Category: News

THE overwhelming support from GAA club officers around the county for a move away from Cusack Park has sparked this week’s overture to the Clare County Board by some of Ireland’s leading property investors.

Club support for selling Cusack Park and developing state-of-the-art stadium facilities in the environs of Ennis was the main finding of a Clare People survey undertaken for the January 17 edition of the paper.

The survey results represented a ringing endorsement of a county board campaign to sell Cusack Park, which was effectively launched at the annual GAA Convention on December 11 last. It was there that board chairman Michael McDonagh announced that because of traffic congestion in the town centre “we might have to develop a new stadium”.

Since The Clare People broke this story in its December 13 issue, the Cusack Park question has become the burning issue within Clare GAA.

This issue was moved on to a higher level when The Clare People survey showed that 78 per cent of respondents backed the county board’s plan to sell Cusack Park to the highest bidder in return for the building of a stadium with proper carparking and road access infrastructure that was capable of hosting Munster championship matches.

That’s what has been laid on the table by a consortium that includes Ennis businessmen Noel Connellan and Sean Lyne and Lisdoonvarna-born builder Bernard McNamara.

They have promised to build a 42,000 seater stadium on the Quin Road together with 800 parking spaces on site in return for Cusack Park.

This bid has been tabled with the county board only two weeks after The Clare People survey revealed a massive mood for change within GAA officials at club level.

Forty-two club officials questioned by The Clare People said that Clare GAA should leave Cusack Park. Only nine officials were in the vanguard of a campaign to retain the existing Cusack Park as the county GAA grounds and redeveloping it into the future.

However, among the objectors were the chairmen of Éire Óg and Clarecastle. Éire Óg chairman Ollie Hanrahan said “any proposal to sell Cusack Park is an absolute disgrace”, while Clarecastle’s Paschal Russell called Cusack Park “the soul of Clare hurling, we can’t forget that tradition”.

They were backed by former board vice-chairman Michael Lee sho described Cusack Park as “the jewel in Clare’s crown” that should be redeveloped on the back of planning permission secured by the county board in December 2003.

SIX workers, suspended earlier this week for playing rugby on a ramp close to moving aircraft at Shannon Airport, have been formally dismissed by their employers following an investigation of the incident.

The six, all of whom worked for international ground handling agent Servisair, were sacked last Thursday, four days after they were originally suspended for their parts in the incident, which occurred after a rugby ball fell from baggage as it was been loaded onto the aircraft.

A seventh employee, who was inside the cargo hold of the plane at the time, was not involved in the incident.

The ramp staff were observed by the captain of a Ryanair flight that had just landed at Shannon.

The aircraft was taxiing past at the time and the matter was immediately reported by the pilot to air traffic controllers.

An airport source said that another taxiing aircraft had to brake suddenly after the ball “came within 50 yards of the plane.”

It had been feared that the ball could have been sucked into an engine.

It is understood that the incident was also captured on airport CCTV cameras.

All six men had their security clearances revoked and were suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation by the company. That investigation is understood to have been completed on Wednesday evening and the workers were notified of the company’s decision to terminate their employment on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred the day after Munster beat Sale Sharks at Thomond Park to qualify for a home quarter-final in the Heineken European Cup.

A spokesperson for Servisair stated that, “the incident took place in an exposed area near aircraft. The captain of an aircraft saw this and expressed concern about it. It is a serious health and safety issue and we are taking it very seriously. We have to be 100 per cent sure of the safety of travelling passengers.”

A spokesman for the Shannon Airport Authority said, “this is an internal disciplinary matter for the handling company, but we will be interested in the outcome of their investigation insofar as it concerns ramp safety.”

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has imposed additional environmental controls on east Clare company, Finsa Forest Products.

They are contained in a new draft license to the company, which halves the permitted level of emissions into the atmosphere of the suspected carcinogen, formaldehyde.

The level of Sulphur Dioxide emissions from the timber plant has also been drastically reduced.

However, the EPA has acceded to a company request not to require a reduction of emission levels until January of next year.

The license also tightens the level of particulates or polluting material from processing Finsa products that is emitted to atmosphere. Numerous health studies have linked particulate pollution to reductions in lung function.

The review of the current license was requested by the company, as it was not able to meet EPA deadlines in reducing emissions due to the financial costs involved.

Last year, the EPA uncovered a series of environmental breaches at Finsa Forest Products, where 150 people are employed, as a result of two audits of the facility.

The most recent occurred last month where the EPA uncovered seven breaches of the company’s Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence.

The EPA found that five of the seven breaches relate to the same areas as detected in the EPA’s previous audit in the Autumn.

The EPA inspector’s report states that notification of non-compliances (NONCs) with its license were issued to the company in relation to audits undertaken in 1998, ’99, ’02, ’03, ‘04 and again in 2005.

