name forward to represent the Banner County in politics this week, it seems County Clare could still be under represented when it comes to fighting its cause in Dublin.

Figures to be released by the Central Statistics Office later this week are likely to show that Clare is under represented in the Dáil by as much as five per cent.

The data is also expected to show an increase in the population, especially in Ennis, Shannon, Sixmilebridge and Killaloe.

With the increase in population the ratio of TDs to Clare citizens is likely to significantly decrease.

According to the Irish constitution “the number of members of Dáil Éireann shall not be fixed at less than one member for each 30,000 of the population, or at more than one member for each 20,000 of the population”.

According to a report in the Sunday Tribune it has been stated by successive boundary commissions and endorsed by the Oireachtas that variances of more that five per cent for the national average of population per TD should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. The variance in Clare has been estimated at five per cent.

It predicts that as many as 23 of the 43 Dáil constituencies will be in excess of the accepted variance.

Meanwhile, Galway East to the north of the Clare constituency is also outside the accepted five per cent maximum variance. Limerick West to the south of Clare is outside the highest ever limit of 7.89 per cent, but unlike Clare this constituency is over represented.

Without revision of the boundary or the number of TDs in any one area within the next few months, it will be 2012, if the next Government goes to full term, before any change is imposed to redress the imbalance.

MEASURES to slow down dangerous drivers and to make the roads around Ennis safer are set to be introduced by Clare County Council.

The Council are to commence repair work on a number of roads in the Ennis area that have been left in a dangerous condition. Re-surfacing is set to take place on a treacherous stretch of road leading from Drumcliffe to the Ruan road. Clare County Council are also to consider the introduction of traffic calming measures between Drumcliffe cemetery and Ballyalla after residents stated they are living in fear because of drivers speeding in the area. Realignment is also set to take place on the Claremount road in order to give drivers better sight distance at a dangerous bend in the road.

Senior Executive Engineer, Hugh McGrath also urged Clare County Council to formulate a strategy for dealing with over grown hedgerows in rural areas. He cited the problem as contributing to the dangerous condition of rural roads and said a strategy needed to be urgently adopted.

“Clare County Council need to address putting in place a schedule for cutting hedgerows. More important than hedgerows are the grass verges. If that system was in place, it would make a huge improvement to the condition of the roads”

Raising the concerns over the conditions of the roads in Drumcliffe and Claremount at yesterdays Ennis electoral area meeting, Councillor Bernard Hanrahan said Clare County Council needed to be more proactive in the area of road safety.

“Clare County Council has to seriously look at how we can look at preventing the carnage on our roads. Hedge rows are a big problem in rural areas”

Cllr Pat Daly (FF) who requested work be carried out in the Drumcliffe area said residents are “living in fear” because of the antics of boy racers.

Cllr Joe Carey (FG) said drivers would have to change their behaviour and slow down on the roads.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said he was glad to hear that hedge rows could be cut down if they impeded safety conditions on a road.

A DEVELOPER who is building houses in Ennistymon has been charged with failing to comply with the requirements of an enforcement notice served by Clare County Council.

Solicitor for the council, Lisa Walsh told Miltown Malbay District Court that a warning notice was served on Ballinair Construction, of Moughna, Miltown Malbay, and this was followed by an enforcement notice, on March 23, 2006.

She said the company was given until April 14 to comply with the notice.

An officer from the council inspected the site on May 5.

“All items included in the enforcement notice were not complied with. . . Nothing at all,” said the solicitor.

She said the defendant was a developer and the case related to the development of eight town houses on the Ennis Road in Ennistymon.

She told Judge Joseph Mangan the main problem related to a car park space and footpath and that the council received one complaint in relation to the matter. Judge Mangan asked were the houses occupied.

“I believe so. Most of them are occupied. They are rented out,” replied Ms Walsh.

Judge Mangan said, “I will adjourn to September. In September I will make a determination on jurisdiction, and see if this is too serious to be dealt with in the District Court or if it should be sent forward to the Circuit Court.”

He told John Vaughan, a director of the company, who was in court, that he was advising him “in the strongest terms” to get a solicitor.

Mr Vaughan told the judge that Ballinair had not traded in the past 18 months and he now works for somebody else. “There isn’t a penny left,” said Mr Vaughan.

SPEAKING for the first time since his dramatic brush with death last week, popular Lahinch businessman Odran O’Looney has paid tribute to a good Samaritan from Moy, Mary Harney and Davy Spillane.

