Category: News

COUNTY Clare could face bills of up to €22 million in 2010 for producing 490,000 tonnes carbon dioxide above the limit set by the Kyoto agreement, an audience at the launch of a new conservation body heard.

The Limerick Clare Energy Agency, a body set up to provide energy services to help everyone have a greener approach, is having its official launch today.

The Agency was established by Limerick and Clare county councils and is one of 16 other agencies which form an all-Ireland association.

Among the priorities for the energy agency in its first three years is to promote both a transport strategy for the area and an indigenous energy supply.

The body is also charged with advising community groups and local authorities on energy conservation in their buildings and facilities. Other tasks for the agency include promoting knowledge and use of renewable energy technologies and advising the local authority’s housing department on energy efficiency.

They also plan to establish a fuel poverty programme for both counties and to implement the Energy Performance Buildings Directive.

Meanwhile, the Renewable Energy Show comes to Glór on July 1 and Duncan Stewart, presenter and coproducer of the top rating RTÉ series ‘Our House’, will be on hand to officially open the show, as well as give the keynote presentation in the seminar programme.

Local town councillor Johnny Flynn, Chairman of the Clare Branch of the Renewable Energy Skills (RES) Group, said, “the group has been working since January 2004 to develop a national standard as well as give impartial information and support on the technology, and it is great to bring information to consumers through this show.”

For anyone considering a new installation, or a change from conventional fossil fuel heating systems, it will be an opportunity to learn about the various sustainable alternatives.

The show will feature Clare installers of renewable energy heating systems, equipment suppliers, and a seminar programme, in which there will be a series of 15 minutes presentations on current and future renewable energy options. There will also be details available on the current grants available for heating systems.

The show opens at 12 noon and ends at 5pm. Admission is €5 for adults. Youths and children are free.

Meanwhile, an introductory course to Renewable Energy will be held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel on Monday July 3.

The course costs €100 and will focus on such issues as practical installation, skills and on system specifications and requirements.

A NEW company with a base in Shannon will be dealing with 60 per cent of the country’s hazardous waste and, as fuel prices soar, is planning to setting up a biodiesel plant.

Brian Cowen, Minister for Finance, launched Enva as the new corporate and brand name for the businesses formerly known as Atlas, Envirotech and Shannon Environmental Services.

With 70 per cent of Ireland’s hazardous waste still being exported, Enva, which has facilities in Shannon, Portlaoise, Cork and Dublin will aim to reduce Ireland’s exportation of hazardous waste through alternative waste recovery technologies. This consolidation of former companies Atlas, Envirotech and Shannon Environmental Services means that Enva, amongst other services, is the largest indigenous processor of hazardous waste processing over 75,000 tonnes, or approximately 60 per cent of all hazardous waste that is processed in Ireland.

Delegates present at the launch heard of future developments for Enva including the setting up of a bio-diesel production plant, a new solvent distillation facility and the opening of new facilities in Dublin and Cork.

The company is also planning to expand its in house research and development department.

Declan Ryan, Managing Director, Enva, said, “We are a nation that has some way to go in ensuring that our hazardous waste is not just some other country’s problem. There is often a myth perpetuated that there is no hazardous waste management infrastructure in Ireland, because of a lack of incineration facilities. While incineration may have a role to play within Ireland, our commitment is to more alternative recovery technologies, which are emerging and developing fast.”

Enva is a services company, providing innovative and environmentally better solutions to customers for disposing of a range of wastes. The company employs 203 people across four licensed facilities in the Republic of Ireland and two licensed facilities in Northern Ireland, Drumaness, Down, and Carryduff, Antrim.

At the launch, Finance Minister Brian Cowen, said that “waste sector in Ireland has changed quite dramatically in the last decade. It has rocketed to the top of the environmental agenda, right alongside issues such as climate change and global warming.

This has had enormous implications for all of us, in both the public and the private sectors, and has represented a great opportunity for some of the dynamic private sector participants.

WEST Clare’s most problematic housing estate is to have a long awaited CCTV system installed. Funding has now been approved for the installation of street CCTV in John Paul Estate, Kilrush, as part of its overall regeneration plan.

