Category: News

MEMBERS of the South Galway Fianna Fail Comhairle Cheantair and the Gort Regional Alliance for Community and Environment group (GRACE) have met with Environment and Heritage Minister Dick Roche over the inadequate sewage system in Gort.

The group learned that the sewerage plant is about to be repaired. However, the repairs may not be sufficient for the volume of development in the area.

They were also informed that the town is thirteenth on a list for water system upgrading. The group suggested that, in the short term, the council replace pipes on the Ennis and Galway roads and invest in the old water plant until a new system be put in place.

The minister has asked his department to examine the points raised and will respond in due course.

On Thursday, council representatives met with the Lough Cultra Farmers Action Group and GRACE in advance of submitting an environmental impact study where the farmers campaigned against current council plans to raise water levels in the town.

The council representatives are currently looking into the alternative plan proposed by the group.

HUNDREDS of acres of hillside went up in flames last night in a blaze which could be seen more than 20 miles away.

More than twenty fire-fighters whit support crews did battle for hours with the inferno, which engulfed a hill south east of Milltown Malbay.

The blaze started in bone-dry scrub under sizzling temperatures which also saw household wells all over the country run dry.

And with yesterday being the hottest day of the year and weekend temperatures in the high twenties, traffic chaos was reported on the coast roads.

ENTERPRISE Ireland staff are not falling over themselves to apply for decentralised positions in Shannon.

One year after it was announced that the State body would move to the mid-west, not one staff member has physically arrived and just 52 Government employees have applied for the 292 posts that need to be filled.

A spokesman for the Department of Finance, which is in charge of decentralisation applications, confirmed that 52 Government employees have nominated Shannon and Enterprise Ireland as their first choice destination under the decentralisation programme.

Of that 52, just 19 are existing Enterprise Ireland staff with the remaining applications coming from other Government Departments.

“ It is too early to comment definitively on a timescale for the transfer of Enterprise Ireland’s headquarters to Shannon.

“The timing of the major move of Enterprise Ireland staff to Shannon Town is dependent on having sufficient, suitably qualified and experienced people opting to transfer to Shannon, within the terms of the Government decision to undertake the work of the areas scheduled for location in Shannon,” the spokesman said.

He added that the State body, working closely with the Office of Public Works (OPW), “had identified but not yet acquired a preferred site in Shannon. The site occupies a prime position near the centre of Shannon and is considered suitable for a major landmark building or civic structure related to the town centre.”

CLARE’S Chief Fire Officer has told a court that fire and safety at an Ennis apartment complex was inadequate, when an inspection took place last year.

Adrian Kelly was giving evidence in the case of eight people, charged under the Fire Services Act, arising out of an inspection of an apartment complex in Ennis last year.

Before Ennis District Court were Noel Connellan, Station Road, Ennis; Eleanor Brody, Park Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin; Desmond Houlihan, c/o Desmond Houlihan, Salthouse Lane, Ennis; De Lard Homes Ltd, Station Road, Ennis; Patrick Vaughan, Station Road, Ennis; Patrick and Catherine Beaty, Montree, Athlone, Co Westmeath; Mary Thyne, Merchant’s Square, Ennis; and Priorstown Ltd, Station Road, Ennis.

They are accused of failing to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire on the premises.

Solicitor for Clare County Council, Isobel O’Dea, said the case related to a fire at an apartment complex at Merchant’s Square, Ennis, on May 19, 2005.

Mr Kelly said the fire brigade was called to a fire on the first floor of the apartment complex. The fire was dealt with and he later inspected the building.

He told the court that “fire and safety seemed to be inadequate,” adding that the main issue was that one exit had been locked.

Mr Kelly said the property was inspected again in June of this year, adding, “all deficiencies had been sorted out. All was up to scratch again.”

The fire officer pointed out that there were 20 apartments in the block. The entrance was located on the ground floor and the apartments were located on the first and second floors.

Judge Joseph Mangan said he was declining jurisdiction in the case and adjourned it for two months, for preparation of the Book of Evidence.

A CLARE psychiatrist has expressed concern over the county’s suicide rate which is bucking the national trend and rising.

Last year, 431 Irish people took their own lives, compared to the 457 suicides in 2004 – a drop of 26.

However, in Clare, the number of suicides showed a slight increase going up from 14 in 2004 to 15 last year.

Dr Moosajee Bhamjee told The Clare People , “It is a concern that with all the suicide awareness that there has not been any drop-off. Young people find it very difficult to cope with the end of relationships and find it hard when they are rejected. This leads to a lot of stress that they do not want to deal with.

“Suicides have traditionally been under-reported and I would be very concerned at the number of single men under the age of 30 that have taken their lives. Anyone that is feeling suicidal should contact the Samaritans who are available 24 hours a day.”

