Category: News

NINE schools that cater for 1,600 students in Clare will get a face lift this year as the Government announced its first round of the Summer Works Scheme for 2014.

The seven primary schools and two post-primary schools include Cratloe NS, Scariff Central NS, Killaloe Boys NS, Cooraclare NS, Scoil Mhichil Cahermurphy, Connolly NS, Kilnaboy NS, Ennis Commu- nity College and St Michael’s Community College, Kilmihil.

The nine Clare schools are among 387 schools nationwide to receive funding under this year’s scheme, which covers projects such as electrical, gas and mechanical works.

A second round of the scheme is expected to be announced in coming weeks. This round will cover other types of improvement works, with applications still being assessed.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn (Lab), said, “These works will be carried out in schools over the summer months, when the pupils are on holidays, so the disruption to schooling will be kept to a minimum.

“In this Year of Jobs, I and the department are committed to doing everything we can to ensure as many people as possible get back to work. These projects will stimulate economic activity by supporting 2,160 direct and 430 indirect construction jobs in the local economy,” he concluded.

NEARLY a quarter of million euros worth of funding announced on Friday for the repairs of four Clare piers is part of the € 16.8 million previously announced by the Government, despite reports to the contrary.

The funding – which amounts to € 130,950 for Liscannor Pier, € 65,700 for Ballyvaughan Pier and € 18,000 for Seafield Pier and Kilbaha Pier in West Clare – will not come from fresh government funding.

Councillors at yesterday’s North Clare Meeting of called for an end to the Government “spin” in relation to the Government funding for the storms, which they say is creating confusion amongst the public.

“We should not have any further announcements of this kind, this is very misleading. The very least that could be done is that we should know where we stand. This sort of confusion is not acceptable,” said Cllr Richard Nagle.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council said that the most recent announcement was supposed to indicate the exact locations where the funding would be spent and not to indicate that new funding was being made available.

Cllr Michael Kelly (FF), said that the most recent statement represent “spin” from the Government.

“There should be clarity, this is all spin. We would all be as well off to get a clear statement and leave it at that,” he said.

“This is the second time that there has been a misunderstanding like this. There is a lot of misinformation coming out about this funding.”

The four piers were severely damaged by the successive storms which rocked the Clare coast in January and February.

“This is no extra money, it is just clarification of where that money is going. My understanding is that this money has already been included in the general fund and that is that,” said a council spokesperson.

THE famous Lahinch ‘loo with a view’ – a tiny plot of land on the promenade which was sold for more than € 400,000 at the height of the property bubble – could soon revert to previous function as a public toilet.

The tiny property, which was sold by Clare County Council in June of 2008, could yet be purchased back by the local authority and redeveloped as toilets, using the same € 400,000 which the council received from the sale of the property more than five years ago.

Plans to develop a new state of the art public toilet facility at Lahinch have been shelved for a number of years. The money raised from the sale of the old toilets has been ringfensed for the project but Clare County Council has been waiting for matching funding from Fáilte Ireland before gong forward with the project.

Council officials at yesterday’s North Clare Area meeting of Clare County Council said that the possibility of purchasing back the “loo with a view” would be examined. The property has not been developed since it was purchased at auction in 2008.

“Surely to God we could buy back that block at the top of the prom- enade and put in place a state of the art toilet. How much do you want to spend on these toilets?” said Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) yesterday.

“I am very frusratrated with the situation. Nothing has been done by Clare County Council or Fáilte Ireland. The criticism that we are getting in Lahinch because of the lack of toilets is unreal. We can’t walk down the promenade without being criticised. We have no public toilets in Lahinch and I think that is an absolute disgrace.”

At present the public is provide with access to toilets at Lahinch Seaworld, which councillors yesterday said were not adequate to deal with the crowds who descend on Lahinch beach each summer.

Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) also said that the council should not spend any more money on consultants reports.

“There were no less than three different consultants involved in producing the report and since the report was produce nothing has been done,” he said.

“Every year, every councillor in inundated with complaints about the toilets in Lahinch because they are not fit for purpose.”

The possibility of using the € 400,000 to extend and develop the current toilets at the Lahinch Seaworld will also be examined.

A COTTAGE industry in the cultivation of cannabis seems to be forming in West Clare according to a District Court Judge.

Judge Patrick Durcan made the comments during the case of a 44year-old man who appeared before him charged with growing six cannabis plants in his Tullycrine home.

Stephen McMinn of Tullycrine, Kilrush pleaded guilty to the cul- tivation of cannabis plants without a licence contrary to Section 17 of Misuse of Drug Act 1977 and the unlawful possession of a controlled drug contrary to Section 3 and Section 27 (as amended by section 6) of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1984.