Commenting on the capital funding, Fiona Mooney, Town Clerk said that “we are satisfied that we are responding positively to the needs and requests of our tenants and other residents of John Paul Estate.”

Significant progress has been made on the regeneration of John Paul Estate to date. Door-to-door consultation and public meetings were held on the estate and a masterplan for the regeneration of the estate has been prepared.

The masterplan which involves the complete refurbishment of 24 houses and the redesign of the area to make better use of its amenity potential and to make it more secure by eliminating back alley ways and unused vacant space.

The installation of street CCTV in the estate has been raised at many fora in Kilrush, including Town Council meetings and the MultiAgency Group hosted by Kilrush Town Council.

AN estimated €100,000 was raised for charities, both local and national, following the Clare 10K race on Saturday.

While over €7,500 was raised for the sponsored charities, Clare Haven Services, Cahercalla Hospice and the Samaritans, from the registration fee alone, a further €90,000 was raised by participants for their own designated charities.

Eileen Murphy of Clare Haven Services, one of the Clare 10k organisers, was delighted with the success of the event. She said that “the original idea was to organise a large local event in which to pool resources and bring all the charities together, but this exceeded all my expectations.”

She went on to thank everyone involved, from those who were there at the beginning to everyone who gave 100 per cent on the day, including the gardaí and marshalls who were on hand to help along the route, and the volunteers and physiotherapists, who were at the Lees Road complex to assist the runners as they crossed the finish line. She said she had received great feedback.

“Many people commented on the chosen route. We tried to make it a mix of country and urban and the runners seemed very happy with it,” she said.

Locals and businesses came out in force to support the event, with people standing along the route to cheer on and motivate the runners. While some local businesses sent messages of support, others donated spot prizes. Local bands and musical societies were positioned along the route, to entertain the spectators and motivate the runners.

James Sexton from the Clare branch of Athletics Ireland said that “this was a very successful event from an athletics point of view. This is the first big sporting event in Clare and it attracted some very good athletes including both the men’s and women’s senior winners, Gerry Ryan from Galway City Harriers and Veronica Colleran from Ennis.”

A total of 737 registered runners, joggers and walkers took part, while there was a further 150 estimated unregistered runners, who came along on the day.

“This was a great number for an inaugural race,” said Eileen, “but let’s hope we have double, or even treble the numbers next year.”

Along with the Clare 10K sponsored charities, some of the 40 charities who benefited from the event were Clare Animal Welfare, ICA, Breast Cancer and the East Clare Chernobyl Project.

ONE of Ireland’s leading maternity units is based in a county where fewer babies are born each year than to mothers in Clare.

But Clare mothers are forced to give birth in Galway and Limerick hospitals, as the Banner County still has no maternity unit or plans for one.

The maternity unit at Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar has long been recognised as one of the leading units in the country, yet just 1,632 babies were born to Mayo women last year, 21 babies less than to Clare mothers.

Clare County Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said this week that she would contact the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney, to press upon her the need for a full-service maternity unit at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis.

Cllr Taylor-Quinn said that Clare was the only county on the western seaboard that did not have hospitalbased maternity care, yet Ennis was the fastest growing town in Ireland. She said that the lives were been put at risk by the obligation on expectant mothers to travel to Limerick and Galway.

“Without a maternity service at Ennis hospital, Clare women are being left to carry an unacceptable risk, especially if they are coming from the more remote parts of west, or north Clare.

“Because of increased traffic volumes on the roads, journey times into Limerick and Galway have increased dramatically in recent years.

“This is a significant inconvenience for mothers-to-be. But in an emergency, journey times are a critical issue.

“I am aware of a number of women who have delivered babies in cars on the side of the road, either en route to Limerick, or to Galway. Had there been complications, the consequences could have been tragic,” she warned.

“Furthermore, the population of Ennis has more than doubled on what it was 17 years ago, when women had the choice of two hospital maternity units, at Ennis General Hospital and Cahercalla.

“There are now a very high number of women of childbearing age living in the town and its surrounding areas.

“Under the National Spatial Strategy, the populations of Ennis and Shannon will grow further, and the number of women in the county requiring maternity services, will increase as a result.”

