Category: News

EUROPEAN tourists will not replace the expected loss of American visitors to Clare with the ending of the stopover, because they spend far less when they come here, new figures show.

American visitors spend an average of four times as much as European visitors when they visit Clare, according to the Tourism Ireland statistics.

Their research also shows that the Shannon region is bottom of the tourism league table, with visitors here spending an average of just €261 per visit. The sums are “a real cause for concern,” according to the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

The new figures show that the spend in the Shannon region is down on every other part of the country, with overseas visitors spending €413 per average stay in the South West region and €368 and €334 in the Western and North Western regions respectively.

“There is a perception that European visitors will make up for any loss of trade from the US once the end of the stopover bites, but that’s not the case,” said Ennis Chamber CEO, Rita McInerney.

“It’s a fact that US visitors who come here stay longer and spend more in the region, particularly if they have roots here,” said Ms McInerney.

“These figures are a cause for concern and they show it is vitally important that we band together to market the region in the US.”

Ms McInerney pointed to research which showed that the top tourist destinations for US visitors were Bunratty, the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and Killarney.

“Given their destinations, it makes sense that US visitors fly into Shannon instead of Dublin,” said Ms McInerney

“The problem is that in terms of distance, US visitors see Clare as being just down the road from Shannon. But with the infrastructure we have here, they don’t realise that they will lose six hours or more travelling from Dublin. We need to be very strong in marketing the advantages of flying into Shannon. The way in which Ireland is being sold abroad is detrimental to us,” Ms McInerney added.

THE Ennis General Hospital Development Committee has expressed disappointment that the head of the Health Service Executive did not meet with him, when he visited Ennis last Friday.

The committee has failed to secure a meeting with Professor Brendan Drumm, despite numerous requests.

A committee spokesman said yesterday, “It is very disappointing. We have asked to meet with Prof Drumm ad nauseam and all approaches have been rejected. He could have granted us an audience while he was in Ennis.”

The HSE Chief was in the mid west on Thursday and Friday and visited acute and non-acute facilities in counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. His arrival in Ennis was expected, but not publicised, for fear of protests by hospital groups. The HSE in the mid west also refused to disclose details of Prof Drumm’s visit.

Prof Drumm spent several hours in Ennis, including more than an hour and a half with management, consultants and staff at Ennis General Hospital. The health chief also visited St Joseph’s geriatric hospital and the Dulick Enterprise Centre on the Gort Road.

The Ennis General Hospital Development Committee spokesman said, “There is a democratic deficit within the HSE at the moment. In the past, councillors could ask questions as members of the health board. We do have apparent commitments from the Taoiseach and Táiniste with regard to the future of our hospital, however we have no such commitment from Prof Drumm. Until we have a commitment, we can only hope for the best but expect the worst.”

The General Manager of the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Ennis, Mr John Doyle, said after the visit, “We are delighted that Prof Drumm had a chance to visit Ennis General Hospital on what was more a fact-finding mission than anything else. He met staff and asked us about our concerns and issues and about ways to improve patient care from our perspective.”

Mr Doyle added that he and the staff at Ennis are looking forward to working with the HSE Chief in the future.

In a letter handed to the Taoiseach when he visited Ennis on Saturday, Ennis General Hospital Development Committee Chairman Mr Peadar McNamara said, “We understand that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste are committed to 24 hour Accident and Emergency services in Ennis however . . . We feel that Prof Drumm’s lack of response casts doubt on commitments made by the Government.”

A CONVICTION imposed on a 54-year-old man for assaulting a bouncer has been overturned, after the judge heard he plans to emigrate to the US.

Michael Singleton, with addresses at Westfields, Ennis and Corofin, was convicted of assaulting Kevin Cooper (43), of Loughville, Ennis, on October 23, 2004 and was jailed for three months.

Garda Francis Corey told Ennis Circuit Court last week that Mr Singleton threw a glass at Mr Cooper, in Woody’s pub on Chapel Lane, Ennis.

Defending solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said there had been very bad blood between her client and Mr Cooper for the past 10 years.

She said her client hit Mr Cooper out of self defence.