The court heard that on May 23 gardaí searched the defendant’s home in the presence of his wife and discovered six potted plants.

Defence solicitor Fiona Hehir told the court that he was growing the plants for his own recreational use.

“He is on social welfare and doesn’t have the money to go out at night and grows it as a pastime,” she said.

She added that he no longer smokes the drug and was “not a man typically involved” in this crime.

“It was more of an experiment,” she said.

Judge Durcan questioned if this did not make the issue more serious.

“You seem to have a bit of a cottage industry here in Clare,” he said to Gardaí.

“There is a bit of it,” replied pros- ecuting Garda Supt Seamus Nolan.

“More than a bit,” replied the judge.

The superintendent pointed out that there were a number of similar cases before the court.

“You don’t have a poitín problem down here?” queried Judge Durcan.

“More sale and supply,” replied the Garda Superintendent.

He added that it was “not something we take lightly.”

The judge ordered a probation report for Mr McMinn for May 20.

CLARE County Council reached settlements totaling € 8,837 on pothole related public liability claims since 2012.

The figures for public liability and employee liability claims settled or in process for 2012 and 2013 were revealed at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.

Cllr Brian Meaney requested the information in a motion submitted to the adjourned March meeting.

He stated, “I request a case by case listing of all public liability and employee liability claims lodged settled or in process against Clare County Council for the year 2012, 2013”.

The Fianna Fáíl councillor also requested details of any legal costs arising from the claims.

The figures supplied by Clare County County Council show € 4,269 was paid out in pothole settlements in 2012.

Almost half of the settlements re late to a pothole in the Claureen area of Ennis.

In 2012, the council agreed settlements of € 2,117 for claims made in relation to potholes in Claureen.

Cllr Meaney questioned what measures the council is taking to ensure it doesn’t have to make further payments for pothole related claims.

He said in the case of Claureen pothole, it might be more accurate to call it the “Claureen chasm”.

Cllr Meaney also questioned what work had been done to repair a pothole in Fanore, which he said seems to have become more of a “fissure”.

The figures show that the council agreed a settlement of € 3,369.24 in 2013 for a claim arising from a pothole on the Fanore Coast Road.

“Did the car fall in, in its entirety to the thing or what happened”, asked Cllr Meaney.

He also sought further information on why the council paid out a settlement of € 10,912 in 2012 for a defective public litterbin in Shannon town.

Senior Executive Officer, Michael McNamara told the meeting that he did not have the information to hand.

UNTREATED raw sewage is being discharged into rivers and bathing areas at five locations in Clare, including key tourist towns such as Kilkee, Ballyvaughan and Liscannor. A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that the discharge of raw sewage is still a major problem in Clare, with nearly 20 percent of all offending towns – five of the 28 towns nationally – located in Clare. Five Clare towns, with a popula- tion of more than 500 people, were identified as discharging raw sewage. The report also reveals a lack of progress made in recent years in tackling the problems each of the five Clare towns – Kilrush, Clarecastle, Kilkee, Ballyvaughan and Liscannor – already identified as having on sewage infrastructure by the EPA in their 2006 report.

The Shannon town sewage system was also identified in the report as not reaching mandatory effluent quality and sampling standards. The system, which was identified as the source of a mysterious odour, late last year, will undergo a € 1.02 million upgrade of four pump stations later this year.

It is hoped that this upgrade will bring the system up to the standards set by the EPA and also rectify the ongoing odour issues in Shannon town.

A campaign to construct a sewage treatment system at Kilkee has been underway for more then a decade, with an investment promised by the Government as far back as 2005. The wait looks set to continue for the time being however as the transfer of responsibility for the project from Clare County Council to Irish Water adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the project.

The Kilkee sewage system was included in the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government’s investment programme for 2010 to 2013 but remains a number of steps away from development.

While Clare County Council will be involved in the day to day provision of water and sewage services for a number of years through a Service Level Agreement with Irish Water, all responsibility for funding new schemes now rests with Irish Water.

PASSENGERS flying in and out of Shannon airport for St Patrick’s Day celebrations sighed with relief on Wednesday when a strike scheduled for Friday was called off, just over 36 hours before it was due to begin.

There was however some disruption to plans as Aer Lingus had cancelled 29 flights at the three airports affected and made changes to more than 40 others on Thursday and Fri- day.

Despite the upheaval however a delegation of council staff along with the mayors or deputy mayors of Clare, Kilrush, Ennis and Shannon made their flights to represent the county at parades, official functions and trade meetings in New York and New Jersey.

The Tulla Pipe Band also boarded a flight from Shannon to New York on Saturday to lead the Clare delegation down Fifth Avenue for the New York St Patrick’s Day parade.