Mr O’Looney fell while walking his dog near to a cliff about a mile south of Lahinch last Wednesday afternoon. A blow to the head left him temporally paralyzed, unable to move a muscle from the neck down and alone in an isolated area.

“The first thing that I thought when I saw my hand dropping in front of me was that this was it,” said Mr O’Looney.

“I couldn’t move but I was breathing and I could talk so I knew from my experience in the rescue services that I would be alright. I was never really worried because I have been in the emergency services for so long and was able to be calm about things.”

Luckily for Mr O’Looney, Moy farmer Joe Vaughan was on the beach at the time and heard his cries for help.

“I was conscious but I could not move,” continued Mr O’Looney. “We called my son who contacted Dr Michael Kelleher who was there in about five minutes. It was very fortunate that they have a phone mast up in Moy because I was able to get coverage from right under the cliff.”

As luck would have it, the Doolin Coastguard were doing training exercises locally that day and arrived to lend their assistance within ten minutes.

“The Doolin Coastguard were doing an exercise in Liscannor and, because of the extensive training that they go through, they knew exactly where to go,” said Mr O’Looney.

“Dr Kelleher was delighted with the assistance that the coastguard were able to give him. They were able to get me into a support stretcher and get me up from the rocks.”

The Irish Coastguard Helicopter based at Shannon was on the scene minutes later and airlifted Mr O’Looney to the Merlin Park Regional Hospital in Galway where his condition continues to improve.

“The last person who said goodbye to me as I was beng hoisted up on the helicopter was the musician Davy Spillane who is a member of the Doolin Coastguard,” he said. “everyone treated me so well. In my book Mary Harney has no problems at all with the accident and emergency services on offer.”

THE go-ahead has been given for a €1.61 million plan to end the continuing environmental damage to the Burren and rejuvenate the area’s tourism industry.

Fáilte Ireland has allocating €1.4 million to an integrated management strategy for the Burren – the first such inter-agency initiative to be launched since the Government announced its ill-fated visitor centre plans at Mullaghmore in 1991. The Department of the Environment has already contributed €210,000 to the scheme.

Clare County Council in partnership with Shannon Development is leading the initiative. The council’s Heritage Officer, Congella Maguire said yesterday that the project was initiated in response to the Burren’s rich heritage coming under increasing threat.

“The growing demands of the tourism and leisure industry and increasing visitor numbers are taking their toll on the environment of the Burren.

“This has resulted in environmental damage through car parking on fragile species-rich limestone grasslands, the destruction of limestone pavement through construction by visitors of ‘mini-dolmens’, the removal of weathered limestone for garden products and the picking of rare and endangered flora.”

Ms Maguire said that the initiative “marks the first phase towards an integrated management structure and a coordinated approach to visitor management issues in the Burren”.

Amongst the key objectives of the ‘Environmental Protection of the Burren through Visitor Management’ initiative is the implementation of a co-ordinated and integrated approach to environmental protection and visitor management.

According to Ms Maguire: “Actions to be undertaken include the development of four circular driving routes to direct visitors away from the main ‘honey-pot’ sites and encourage them to visit lesser known and accessible sites in the central and eastern Burren.”

The three-year project also involves the designation and promotion of various gateway entry points to the Burren; the development of touch screen digital information hubs at five key locations, and the development of themed walking routes.

Other actions include the erection of improved signage in the Burren region, the development of an innovative multimedia educational programme, the production and distribution of multilingual information packs, the development of geological trails, a Burren Monuments Trail and the provision of infrastructural works at the Poulnabrone archaeological site and Fanore Dunes complex.

SHANNON Development last year spent in excess of a half a million euro in maintaining vacant unoccupied factory sites around Clare.

In response to a Dáil question from Fine Gael deputy, Pat Breen, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Michael Martin said that Shannon Development last year spent €436,152 on maintaining vacant sites in the Shannon Free Zone and Smithstown.

Minister Martin said that €104,153 was spent on maintaining other sites in Clare, giving an overall total of €540,305

“The description maintenance covers landscaping, public lighting, security, staff costs and general building maintenance. Shannon Development does not break down its maintenance expenditure figures between vacant property and occupied property, given the ongoing change to that status as a result of new lettings etc.,” he said

The spend on maintaining the factory sites comes against the background of 20 new jobs being created at Shannon Development’s €11 million Information Age Park, where there is currently 8,500 sq ft available for letting in three units of large floor office space suitable for second stage incubation projects.