Over the past four years, 60 people have taken their own lives in Clare with the gender breakdown showing that 44 males took their lives, while 16 females committed suicide.

The figures for 2005 show that men under the age of 30 are most at risk, with five men in that age group taking their lives.

The next largest grouping are those aged over 50, with three taking their lives.

Last year was the first time in a number of years when no suicide took place at the Cliffs of Moher – in 2004, four people took their lives at the Cliffs.

There were no suicides recorded in Clare from July to the start of December and the figures show that the largest proportion of suicides took place in rural parts of west Clare.

West Clare councillor, Tom Prendeville (FF), said yesterday, “We have to accept that there is a problem of suicide in west Clare and I would be extremely worried if there was any evidence of copy-cat suicides, because, if that is the case, we are failing in our role as educationalists.”

“Young people must understand that, no matter what the problem is, there is always a way out.

“I believe that a very strong factor in the high rate of suicide is the high expectations put on young people and the roller-coaster lives they lead.”

CLARE County Council’s ability to dispose of waste came in for renewed criticism this week, as news broke that effluent was taken to a scheme that was unable to treat it.

Following difficulty with the treatment plant in Kilmihill, effluent was moved by a permitted contractor to a plant that was unable to treat it in Kilrush.

The untreated effluent was then allowed to run into the estuary with the town’s own waste.

At this week’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) criticised the decision.

The Environmental Special Policy Committee chairperson told her council colleagues that it was against “best practice” to remove effluent to a plant that was not able to treat it.

“Everyone knows the Kilrush plant is not capable of treating it,” she said referring to a council proposal to upgrade the system in the West Clare capital.

“There are other treatment plants that are capable of taking it,” she said.

The visibly angered councillor said that it should not be the job of the environmental department to “police” the council.

Acting Director of Services and County Engineer Walter Walsh admitted to the council that it would have been better to deal with the effluent in a different way.

He told the councillors that the effluent was mixed with the Kilrush effluent and released into the estuary “like the rest”.

Cllr McCarthy said she wanted a written report on what happened including the name of the contractor and the time of the movement.

Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney also asked if the contractor in question was to retain his permit and if he was asked to take the waste to Kilrush by a member of the council staff.

This revelation follows on from an investigation in the last six weeks into illegal dumping on local authority land in Kilrush Town.

The incident was blamed on “a breakdown in communication”.

FIREFIGHTERS battled for hours last night with flames that engulfed hundreds of acres of mountain and could be seen more than 20 miles away.

The blaze started in an area close to the Hand in Miltown Malbay, on a hill known locally as Mary Walsh’s Mountain.

It began some time in the afternoon and by 5pm, four units of the brigade as well as back up four wheel drive vehicles were on the scene to get to grips with the inferno.

It was three hours before the massive blaze was brought under control and crews worked into the night in a damping down operation.

A spokesman for the fire control centre said that the fierce blaze was visible as far away as the motorway at Dromoland and residents of Kilshanny could clearly see the flames.

Firefighters said that the very dry weather and heat provided ideal conditions for the mountain scrub to ignite.

One eyewitness reported seeing a massive plume of smoke emerging from the hills to the south east of Miltown Malbay.

“We first noticed it around 4 o’clock,” said the local business person.

“There was so much smoke that it just looked like a giant cloud and we didn’t even realise that it was a fire until a neighbour, who lives out by the Hand, called up to see it.

“It didn’t get too close to us thankfully as a wind blew up and drove the flames in a westerly direction.”

Meanwhile, as temperatures soared into the high twenties in Clare yesterday, householders with their own wells were getting hot under the collar.

Suppliers of household water pumps were reporting record number of calls from homeowners who thought their pumps were malfunctioning.

“They think that the pump has broken down, but in fact, the well has run dry.

“Springs that never dried up before have dried up this week”, a spokeswoman for an east Clare pump contractor told The Clare People .

Temperatures yesterday were the hottest recorded so far this year and the dry spell is set to continue until Wednesday, when there may be thunder storms and rain.

The weekend promises to be cooler, with showers.

THE 2007 general election is likely to be one of the toughest fought in living memory with four Fine Gael candidates now on the ticket.

In an unprecedented move, the party’s Executive Council decided to add Councillors Joe Carey and Madeleine Taylor-Quinn to the party’s General Election ticket, which already included Deputy Pat Breen and Cllr Tony Mulcahy following a contentious convention, last May.

Already unrest is emerging within the party at grassroots levels, with fears of losing the current Fine Gael seat.

A party poll last Christmas showed an increase in Fine Gael popularity in Clare and the possibility of securing the coveted second seat.

But the addition of the two names has left local delegates screaming blue murder amid claims that the current seat held by Pat Breen could now be in danger.

Disgruntled members of the party have blamed the selection process and weak leadership for the large number of candidates.

