Category: News

THE Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has confirmed that Shannon Airport will not have its €70 million debt cleared by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) when it becomes independent.

The Minister said there was no question of either Shannon or Cork escaping debt.

Mr Cullen’s view, expressed in the Seanad, runs contrary to that expressed by former Transport Minister, Seamus Brennan in July 2004.

Mr Brennan, also speaking in the Seanad, said that under the terms of the restructuring, both airports would commence operations debt free.

Minister Cullen said his job was to ensure that both airports were “set off” with the strongest possible commercial mandate for future development.

“That is the only agenda that the Government and I wish to pursue. Therefore each authority is required to prepare a comprehensive business plan and obtain our approval for these plans before any assets can be transferred.

“The Commissioner for Aviation Regulation made clear that he will not allow a charging regime at Dublin Airport to cover the costs of Cork or any other airport.

“That is the law within which we must operate.”

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) said the inability of Dublin Airport Authority to “spin off” assets into the two separate companies had created a problem.

“There is no point dwelling on the reason this was allowed to occur or whether better or different advice should have been obtained,” he said.

“The intent at the time was to ensure the airports had sufficient capacity to manage their business, expand their market, generate increased numbers of passengers and provide better facilities for customers.

“A review of the progress achieved in realising the aims set down in the legislation is required. Policy could then be examined in light of the outcome.

“It is possible, for example, that the spin-off of assets to three individual companies will prove unnecessary.

“I propose such a review on the basis of the position at which we have arrived as opposed to the original aim.

“Given the substantial progress achieved to date, perhaps the establishment of three independent, statutorily constituted companies operating under the provisions of company law is no longer required.

“It is this proposal that is causing the problem.

“The airports are working well in the current hiatus.

“While I am not an expert in this area, I suggest that the Dublin Airport Authority be restructured to act as an umbrella encompassing all the State airports,” he said.

A SECURITY company director who was handed a three-month jail sentence for assaulting a man has won his appeal against conviction.

At Ennis District Court last September, Kevin Cooper (43), of Loughville, Ennis, was convicted of assaulting Michael Singleton, at The Square, Ennis, on October 23, 2004.

The jail sentence was put on hold, pending the appeal and he won this appeal at Ennis Circuit Court last week.

Mr Cooper — whose company, Avalon Security Ltd, trading as Security Services, Ennis, provides security for various pubs, nightclubs and hotels in Ennis — said he is delighted he won the appeal and says he has gone through “hell” as a result of the court case.

“My whole life has been upside down for 16 months. Everything, my work, has been held up because of this case. I have lost a lot of work because of this,” he said.

He said the closure of a number of pubs in Ennis, coupled with the conviction in court, has caused him immense hardship.

“I have lost 50 per cent of my work. I am going to try and get back some of the work I have lost,” he said.

“I am struggling now to get back business. It came to a point where I thought I would have to close down, because of the court case. It looked like I was going to be gone,” he said.

He said at one stage he had employed up to 40 people, but has let seven people go.

It emerged, in the wake of the District Court case last year, that Ennis Town Council paid Mr Cooper’s security company €100,000, for security-related activities over a five-year period.

At the time, Ennis Mayor, Councillor Frankie Neylon said that council officials and elected representatives would discuss the arrangement entered into with Mr Cooper’s company if his appeal against conviction failed.

He said if the conviction was upheld, it would create difficulties between Mr Cooper’s company and the council, but added he was entitled to due process.

Speaking yesterday, Cllr Neylon said, “The council will be taking a fresh look at it now.”

TALKS between the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and unions on the €30 million “survival plan” for Shannon Airport are to commence at the Labour Relations Commission this Wednesday.

The two sides have been given a two-month deadline in which to resolve issues by the Labour Court, which urged the parties last month, to engage “genuinely and meaningfully” in negotiations.

The talks process commenced last Summer. But there have been no discussions on the substantive issues over the past nine months.

Throughout, SIPTU has maintained its opposition to plans by the DAA to cut the workforce of 520 through 200 voluntary redundancies and by outsourcing a number of areas of work at Shannon, including exiting completely from catering.

Ahead of the talks at the LRC, Clare Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) told the Seanad that the board and management at Shannon, needed to engage more with staff on the issue of outsourcing.

He said that the management had been suggesting, through the board, that outsourcing was the the only solution for catering.

“I disagree. I am not a business expert, but having discussed the matter with a number of people who have an interest in this area, it is clear there is a viable business in the catering section and the management and the board must be more open to ideas on how that business might be part of a restructured operation,” he said.

“Given that there can be no mandatory redundancies the board will have to work with the hand of cards it is dealt.

“I hope that happens without delay. There is a need to look at all the alternatives in this area.”

As part of the “survival plan”, the DAA is offering sums of up to €10,000 for the 300 or so workers that opt to remain, costing the DAA €2 to €3 million. The payments are being made in recognition of changing work practices.

The voluntary redundancy package gives staff with over 24 years experience a €10,000 pay-off, while it also entitles workers to their company pensions at 55.