She said that the current independent review of general hospital facilities must give serious consideration to a maternity unit in Ennis, in order to cater for Clare’s current and future population needs.

THE Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) is set to lose control of Aer Rianta International in the proposed break-up of the three state airport infrastructure, according to the Chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority.

Gary McGann told an Oireachtas committee that the indications were that Aer Rianta International would “move towards Dublin rather than Shannon.”

“Logic dictates that regardless of what developments take place in regard to Aer Rianta International, its business should not be threatened. There is a general view that it might struggle to survive under the ownership of a separate Shannon Airport Authority, which will not enjoy the same resources as its Dublin counterpart. This discussion is ongoing and has not been finalised because it is part of the final separation discussions.”

Mr McGann said that the viability of Shannon Airport depended predominantly on addressing the cost base and that had been a very difficult and tortuous process over the past year.

“The case is before the Labour Court, which is trying to bring the two sides together. It requires significant cost take-out.

“We have put in place and made available a fairly substantial voluntary severance programme to try to move that forward, especially for people who may want to retire early. Once we have agreed solutions for Cork and Shannon, we will assess the viability of the development plan for Dublin Airport.”

“Issues in regard to Cork and Shannon must be resolved before we can finalise the plan for Dublin. We will then be in a position to submit the three viability plans, which are interconnected. We are working towards this end, but I understand it is frustrating for everybody that we are not there yet. Notwithstanding the many claims on its scarce capital resources, the Dublin Airport Authority has been prepared to support a restructuring programme at Shannon Airport with a generous voluntary severance package,” he said.

THE chairman of the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee has issued a statement saying the Clare Health services are still suffering under the legacy left behind from the Haughey era.

Peadar McNamara was referring to the period in the 1980s, when the late Charles J Haughey was Taoiseach.

During his time in office, the maternity unit in Cahercalla closed, never to be reoponed.

“Medical and acute care and maternity care services at the district hospitals in Ennistymon, Raheen and Kilrush were (also) closed,” he said.

These three units were later to be opened as elderly care units by the community.

“Ennis had four wards prior to 1988. Two of the wards were closed. There were threats to downgrade the hospital at the time, and the bed numbers fell from 130 to 88 beds. Ennis General Hospital still has 88 beds,” he said.

Angered by some of the accolades bestowed on the late Taoiseach by former colleagues following his death last week, Mr McNamara said, “Essentially this is the medical legacy that the Haughey administration provided for Clare, and regrettably, we are still under a cloud as to the future of Ennis Hospital.”

In his tribute to Haughey, former minister, Senator Brendan Daly outlined that what he said was his former boss’s vision of future acute health services in Clare.

He said that as minister for health and social welfare from 1977 to 1979, Mr Haughey had discussed the possibility of relocating the county hospital to Cahercalla with senior politicians in Clare.

He outlined plans to develop a medical campus on the site, then owned and run by the St John of God Order, which would include a maternity service and psychiatric services.

The Taoiseach is believed to have made the comments while on a visit to the county to sanction the further development of the maternity unit at Cahercalla Hospital in the late 1970s.

During the visit, the Taoiseach also spoke of his wish to close Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital on the Gort Road in Ennis. None of these developments were to come to fruition during his periods in power.

SHANNON Airport is not viable, is losing money and now has accumulated debts of €100 million.

That is the bleak assessment offered by the chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Gary McGann who has also cast serious doubt over the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) assuming full control of affairs at Shannon in the proposed break-up of the three state-owned airports.

In a presentation to the Oireachtas’s Transport Committee, Mr McGann said: “Shannon Airport is not viable. It is losing money. Positive discrimination is already happening. If it were not, Shannon would not be able to continue to survive as it has done in recent years.

“In the past year or two, it has been supplementing its income and getting into positive cash flow mode because of military traffic, which is not something it can depend on in the long term. That business is already declining.”

Mr McGann said that Shannon Airport generated €9 million in profit per annum from the military traffic. But, he added that “there is no prospect at all of Shannon being viable in the near term with its current cost base”.