Deputy Pat Breen said, “It is important for the public to know how their money was being spent in relation to areas of industrial policy. This is particularly so in Clare, which has so many areas suffering from an inadequate jobs policy. I am disappointed that there is no breakdown of the figures for buildings let and unoccupied properties It is important for the public to know that there are not industrial units lying vacant for years and incurring unacceptable maintenance costs as has occurred in other parts of the country with the IDA.”

In a related property issue, the accounts for Shannon Development show that it has entered a joint venture agreement with Westpark Shannon Ltd, where in return for 20 acres of land in the development of Westpark, Shannon Free Zone, the company acquired a percentage return on the income which will accrue from the development. The 2005 annual report states: “The cost of the joint venture investment has been determined at €2.286 million which is the estimated market value of the land at the date of the investment.”

MEDIA claims that the life of the premature baby who died at the Cliffs of Moher last week was jeopardised because the Ennistymon ambulance was at another call at the time, were refuted by the Health Services Executive yesterday.

The baby, who was approximately 15 weeks premature, was delivered alive to an American tourist at the Cliffs on Wednesday afternoon, but died before reaching the Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick.

The ambulance services declined to comment directly on the matter, but released a statement through the HSE in Limerick yesterday afternoon refuting claims made in the media that the ambulance was delayed because it was on another call at the time.

According to the statement, the ambulance control received a call from the Visitor Centre at the Cliffs of Moher at 12.57 on Wednesday afternoon and was immediately dispatched to the scene with a midwife as part of the crew.

“At the same time, ambulance control also contacted Dr Ruth Goodall to attend at the scene,” read the statement. “The ambulance arrived at the scene at 13.22 hours. Dr Goodall arrived at 13.25 hours approximately.

“On arrival at the scene, the ambulance crew found that the baby was still alive and, at the request of a bystander, ambulance control was requested to arrange a helicopter and a flying squad.”

Twenty minutes later, ambulance control was in contact with Dr Goodall who stood down the request for the helicopter. A HSE spokesperson was unable to clarify that the baby had died at this point, but did say that the decision to stand down the helicopter was taken “on medical grounds”.

“The ambulance left the scene at 14:01 hours and brought mother and baby to the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick,” continued the statement.

“The hospital was contacted by ambulance control and requested to have a priest and counsellor present. The ambulance arrived at the Regional Maternity Hospital at 15:10 hours.”

According to witnesses, the woman had been traveling on a coach tour with a group of friends when the incident took place and the baby was delivered by a midwife working in the kitchen of the Visitor Centre before the ambulance and doctor arrived.

THE court battle between traders, musicians and Clare County Council over the local authority’s attempts to evict the two groups from the Cliffs of Moher has moved a step closer.

Twelve of the 19 traders and musicians have written to Ennis Circuit Court to state they will be making an appearance to defend the council’s action.

One of those who has written to the court, Tony O’Leary, states that he has been busking at the Cliffs for the past 29 years.

Mr O’Leary said that he busked on a casual basis at the Cliffs between 1977 and 1989 and busked full-time from 1989 to 2006. He wrote that he would defend his right to busk as it is based on a very old tradition dating back to Cornelius O’Brien.

Mr O’Leary said that he could play the concertina, flute and tin whistle to a very good standard and quality. He said: “I am willing to be assessed by a professional musician if necessary.”

Others to formally give notice that they will be defending the action include Paul Dooley, Gerry Cahill, Tina Morrissey, James Considine, Richard O’Halloran, Paul O’Dwyer, Tony Anderson, Stephen Dodd, Thomas C Coyne and Michael Galvin.

“We are very confident that we have a strong case, on a number of grounds: that there is precedent there, there is a public right of way, the length of time we are there without any objections and the public support we have,” Gerry Cahill told The Clare People yesterday.

“The survey by The Clare People shows that there is overwhelming support amongst members of Clare County Council.”

The case is not due to be heard until the next sitting of Ennis Circuit Court in October ahead of the council opening the new centre in the first quarter of 2007.

The council’s Project Director, Ger Dollard said that the proceedings were been taken in order to end “the free for all” currently in place at the Cliffs. “We want to start with a clean sheet,” he said.

Last month, Mr Dollard added: “At the moment, it is really is a free for all and people can take up a tin whistle and go up to the Cliffs of Moher and start busking.

Mr Dollard said that busking was a positive activity and that a panel was to be established to carry out the auditions.