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, said he acknowledged the efforts going on at Shannon.

“I welcome the fact that the Labour Relations Commission is meeting with people there, which I hope reaches a positive conclusion for all the stakeholders in order that we can move on.

“That will be an important contribution to the success of Shannon Airport,” he said.

CLARE Animal Welfare are urging tighter controls on animal traceability in light of the appalling cruelty suffered by an abandoned horse.

The organisation wants domestic animals to be microchipped to make it more difficult for animals to be stolen or abandoned.

The horse, which has been named Eana, is now recovering on a refuge owned by Clare Animal Welfare who have set up the ‘Eana Recovery Appeal’ to encourage people to sponsor a bag of food for Eana.

Current regulations which require all thoroughbreds and animals registered with the Irish Horse Board to be microchipped aren’t widely enforced.

The process of microchipping involves inserting a small microchip under the skin of the animal which can be scanned to determine who the animal is registered to.

Kate Browne says the case of Eana and the gory details of another cruelty case make microchipping essential.

“We have received 11 distress calls about horses since the New Year and, while this horse is in a particularly bad state, the important thing is to ensure that all animals are traceable. We need to see microchipping enforced. There was a case in Kildare last week where greyhounds had their ears chopped off to remove their markings. This is happening all the time.”

She added, “People aren’t scanning animals when they are being sold. Marts and horse fairs should insist that any animal for sale is scanned.”

The full thoroughbred mare had been abandoned in a wooded area near Lough Ea by its careless owner and had been sighted on several occasions by locals before again being spotted by a woman walking in the area over the Easter weekend.

After an exhaustive search, the severely emaciated animal was recovered by Kate Browne.

Such is the extent of the horse’s injuries that it will take up to two years for it to fully recover.

Kate said the animal is making good progress but is in a very distressed state.

”She’s just skin and bone. I’ve taken clumps of mudrash off her and her hair is falling out. She had dislocated her hip. But we have high hopes. She is taking pro-biotics and is eating a low-protein diet.”

A YOUNG man who was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Ennis has told how he has become a recluse as a result – his attacker was jailed for four years last week.

Anthony Conlon received a threeinch deep wound to the chest, after he accidentally bumped into David O’Loughlin, along a footpath at Harmony Row, Ennis, on June 30, 2005.

O’Loughlin (19), unemployed, of Finian Park, Shannon, was jailed for attacking Mr Conlon, a native of Mayo, after he pleaded guilty.

Detective Sergeant Joe O’Brien told Ennis Circuit Court that Anthony Conlon (who was then 21) and his girlfriend were walking down the street at around 7.30pm.

O’Loughlin and Mr Conlon bumped into each other, along a narrow footpath. Words were exchanged between the two and O’Loughlin stabbed his victim in the chest, just under the ribs.

Mr Conlon sustained a wound, three inches deep and one-and-a-half inches long. O’Loughlin was arrested later that night and the following day he admitted his part in the stabbing.

He said he had thrown the knife into the River Fergus, but it was never recovered.

A consultant surgeon who assessed the victim said he was “lucky to have survived, considering the depth of the wound.”

Dt Sgt O’Brien said there was “absolutely no logic whatsoever” for what had happened, that the victim and his girlfriend were out for a walk, minding their own business.

He said O’Loughlin is a “very volatile individual” who comes from a “dysfunctional” family.

Mr Conlon, an apprentice aeroplane mechanic, was in intensive care for a week after the assault and was unable to work for five weeks.

“I don’t go out anymore. I am basically a recluse… No more walks – I take the car,” he told the court.

He has fully recovered from his injuries, but remains wary of anyone he meets on the footpath.

In court, O’Loughlin apologised. “There is nothing I can say or do to take away the injuries I have done to Anthony Conlon. All I can say is sorry.”

His barrister Brendan Nix said his client has been in foster care since he was 11.

“It is a bad case. It could have been an awful lot worse,” said Mr Nix.

Judge Con Murphy said the offence was “horrendous” he said Mr Conlon “very nearly sustained a fatal injury, given where he was stabbed was very near to his heart.”

He said he accepted O’Loughlin was pleading guilty and that he apologised.

“He came from a dysfunctional background, which is no fault of his own,” he said, imposing a four-year term.

O’Loughlin has already served six months on remand and this was taken into account.

A north Clare legal firm has secured planning permission for contentious plans to construct a first floor extension to its property.

The extension, at Chambers & Co., is a replacement for one that the company built without authorisation. They were subsequently refused permission to retain the structure and accepted they must demolish it.

Plans to replace the illegal structure with a smaller extension met with opposition from neighbours, Sean and Carmel Conway, who claimed the extension would have a detrimental effect on them.

But, granting permission, the council stated that the development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area, or of the properties in the vicinity and would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The council stated that by replacing the existing first floor extension with an ‘A’ shaped gable extension, the light to the Conway’s property would not be significantly affected.

THE Mayor of Ennis believes the only thing that will curb serious crime is to increase garda presence on the streets.

