Category: News

A CLARE county councillor has claimed this week that the county is safe from any extension from Limerick City.

Councillor Cathal Crowe said that following a brief meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche and the Taoiseach last week he got a strong indication that Limerick City’s proposed extension into Clare will not get the go ahead.

Instead Clare’s youngest councillor believes that Limerick County Council could provide adequate lands in their administrative area to the City Council.

This would not upset anybody’s THE work of members of Clare Civil mediate First Aid Course in 2005. defence was recognised at a ceremoMedals were presented to the memny at the Civil Defence Headquarbers of Clare Civil Defence who won ters, Clonroadmore Business Park, a record three in a row Munster Fire Ennis. The presentations were made Pump Drill Competitions from 2002by Ger Dollard, Director of Services 2004; the team who finished second with Clare County Council. Certifiat the National Finals and the Ladies cates were awarded to members who team who took top spot Munster and completed the Civil Defence Radio National Fire Pump Drill CompetiCourse in 2005/2006 and the Intertions in 2005. sense of county identity he claimed.

“Limerick City councillors need to understand that I am fully prepared to work with them on issues that affect the general mid-west area but I am not prepared to give a single inch of my native County Clare,” said the Fianna Fáil councillor.

“I think the Limerick City Council proposal for a boundary extension makes a farce of the Government’s National Spatial Strategy. The City Council’s proposal states that Limerick City is the urban hub of the MidWest Region. The proposal clearly negates the fact that Government policy has designated Limerick and Shannon as the ‘gateway’ to the MidWest Region.”

Showing Minister Roche a map of the south east Clare area the councillor outlined the various ways in which a boundary extension would negatively impact on local communities.

“I told the Minister that Clare County Council is currently providing a good service to my constituents. A commitment has already been given by Clare County Council to provide a full time Council area office and library facility in the Parteen/Westbury area. The Council has also adopted it’s Annual Roadwork’s Programme this week which provides €1,722,000 for local road surfacing and repairs in south east Clare,” he said.

SHANNON Development has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, John O’Donoghue TD, of up to €1 million to drive new strategic tourism marketing initiatives for Ireland’s Western Regions.

The Shannon region is one of the most important in tourism terms among those getting the new funding and will be benefiting along with Ireland West, and Ireland North West.

The overall Western Regions fund of up to €1.5 million for 2006 will be jointly funded by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, the regional tourism authorities and their industry partners.

Welcoming the announcement, John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Development said, “This fund will allow us to undertake a range of tourism initiatives during the coming year. We will again be teaming up with Ireland West Tourism and North West Tourism to promote the West of Ireland as a holiday destination during 2006.

“Up to €1.5 million will be spent on promotion and related activities in the UK, US and key European markets, with the objective of enticing more visitors to holiday in the West,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of the Super Regions Tourism Marketing Initiative, the Minister said that the value of cross-region co-operation spoke for itself, “both in regard to economies of scale and increased market penetration.

Shannon, Ireland West and the North West Region could be said to have ‘pioneered’ this concept last year, when they came together to undertake a Special Strategic Marketing Initiative.

“The exposure and impact achieved by these three regions through pooling their funds and other resources, far exceeded the sum of what they could have achieved individually.”

THERE is “no evidence” to support claims made in files handed to the gardaí and the DPP that prisoners bound for torture are being transported through Shannon airport, Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

But it has also emerged that under Irish law, Gardaí cannot search any foreign planes that have been given permission to land on Irish soil because the planes have immunity.

Sinn Fein justice spokesperson, Aengus Ó Snodaigh has handed what is described as a “book of evidence’ to gardaí concerning the alleged use of Shannon for rendition flights.

Two previous files which had been passed on to DPP showed that there “is a lack of sufficient evidence. The complaints related to a regurgitation of media reports,” the Minister told the Dail.

But according to gardaí, the Government would have to request the US to waive the immunity of flights landing at Shannon to allow gardaí search the flights. The US have not had any such request.