“For my client’s own health and for Mr Cooper, it would be advisable if there could be distance between them,” said Ms Godfrey.

The judge asked Garda Corey whether there was a long history between the two men and he replied, “I would say so. Both parties, when taken apart, are okay to deal with, but when together it seems like it’s a red rag to a bull.”

Mr Singleton told Judge Carroll Moran that if granted a green card, he would go to stay with his daughter in the US. The judge noted that Mr Singleton had only one previous conviction at this stage of his life.

“He wants to travel to the US. I think I’ll give him the benefit of the Probation Act.”

PROFESSOR Brendan Drumm will attend the first ever meeting of the Regional Health Forum, West.

The Ennis General Hospital Development Committee has been seeking a meeting to discuss the future of Accident and Emergency at the hospital, since the HSE chief was appointment.

Four members of Clare County Council will now come face to face with the elusive Prof Drumm at the first forum meeting on Tuesday next, February 21 in Galway.

Two former members of the now disbanded Mid Western Health Board were appointed to the new forum, last January. Ex-health board members, Fianna Fáil Councillors Pat Daly and Bill Chambers, were nominated by their party peers, while Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney was appointed with the support of the independents and Labour’s Pascal Fitzgerald.

Fine Gael proposed the final Clare member, Cllr Joe Cooney. Clare County Council will make up 10 per cent of the Western health forum, which spans counties from Donegal to North Tipperary and Limerick and is one of four in the country.

The aim of the forum is to allow councillors make representations to the HSE on the range and operation of health and personal social services in their area. The HSE is required to arrange the first meeting of the forum and provide ongoing administrative support.

ENNIS should not “be a lunch stop on an IDA itinerary” between Galway and Limerick, business leaders in the Clare capital have said.

The comment came as the Industrial Development Authority as criticised for its failure to get investment for the regions.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce expressed concern that Clare’s exclusion from the BMW region “means we have lost out as a result.”

CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Theresa McInerney: “Ennis is often overlooked because we are located so close to Galway and Limerick. What we don’t want is to see Ennis as a lunch stop on an IDA itinerary. We are serious contenders for business investment and we need to work with the IDA to that end.”

Ms McInerney said that while it is “all very well to criticise the IDA, we need to sell ourselves to them. We need to work with the IDA to portray the attractiveness of the region.”

She said it is important to show all the advantages which Clare has to offer including a young and well educated population, the location of top universities, proximity to an international airport, access to broadband and major improvements to infrastructure in the region.

Members of the Joint Oireacthas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business demanded explanations from IDA boss, Sean Dorgan, why areas such as Clare, East Galway and Kerry had done so badly in recent years.

Mr Dorgan and other executives were before the committee to discuss the IDA’s 2004 annual report, last week.

The IDA boss told the committee members that there had been a dramatic change in the nature of inward investment.

Investors require “large population bases with a strong urban centre,” to create a clustering effect. Industry will go where there are staff and the back-up required to run the business.

Senator Fergal Browne (FG) said IDA facilities were not attracting any investment and questioned the body’s commitment to regional development.

Mr Dorgan said there were 28 business and technology parks of a world class standard nationwide.

Senator Mary White (FF) was ruled out of order when she asked if the use of Shannon by the US military was damaging Ireland’s reputation internationally.

A CLARE Garda, currently serving the longest suspension from the force, faces being rendered homeless.

Garda Ciarán Sheehan this week lashed out at the planning process, after An Bord Pleanala upheld a decision of Clare County Council to refuse him planning permission to build a house near the east Clare village of Ogonnelloe, because the board considered Garda Sheehan to be ‘non-local’ to the area.

Over the past 13 years, Garda Sheehan has lived at Scariff Garda Station, paying rent to the Minister for Justice.

Garda Sheehan’s agent told the appeals board that, “Garda Sheehan will be due to retire from the Garda shortly and will be then homeless” if planning permission wasn’t granted.

However, the appeals board refused planning permission due to the “locals only” rule, stating that the proposed house would set an unwelcome precedent for similar development in an area identified as being under pressure from urban generated housing.