Councillor Frankie Neylon said it is not acceptable for someone to take out a knife and stab an innocent passer-by in broad daylight, as happened in the case of David O’Loughlin.

He was jailed for four years at Ennis Circuit Court last week for stabbing Anthony Conlon, at Harmony Row, Ennis, on June 30 last year. The attack occurred a stone’s throw from Ennis Garda Station.

“Anybody who takes it upon themselves to stab someone is just not acceptable,” he said.

“You don’t expect anybody to stab someone outside a garda station, or outside a hotel, or wherever.”

He expressed concern that knives are being carried around town and said this appears to be some people’s “daily routine.”

“When it comes into the town, you have to be able to deal with it. We are very short of gardai on the ground,” he said.

“We should be looking at some way of ensuring visitors to our town would be healthy while they are here and that they leave healthy. If you want to curb this, you have to have gardai on the streets,” he pointed out.

THE University of Limerick president, who extended the growing centre of education into Clare, has retired on health grounds. Professor Roger GH Downer decided to stand down as president and vice-chancellor last week following an 18-month battle with serious illness.

Under the forward-thinking professor’s leadership the university acquired 125 acres of land in Co Clare to allow expansion of the campus across the River Shannon. Building projects include the magnificent University Arena, MSSI Building, Millstream research complex, a bridge across the Shannon and three student villages. Prof Downer has also been credited with establishing the Office of the Dean of Teaching and Learning, which has introduced major initiatives in teaching, and learning.

During his presidency undergraduate student numbers increased substantially and he initiated the development of new programmes in various fields. He has also led the campaign to bring a graduate medical school to UL. In particular he focused on creating a researchintensive institution and achieved substantial increases in research income, research output, post-graduate student numbers, patent applications and spin-off companies.

Professor Downer nurtured relationships with local communities and was a champion of access programmes in socially disadvantaged areas of Limerick, established the access campus in Southill and arranged the building of the first crèche on a university campus in Ireland. Although he will stand down as president the professor will continue to undertake academic and related activities on behalf of the university until August, 2008, the date on which his tenure as President would have ended.

GARDAI say they are satisfied that serious head injuries sustained by a man in Lisdoonvarna last week were as a result of a fall.

Jim Kearney (56) was found in an unconscious state on a footpath close to the Square in the town, in the early hours of Monday last. He had been seen leaving a pub in the town a short time earlier.

Mr Kearney, a chef who hails from Wexford, was removed to hospital in Ennis.

He later underwent surgery at Cork University Hospital, where he remained in a critical condition yesterday.

It was initially unclear how he sustained his injuries.

A full garda investigation was conducted last week and a Detective Superintendent was deployed from Galway to work on the investigation.

Clare Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn said it appears Mr Kearney was not the victim of an assault.

“It seems there was nothing to indicate there was any assault. The indications are his injuries were as a result of a fall.

“Our investigations haven’t indicated there was anything suspicious,” he said.

A number of people have been interviewed by gardai, including those who found the Mr Kearney at around 2am, and people who were in his company earlier that night.

CLARE County Council is to proceed with plans to develop a further four permanent Traveller halting sites in Ennis and Liscannor this year. The sites will accommodate 20 families and the estimated cost is €6 million.

Last week the council announced that, after almost a decade, all Clare Travellers have been accommodated and there are no longer any Travellers living without water or sanitation on the roadside.

However, arising from new Traveller family formations and the need to accommodate those living in temporary emergency accommodation, the council has identified an accommodation need for 88 families, with 64 in immediate need.

According to an update provided to members of the Special Policy Committee (SPC), the council has identified sites at the Tulla Rd, Kilrush Rd and Ashline in Ennis and Laghcloon, Liscannor.

The update states, “Every effort will be made in 2006 to progress the construction of the permanent traveller accommodation sites as identified in the programme as a matter of urgency.”

Last year, the new Traveller Accommodation Programme was thrown into disarray after the council withdrew its Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for its original site earmarked for the Kilrush Rd.

County manager, Alec Fleming made the rare move after councillors voiced their opposition to the CPO on the lands at Kilmorane on the outskirts of Ennis. In pursuing the CPO, the council had placed in jeopardy two €250,000 homes currently being built for two elderly settled couples on the site.

Outlining the progress on the plan, the council’s acting director for housing, Josephine Cotter-Coughlan said, “In recent weeks, five Traveller families have been allocated standard local authority housing by Ennis Town Council and they will be taking up accommodation in the coming weeks.

“One further family has accepted accommodation from a voluntary body in the Ennis area and will also be taking up residency in the coming weeks. Clare County Council are currently advancing plans for a number of Group Housing Schemes in the Ennis and Ennistymon areas.

“Sites have been identified and discussions are taking place with the landowners involved. Permanent accommodation must be provided for the families living in the temporary emergency sites.

“There are also a number of families living in private rented or sharing with family members that must be accommodated in the current programme.

“There will also be new families formed in the coming years and their accommodation needs must be met,” she said.