The only other way for Gardaí to get on board the planes, a spokesman said, would be with a search warrant issued on suspicion of a crime being committed.

Meanwhile an attempt to get an emergency debate in the Seanad on a combined Opposition motion to establish a select committee to investigate the rendition claims has failed by 28 votes to 18.

The motion, in the names of 25 members of the house, called for the establishment of a committee to consider the mechanisms whereby the State or its agencies could investigate, on foot of allegations or otherwise, whether persons were being transported, via aircraft landing at Irish airports, to locations where they risked torture or inhuman or degrading treatement and the extent to which such mechanisms had been invoked in the last four years.

And Fianna Fáil MEP, Eoin Ryan, who sits on the EU committee due to question European politicians on rendition flights said it is unlikely that Irish politicians will be quizzed.

It had been thought that the Ministers for Justice, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Transport would face questions fromt he committee, but MEP Ryan said that similar invitations would then have to be extended to most of their European counterparts and this would not be feasible.

A MEETING is being held in Killaloe tonight to allow residents objecting to the chosen route for the new bridge to explain their concerns.

The decision on where to site the new bridge was announced several weeks ago and since then, a large number of concerns have been raised by local people.

“We have written to everyone who will be directly affected within the impact area of this choice of route to ask them to come to the meeting,” said Ballina resident, John Young.

Young’s house is directly opposite the starting point for the bridge, on the Ballina side, at Roulagh Cross.

“If you think about the amount of heavy traffic which is going to now be coming through Killaloe, it’s not an exaggeration to say that we could be looking at the destruction of 1,000 years of history.”

He stressed that those objecting were “not objecting to a bridge being built – we are very pro having a new bridge. But the location is the wrong one.”

The objectors believe that no consideration has been given to the rate at which the town is expanding and to the amount of extra traffic that the bridge will generate.

The meeting is being held at 7.30pm at Tara’s Bar in Ballina and all are welcome.

SEVEN arts venues throughout the country have joined together to form a new organisation, entitled Nasc, in an effort to support and develop touring Irish theatre.

Nasc (meaning link or knot) was an idea first mooted by Katie Verling, Director of Glór Irish Music Centre in Ennis. It has received a considerable vote of confidence with news that each venue is to receive €16,000 additional funding from the Arts Council.

The collective is made up of the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, Pavillion in Dun Laoghaire, Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise, Backstage Theatre in Longford, An Grianán in Letterkenny, Siamsa Tíre in Tralee and Glór Irish Music Centre in Ennis.

The group first met last September to discuss the absence of a touring initiative in the Arts Council’s strategy and the difficulties for touring theatre companies in Ireland.

“In Glór we were finding it difficult to receive quality, audience driven theatre, so we talked to other venues experiencing similar problems,” said Verling.

“We decided to make a joint application to the Arts Council because we knew they had recently commissioned a report on touring.

Our hope is to get audience-driven theatre of a very high quality, which will attract audiences in all our areas, so that we know every year in a Nasc tour that we will be getting a particular type of show that will suit the seven of us.”

They are currently in negotiations with a number of Irish theatre companies. Anyone wishing to contact Nasc should do so through Katie Verling, at Glór Irish Music Centre, Ennis, or email kverling@glor.ie.

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to the hard work and dedication of the students and staff of Clare Youth Services, at the organisation’s certification ceremony.

Close to 300 people attended the event, where over 100 students received National Certificates from a range of educational and training bodies including FETAC, Clare VEC, FÁS and Fáilte Ireland. It is the first time in over three years that the ceremony has taken place. Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen TD, presented the certificates at the event, which took place in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis.

Through the provision of courses in vocational and educational training, Clare Youth Services aims to give students a chance to attain Junior and Leaving Certificate qualifications away from a mainstream educational setting.

It encourages young people and adults alike to sample different technical areas and to develop personal and learning skills in mathematics, information technology and communication through the nationally-recognised FETAC scheme.