On Wednesday the High Court granted an injunction preventing the union from staging the planned fourhour work stoppage at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports on Wednesday.

The threatened action was part of an ongoing dispute between workers, the Dublin Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority over pensions.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan upheld the injunction sought by the DAA and urged the parties to cooperate with the expert panel to resolve the dispute.

The DAA, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, welcomed the move.

“I have said on a number of occasions that the strike should have been deferred given that the expert panel is currently engaging with all parties involved in the dispute,” said the Minister.

Fianna Fáil’s Transport and Tourism spokesperson Timmy Dooley said, “Around 10,000 passengers have been affected by this action on one of the busiest weekends of the year for the Irish tourism industry. The disruption has the potential to blight the good reputation that Ireland has built up over many years,” he said.

“While every worker has the right to strike to protect their interests, it should only be used a method of last resort, and not a threat issued when negotiations are still ongoing.”

The workers union SIPTU said it would be considering the judgment.

WEST Clare has produced not one but seven new millionaires, as the € 8.3 million Lottery Jackpot of March 5 was claimed on Thursday morning last.

Each of the lucky winners will receive almost € 1.2 million as a result of the € 24 prize winning ticket they bought in Miniter’s, Henry Street. Kilrush.

The secretive seven have elected to remain anonymous.

One of the lucky syndicate members spoke of the excitement the group felt since they became millionaires more than a week ago.

“Last Thursday morning I heard that the winning ticket was sold in Kilrush. I logged on to the lottery website and was in total disbelief when I saw we’d won.

“I couldn’t focus on the numbers. I thought that there must have been a mistake,” he said.

“I felt about 90 per cent sure we’d won, so I phoned the rest of the group and said, ‘I think we’ve won the lottery.’

Some of them thought I was messing and one said, ‘we’ve either won or we haven’t – there’s no think about it.’

It’s an amazing feeling. We’re absolutely delighted – it’s made millionaires of us all,” he added.

The lucky syndicate has played Lotto each week for the last two and a half years.

Their winning ticket was a mixed- play ticket and a Quick Pick was the winning line that landed them the massive € 8.3 million win.

The happy winners plan to have a quiet celebration and take some time to let the news settle before making plans.

This is the largest Lotto jackpot winning ticket to be sold in County Clare in Lotto history.

Over € 45 million in Lotto jackpot and Lotto Plus top prizes has been paid out in the Banner county since lotto began in 1988.

EVEN on the back of the Gathering and a reinvigoration of the American market.

Early bookings for Clare in 2014 indicate a major growth in visitors from England, mainland Europe, especially Germany, and Irish tourists.

Despite a slow start to 2014, brought about as a result of the storms in January and February, early booking at the Cliffs of Moher put them on target for a sizable increase on 2013, which was the attraction’s best year on record. If these number continue throughout the year, the Cliffs should break the one million visitor mark for the first time ever.

Despite a 12 per cent drop in visitors numbers to the Cliffs of Moher so far this year, manager Katherine Webster is predicting a healthy growth over the 12 months of 2014.

“No less than the rest of coastal County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience had a challenging enough start to the year with the storm conditions experienced in January and the first half of February. Extreme weather led to the visitor centre clos- ing on a total of seven days in these two months. Prior to 2014, the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre had closed a total of 7 times in 7 years,” she said.

“As a result of the storm closures our visitor numbers for the first two months of the year are down on last year by 12 per cent on the same period in 2013. However, the month of March has started strongly and our advance bookings for the remainder of this month and for the season ahead are ahead of last years levels.”

Ennis hotelier Brian O’Neil yesterday urged Clare businesses to take advantage of the tourism trends and put Clare back on the Irish and inter- national map. He cites the introduction of a regular and inexpensive bus connections between Dublin and Ennis by Dublin Coaches a game changer for the local tourism market.

“There is a sea-change coming for tourism in Ennis and in Clare. The problem for tourism over the last few years has been the day tours coming out of Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher and other venues and spending very little in Clare,” he said.

“They [Dublin Coaches/Quick Tours] are going to make Ennis their mid-west hub. So people can stay in Ennis for a number of days and take day trips to the Ring of Kerry.

THE Clare tourism industry is primed for a bonanza in 2014, with tourist numbers visiting the county projected to grow by more than 10 per cent on last year.

A number of new initiatives – such as increased flights through Shannon Airport, the establishment of a low cost bus service to Dublin and the reopening of the the Spa Wells in Lisdoonvarna – are set to bring tourist numbers to record highs over the next ten months.

This predicted increase comes on the back of a double digit growth in tourism numbers coming to Clare last year – an increase that was driv