In response to Mr McGann, vicechair of the committee, Peter Power (FF) asked whether Shannon could be made fully independent. Replying, Mr McGann said: “In accordance with the mandate we have, which is that the airports must have viable business plans, the Acting Chairman is quite correct. There is no possibility of…”

Deputy Power completed the sentence: “Delegated authority or no delegated authority, it will still be part of the Dublin Airport Authority.

In response, Mr McGann said:

Yes, and the consequences of that are problematic in their own right in that the DAA gets no compensation for losses in Shannon, and presumably rightly so. Shannon losses will continue to be funded by it. I do not mean to be trite, but we have a commercial mandate and it does not include positive discrimination.”

Clare Senator, Timmy Dooley said yesterday that he would be surprised if Shannon achieved independence before the next general election.

“I can’t see it happening in the short-term and that may give the opportunity for a rethink. Giving Shannon autonomy has been excellent, but it may not be necessary to go the ultimate step to make Shannon fully independent.”

Deputy James Breen (Ind) said that “Government policy in relation to Shannon Airport is in disarray.

THE students of Scoil Chriost Rí Cloughleigh were celebrating this week when their Green Flag status was honoured with a flag raising ceremony on Tuesday last. Among those in attendance at the celebrations were Senator Timmy Dooley, Mayor of Clare, Pat Keane, Mayor of Ennis, Frankie Neylon and Bishop Willie Walsh.

The Green Flag, an internationally recognised status, is awarded by An Taisce to schools who undertake the Green-Schools programme. The Green-Schools programme is an international environmental education programme, which promotes awareness of environmental issues for primary and secondary school students. It aims to help students apply what they have learned about environmental awareness to their day-to-day lives, both at school and in their own homes.

The students of Scoil Chriost Rí Cloughleigh gained this presitigous status by successfully completing a seven-step progamme, through spearheading a recycling campaign with the aim of reducing waste produced by the school. This included recycling tetrapak cartons, batteries and printer cartidges as well as finding imaginative uses for their litter. The school not only makes regular trips to the recycling centre in Ennis and the landfill facility at Ballyduffbeg, Inagh, but they also publish a newsletter to raise awareness of environmental issues in their community.

Teacher Connor Healy said that “the award was down to all the hard work put in by the children over the past two years. They put in a massive effort.”

To date 2,300 school have participated in the programme, while 900 have already been awarded the Green Flag status.

PARENTS from across the county are preparing for a long and drawn out battle with the Department of Education, as they seek essential education for their children.

The parents, whose children have autism, are campaigning and fundraising under the group Clare Action Autism, for a specialised “Sapling School” for the county .

Ian McMorrough, a parent, said a group of parents had begun campaigning for the school, already in place in Kildare and based on the ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis).

In the Sapling School each child has one-to-one tuition based on individual plans. The school also includes essential services for children on the “autism spectrum”, such as speech and language therapy and occupational therapy.

“This requires the parents to get it up and running, we know we have a battle on our hands with the department,” said Mr McMorrough.

“The Government has paid out in excess of €16 million in legal fees fighting cases of children with autism,” he said.

More than 2,000 children in Ireland are awaiting diagnoses, but no numbers are available as to how many children have autism.

It is estimated by the National Autistic Society in Britain that one in every 166 children have varying degrees of autism.

Twelve specialised schools – Sapling and another form of autism school known as Cabas – are supported by the Department of Education, but in each case, parents had to fight for the service.

Mr McMorrough maintains that by spending €50,000 per child when he or she is young, the Government will save itself €400,000 when the child is older.

“Early intervention is also vital for the child,” he said.

Ian and his wife have already started educating their young son using the ABA method at home, employing specially-trained staff. A clinical psychologist is also overseeing the schooling. The progress of the young boy has been described as amazing by his father.

“Individual learning is key for these children as they have to learn how to learn,” he said.

“The children would then be integrated into mainstream when they are ready, not when the Department say,” he added.

The campaigning parent explained that most individuals who did not receive effective treatment were unlikely to live independently as adults.

Using the ABA method, up to 70 per cent of children have been integrated into mainstream education, he said.

Clare Action Autism can be contacted on 087 6814240.