Monday’s ceremony formally recognised the achievements of the students and also the committed efforts of the service’s many co-ordinators, instructors and volunteers.

Mr Killeen acknowledged the achievements of all the recipients and stated that programmes such as FETAC provided an essential service for those alienated by mainstream education.

“If anyone has had negative experience of the formal education system, I would hope that the courses that you have taken under the auspices of Clare Youth Services have given you a different view,” said Mr Killeen.

“We need to have a flexibility in work and educational programmes which is something that has become enormously important in Ireland,” he added.

Dr Sean Conlan, Adult Education Organiser with Clare VEC, said that the principle of lifelong learning must be one taught from an early age and added that, “Today should be another step on the lifelong learning journey”.

THE most senior member of the Health Service Executive has admitted the health services in Clare and across the mid-west are under developed.

For years, lobby and protest groups across the county have been outlining the sheer lack of sufficient services and treatments for seriously ill patients, as well as outlying the neglect felt by the people of the Banner county.

This week, the health service finally put its hands up, when the CEO of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, told the first meeting of the Regional Health Forum West that patients from Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary were travelling to Dublin for treatment because services in the area were under developed.

“Having no neurologist in Limerick is a classical example of how we under

ten motivated internal criticism rather developed the mid-west. It should be

than what was best for the patients. sorted out,” he said.

“Do you want to go to Dublin, or de-

cism no doubt and you will do too, I velop services in the mid-west?”

suspect, for engaging in the process,” Telling the councillors representing

he told the new members of the health nine counties along the western sea-

forum. board that the HSE wanted input from the grass routes level, he said the new

HSE are councillors Pat Daly (FF), health service should be about what

Bill Chambers (FF), Joe Cooney (FG) was best for the patients.

He warned that industrial issues of“We are going to suffer a lot of critiClare’s four representatives on the and Brian Meaney (GP).

First to address the historic meeting from Clare was Councillor Pat Daly who said little had been invested in Ennis General since the 1940s. He asked when the €20 million development at the hospital was likely to begin.

Councillor Joe Cooney asked if funding was in place for a CAT Scan unit at the hospital and highlighted the ongoing concern about the ambulance service in Scariff.

Ambulances, according to Professor Drumm, would be one of the first areas that the HSE would concentrate on.

Councillor Brian Meaney told the professor “We feel you are a good guy despite what is being said in Clare. I know you are not about taking our hospital.”

He told the HSE chief that it was felt that resistance was necessary in Clare, as it was successful in saving the hospital on previous occasions.

“I would appeal to you to afford the hospital development committee a meeting with you at a time and location of your suiting,” he added handing him a copy of the eight questions the committee had previously nailed to the door of the HSE.

Professor Drumm also told the meeting it would be impossible to meet everyone in the system over every issue.

“CAN we provide a service that is up to the highest standard as closely and conveniently as possible? Rather than saying we can close up, lets see first what we can build up.”

The words of Professor Brendan Drumm in response to a query about whether he was going to implement the Hanly Report on health services and the effect that would have on hospitals in Ennis, Nenagh and Limerick.

The question, on the lips of everyone concerned about the future of services at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital Ennis, was not posed, however, by Clare County Council’s four representatives at the first Regional Health Forum, West.

It came instead came from North Tipperary County Councillor Dr Joe Hennessy (FF) who said, “All reforms will be bought into if they (the public) have A and E service within reasonable time.”

Prof Drumm told the meeting that he was not sure Hanly was the issue.

He did say, however, that like the doctors’ after hours service, he suspected that hospital services would not remain the same.

“Expanding the A and E will not solve the problem,” he warned the assembled councillors.

“We can build bigger and bigger A and Es and I will guarantee you we will be back in this room with the same problem again in five years time.”

People waiting for diagnoses or tests, he said, took up many of the beds in hospitals.

Therefore, Professor Drumm argued, hospital services and consultants’ hours should not stop at 6 pm.

“There is no reason why Galway (hospital) are not doing ultra sounds tonight,” he said.