At the national conference in Athlone, the party leader Enda Kenny tried to revert back to a selection process that would allow a number of delegates from each branch select the candidates. He was narrowly defeated in a vote, which meant the oneperson one vote method introduced six years ago remained. During the last year, there was a 2,000 per cent increase in Clare membership to the party, resulting in a large attendance at the convention in the West County Hotel.

At the convention Joe Carey, the son of former TD Donal Carey, was just a few votes away from being selected making him a likely third candidate.

But a promise made to Cllr Taylor-Quinn, coupled with her front bench experience and polling in the European Election meant the Fine Gael party had a difficult decision to make.

It is believed Mr Kenny promised the former TD a place on the ticket if she ran in the European election, a promise that he did not renege on last week.

In a statement this week, sitting TD Pat Breen said he accepted the decision of the National Executive regarding the fielding of four Fine Gael candidates but said the decision made the party’s task of winning an extra seat in Clare “infinitely more difficult”.

When Fine Gael last suggested running four candidates in the fourseat constituency, it failed to return any TD. In 1948, a sudden election was called, so party leader General Richard Mulcahy rushed through a convention in the Queen’s Hotel. The leader told the small gathering of delegates assembled for the convention that he had four “excellent candidates” and he intended to run all four. Among the line up was son of the late TD Charlie Burke from Whitegate, Eddie Monaghan a solicitor from Ennis who was defeated in a bye-election two years previously, Colonel Austin Brennan and Bill Murphy from Ennistymon. Bill Murphy withdrew his name a few days later, believing it to be a joke and the other three went on to contest the election, but to no avail. Instead Eamon de Valera and Sean O’Grady were returned for Fianna Fáil, Paddy Hogan took a seat for Labour and Tom “The Bonesetter” Burke took the fourth seat as an Independent. But, while members within the Fine Gael Party may fear this as a bad omen, they take some comfort that in 1948 the Fine Gael Party was returned to power under Cosgrove.

Almost 60 years on, a dogfight is predicted as four candidates take to the hustings.

Cllr Joe Carey who trebled his vote to 1,939 first preferences, the highest vote ever recorded for a local election candidate in Clare, will be hoping to attract the youth vote.

“I am a young, enthusiastic, energetic candidate who will devote all my energies to delivering for my number one concern – the people of County Clare,” he said adding he was honoured and delighted to have been selected by Mr Kenny.

So far Cllr Taylor-Quinn is the only female candidate to have announced an intention to run in the next election.

“At next year’s General Election, the people of Clare will have the choice to vote for a woman candidate. For those who say that women’s voices are heard when Government makes its decisions, I point out that just 13 per cent of TDs are women. That figure is so low that it places Ireland on a par with countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

A CLARE County Councillor was left red faced on national radio when he was told information given to him at a council meeting was not correct.

In a debate with An Taisce’s Ian Lumley, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) criticised the environment watchdog for not allowing the people of Clare access to its comments on planning applications in the county.

At the June meeting of the council, the councillor was told that the An Taisce files could not legally be made available under law.

Cllr Kelly said he was embarrassed when told by Mr Lumley, “you have no problem with us. Go back to your county council who have a restrictive policy.”

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said he “genuinely felt sorry and embarrassed for him.

Director of Services Bernadette Kinsella said the information given to Cllr Kelly was factual, as that was the council’s interpretation of it.

“We went back and the department advised us our interpretation was not the same as interpretation made in other county councils.”

“We were happy to correct something we had misinterpreted.”

CAMPAIGNERS will have to wait another week to discover if they will be granted leave of appeal to halt the erection of an 80 foot ESB telecommunications mast in Ennis.

The case was expected to be heard yesterday (Monday) in the High Court but has now been adjourned until Monday, July 31. The adjournment was sought by An Bord Pleanála who requested more time to prepare an affidavit. Campaigners are now hopeful that the case will be heard on July 31, before the courts break for summer recess. Locals who have mounted the potentially expensive legal battle are disappointed with the further delay. Campaigner Michael O’Doherty says residents are frustrated, but are still confident of a successful outcome.

“We were hoping that it would go ahead today, but An Bord Pleanála have requested more time to prepare an affidavit. People are waiting for the case to be heard and expected it to go ahead today.

Local people are anxious and we are anxious, but we would still very confident that we have a good case.

“This is the second time the case has been adjourned in the High Court. It was originally to be heard on July 5, but was adjourned at the request of the ESB. Residents agreed to the request on the condition no work was to be carried out on the site of the ESB substation adjacent to Mangan’s Cash and Carry.

Residents are opposing the decision on the grounds that the proposed site was not chosen as a site of last resort; the ESB did not provide the necessary notification of the development within the required time frame and that An Bord Pleanála did not request additional information on additional sites looked at by the ESB.