Garda Sheehan said: “It is very sad that someone who has lived in the county for the past 14 years is not considered a local. I am very disappointed that I could have nowhere to live, in spite of owning 12 acres of land at Ogonnelloe and every Tom, Dick and Harry is getting planning around you.

“If I have no job tomorrow, I will have no house to live in, as the job is attached to the house. I won’t be allowed live there if I lose the job. I don’t know what I’ll do. Go on the housing list, or live in a tent, or a caravan.

“I have done everything I can to get planning permission, but I have been knocked back at every opportunity.”

Asked what housing options he now had, Garda Sheehan said: “I have no options. Go on the housing list, or leave Clare, or go some place where I was appreciated. All I want is to be treated the same as everyone else.”

The Garda cited the example of a foreign national securing planning permission in close proximity to him.

He said: “I am all in favour of foreign people working and living in Clare, but there must be fairness applied across the system for everyone.

Currently, Garda Sheehan has appealed to the Supreme Court, a High Court ruling upholding a decision by the Garda Complaints Tribunal requiring him to resign from the force in 1998 A final ruling may not be made until 2008, it emerged this week.

Solicitor for Garda Sheehan, Michael Hegarty, confirmed to The Clare People that the waiting period for appeals to go to the Supreme Court was up to 14 months.

Garda Sheehan’s counsel argued in the High Court that the tribunal held was “tainted with illegality” and had no jurisdiction to act as it had.

Mr Hegarty said that as Garda Sheehan was a member of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, limited funding towards was provided, but the balance would rest with the individual taking the case. He confirmed that the costs of the High Court case were awarded to the Garda Complaints Tribunal.

A NORTH Clare man who glassed another man in the face has been warned he will face 12 months behind bars if he gets into trouble over the next two years.

Before Ennis Circuit Court was Michael Neylon (36), with addresses at Parliament Street, Ennistymon and Ardnaculla, Ennistymon, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in his 40s from north Clare, thereby causing him harm, at Cagney’s pub, Parliament Street, Ennistymon, on March 17, 2005.

Garda Louise Casey told Ennis Circuit Court that the injured party went to Ennistymon Garda Station on March 19, and said he had been assaulted by the accused two days earlier.

She said the injured party suffered facial injuries, but did not have any lasting marks on him as a result of the assault and pointed out that the accused fully co-operated with gardaí.

She said the accused, a single man who lived with his mother, had a “chronic” alcohol problem. She said, “I think this was a wake-up call for him.”

She said the accused was hospitalised three days after the offence, having taken an overdose.

Defending barrister, Lorcan Connolly, said his client had not drank for almost a year prior to St Patrick’s Day last year and he broke out on that day.

He accepted that the photographs in court of the accused’s injuries were “particularly distasteful” but said there were no long-term effects for the injured party.

Judge Carroll Moran said the photographs of the injured party were “unsightly.”

“The complainant told gardaí he was hit with a glass. He [Neylon] could have done serious damage. There is no belittling the seriousness of this matter,” he said.

The judge said he was taking into account the guilty plea. Commending the Garda evidence the judge said, “Gadra Louise Casey has been extremely fair to you. I hope you appreciate that she has effectively spoken up for you.”

He imposed a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years and bound the accused to the peace for two years. He warned, “I intend to impose 12 months if he does get into trouble.”

AN Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for a hotel in Lahinch after concern was expressed that the proposal would lead to an escalation of the unsocial behaviour that has been on the increase in the area in recent times.

Last August, Clare County Council granted planning permission to William Stackpoole, to demolish an existing cottage on Lahinch’s Main Street and replace it with a 16 bedroom hotel, including a bar and restaurant.

However, the plan was put on hold after Donal and Pat Kenny of Kenny’s Woollen Mills appealed the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanala, stating that in the adjacent access lane to the proposed hotel, there were problems of unsocial behaviour following discos.

The appeal stated: “They fear that the provision of this additional covered area and further closing in the laneway between the two buildings, will provide an additional shelter for people to congregate following discos and result in an escalation of the unsocial behaviour, which has been on the increase in this area in recent times.”