“60 per cent of work comes in between six in the evening and nine in the morning, when there are no consultants.”

He also outlined the processing problems where people were referred to hospital by their GP, going through A and E. This resulted in people on trolleys for up to a minimum of three to four hours alone, Prof Drumm argued.

Instead, he said, more responsibility should be given to what he described as the “most skilled clinicians – GPs”

“What we have to do is build up primary care.”

He also pointed to the Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom as a very effectively run hospital, catering for one form of treatment.

“It does not get blocked up during the night dealing with other issues,” he said.

THE failure by the Department of the Environment to provide the infrastructure to allow for the growth of Clare’s towns and villages is the biggest disappointment of outgoing Clare senior executive planner, Graham Webb’s time in Clare.

During his five years in Clare, Mr Webb was the architect of Clare’s various County Development Plans that envisaged the Department providing the infrastructure for Clare’s towns and villages to prosper.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Webb said, “All the settlements are zoned which means we should be able to start making the arguments to have the infrastructure put in place to support growth in those settlements.

“Unfortunately, the council has been let down by the Department and the funding hasn’t come forward. That is the biggest disappointment. The failure of the Department to recognise that Clare has a particular problem due to its rural location and that it can’t meet the same numbers and figures per capita in relation to costing that you get on the outskirts of Dublin.

“The whole policy structure from central Government is to build up settlements, to show that you have a critical mass of people in those settlements and we will give you the infrastructure to support that.

“You are not going to get people to move into settlements where there is no basic infrastructure and try as we may as planners to encourage people to do that, if they have got the money and the wherewithal to live outside those settlements, they will do.

“That is the rule of thumb they tend to use, so we are always on a back-foot trying to put forward the case.

“If you can’t get the population back up, you can’t get the funding to put the infrastructure in, so you will have shops and schools closing down, because you don’t have the population to support those services.”

Mr Webb was also involved in the development of a tourism initiative, Clare Live the Life. He believes it has “huge potential and it could lead to re-branding of tourism in Clare, because at present, tourism is a bit lost in Clare. It is a bit unclear who and how it is going to be promoted”.

Mr Webb said he was “hugely sorry to be leaving Clare at all. I don’t tend to stay long in a job because I find that you peak and you’re delivery falls away.”

Early indications that Ennis General Hospital is finally receiving its long awaited CAT scan emerged this week.

The life-saving diagnostic instrument for the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis has finally made it on to a Health Service Executive financial projection for this year.

A document seen by The Clare People relating to the executive’s capital plan for 2006 and currently awaiting approval by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, includes the provision of the CAT scanning services for Ennis.

On the capital plan’s approval by the Tánaiste, notification will be given to the network managers regarding the progression of the project.

Once in place, the unit will mean that 850 Clare people will no longer have to travel to Limerick every year for the service.

While the community has already provided funding to purchase the machine, the health services estimate that the running costs of the service will total one million euro per annum.

A radiologist and a number of radiographers, as well as nursing and administer staff will be required to run the service successfully.

It is believed that the scanning service will be located close to the mammography unit.

Consultants in the hospital have sought the CAT unit for more than two years.

Senator Brendan Daly said that the CAT scan is a “vote of confidence and security for the hospital.

“This will dispel any fears that the HSE is not going to up grade the hospital,” the West Clare Senator said.

“It demonstrates the commitment of the HSE to Ennis and the protection of the Accident and Emergency Services.”

The 18 extra beds promised in the third phase of the hospital plans are now likely to be brought forward to the first phase to accommodate the new service, he said.

A CAT scan or CT (computed tomography) uses special x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles around the body.

CT imaging is a particularly useful diagnostic tool for displaying with great clarity, several types of tissuelung, bone, soft tissue and blood vessels.

With this specialised equipment, radiologists can more easily diagnose problems such as cancers, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, trauma and musculoskeletal disorders.

The equipment is also vital for making quick diagnosis of internal bleeding in the case of accidents or other emergencies.