The Kennys expressed concern that the building, as proposed, was a four storey structure and its scale and massing was out of character with the remainder of the buildings on the streetscape. They also claimed that the proposed development would result in a loss of privacy.

An Bord Pleanala’s inspector in the case found that the proposal would seriously injure the amenities of, and devalue, property in the vicinity by reason of overlooking neighbouring property to the north. The Inspector also recommended that planning be refused because of excessive site coverage. It was considered the proposal would constitute an overdevelopment of a restricted urban site and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The board upheld the recommendation.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has said he is satisfied that none of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay came through Shannon Airport on rendition flights.

His remarks came as senators of his party blocked moves to have a Seanad inquiry into claims that the US was using Shannon Airport for the illegal transport of prisoners.

Speaking to reporters at the Ógra Fianna Fáil conference in Ennis at the weekend, the Taoiseach said that he has been told categorically that “nobody in Guantanamo Bay came through Shannon.”

And he added that the Irish position had “always been that people in Guantanamo Bay should be given their full human rights.”

A provisional committee had been set up in the Seanad under the Cathaoirleach, Fianna Fail’s Mary O’Rourke, to investigate allegations concerning prisoners being transported for torture.

But when it came to moving a resolution which would see the committee get acceptance from the full Seanad, Fianna Fáil senators objected at their weekly meeting. This led to Senator O’Rourke to drop the proposal.

Senator David Norris (Ind) said that the people “are entitled to know why it (the committee of inquiry) has been shut down, especially in view of the performance of this grey little Government that seems so intimidated by the United States authorities.”

In a media interview this week, Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley, said that Clare Fianna Fáil councillors were also opposed to any new inquiry.

“A group of Fianna Fáil councillors met and decided that they were not in favour of the establishment of this committee. That was in line with the TDs’ and Senators’ thinking. There are already two committees investigating these accusations and I don’t see how a third investigation would unearth any further facts.”

Senator Dooley added that for Ireland to give approval to the Seanad committee “would be seen at this time as a hostile act.”

Earlier in the week, an angry Senator Norris rubbished claims that jobs would be lost and US companies would pull out of Clare if any inquiry was set up into the US chartered flights.

“US companies are concerned with profits. They are not influenced by transient political issues. We will not lose jobs,” he said.

He added that he personally had “very warm feelings for the US people, but not for this criminal administration.”

The Government has shortly to answer questions about the flights through Shannon from both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

CLARE County Council’s planners are currently running on empty and are constantly hassled by councillors who sit at their desks questioning them night and day.

That is the personal view of Senior Executive Planner, Graham Webb, who indicated that council management needed to re-evaluate the time given over to councillors by planners.

Leaving the council this week after more than five years service with the local authority, Mr Webb said that the council’s Planning Department “is totally under-resourced.”

“A lot of the issues that arose recently on the quality of service from the Planning Department is because the planners are running on empty.

“They’re effectively trying just to live with the basics of dealing with the planning applications on time. Any added service that they can offer is effectively coming out of their own pockets, so to speak.

“That is a situation where you are going to have a high turnover of planners, because it is far more attractive to work in a well-resourced planning authority or planning consultancy.”

Mr Webb said that currently the council had 18 planners with 15 working in development control and three in forward planning.

“At any one time, allowing for leave, you have 10 planners and there are more demands through changes in procedures. Unfortunately, they are not left alone to get on with it.

“They are constantly hassled by councillors who sit at their desks and question them night and day about this, that and the other, so most of them don’t start work until 5pm each evening when the door shuts and it is then that they can get their head down and they need to work through to 7pm and 8pm just to get the work done.”

Planners don’t get paid overtime. Mr Webb said that the reforms under better local government were “seen as the solution to everything, but in fact it was only the baseline to address the issues.

“I wouldn’t point the finger necessarily at management but there is a lack of awareness at management at what they are expecting of planning staff and we try to drive it home at every opportunity.

“But the willingness to allow access to planners by members, a willingness to give members just what they want in terms of their own particular projects they have running at the time – it is all placing demands on the same planners, time and time again.”