“Finsa Forest Products Limited was convicted on 9 counts under the EPA Act 1992 in November 2003. Five counts relate to specified emissions of particulates to atmosphere.

“The company failed to keep full waste records, failed to notify the Agency of an exceedance in emission, failed to ensure that monitoring and analyses equipment was operating correctly and caused an emission to water which was not a specified emission. Excepting particulate emissions, corrective actions have been put in place for the other matters.”

“There continues to be a number of issues on-site . . . Seven odour complaints from four individuals have been received by the Agency since 2003.

“However, the poor compliance record as detailed above indicates a lack of technical knowledge to carry on the activity in accordance with their licence.

Finsa and third parties have until mid-February to object to any parts of the draft licence before the EPA issue a final license later this year.

THE Arts Council this week eased the financial burden on Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council by subsidising the activities of Glór Irish Music Centre, to the tune of €100,000.

The Arts Council also increased funding to the Willie Clancy Summer School by 60 per cent to €80,000, while Clare County Council’s Arts Programme received one of the highest allocations in the country to a local authority at €100,000.

The allocation for Glór for 2006 will be seen as a recognition of the centre’s growing reputation and is more than three times the allocation Glór received last year. In 2004, Glór received €30,000, while in 2003, it received only €6,000.

Accounts for last year are not yet finalised. However, Glór recorded a profit for the first time in 2004 after subsidy, following sustained losses over the previous first two years.

Last Summer, Glór axed its summer traditional Irish music programme aimed at tourists, due to the programme losing money over the previous three years.

Currently, Glór receives an annual subsidy of €317,000 from Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council. The Arts Council funding follows a successful campaign by Glór in 2002 for Government to fund the independent traditional music sector.

The Willie Clancy Summer School were allies of Glór in that debate and the Arts Council has provided the School with €80,000.

Director of the Willie Clancy Summer School, Muiris O’Rochain, told The Clare People , “We’re absolutely delighted with the allocation. It is a recognition of the work we have been doing.”

Mr O’Rochain said that last year, the Summer School received €50,000 and in 2004 €25,000.

He said, “The allocation will be very valuable to us as this year we won’t have the use of the Mill Theatre and will have to provide a marquee. This could cost us an additional €30,000 to €40,000 in expenses.”

A TRADITION in policing in the mid-west is poised to continue well into the future now that Gda Damien Kennedy has followed in his dad’s footsteps, by graduating as a garda last week.

Damien, whose dad Detective Garda Kevin Kennedy has been in the force for the past 34 years, passed out at Templemore on Thursday.

Kevin, who is originally from Killanena, has been based in Ennis for the past 25 years and joined the detective branch in 1993. He has also served in Ennistymon and Quin.

He is renowned in sporting circles in Clare, having won county senior hurling championships with east Clare side, Brian Boru’s, and Éire Óg, Ennis, in the 70s and 80s.

Kevin managed the Clare team which won the Minor All-Ireland hurling title in 1997 and also managed the county’s U21 hurling side.

Damien, like his dad, is wellknown in sporting circles. He was a sub on the Clare senior hurling team that lost to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final in 2002. He is a key player on the St Joseph’s/Doora Barefield senior hurling team. He has lined out for Clare at various levels over the years.

Damien (23), will be stationed at Roxboro Road station in Limerick. He was based there for the final part of his training at Templemore.

Damien is one of four Clare gardaí who passed out last week. The others are David Moloney from Inagh, who is based in Dun Laoghaire; Shane O’Neill, from Ballyea, Ennis, who is stationed in Templemore and Thomas Devereux from Kilrush, who is based in Shankill, Dublin.

Eleven of the 127 gardaí who passed out last week have been allocated to the Clare Garda Division.

Gda Elizabeth McDonagh (Askeaton) is the sole graduate who is stationed in Ennis, while ten others are based in Shannon. They are Gda Stephen Elvins (Kerry); Gda Christopher Lanney (Dublin); Gda Karen Coughlan (Wicklow); Gda Barbara Kelly (Dublin); Gda Joe Duggan (Dublin); Gda David Laing (Limerick); Gda Patrick Clarke (Kildare); Gda Conor McKeown (Dublin); Gda Philip Hayes (Tipperary) and Gda Micheál Mannion (Galway).

The garda who received the Commissioner’s Medal for highest marks in academic subjects — Gda Colm McDonachadha from Leitir Mór in Galway — was based in Ennis for part of his training.

THE Department of Transport has come under fire for refusing to release the vast majority of records relating to Government talks with the US on the phased ending of the “Shannon stopover”.

Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, said yesterday that refusal to release the records raised suspicions about the stance of the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, in his negotiations to end Shannon’s gateway status.

“This is a very important issue that affects the whole of the west of Ireland and the Government should be open and accountable in relation to the decisions that it takes that affect people of this region.”

In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Clare People , the Dept of Transport refused to release 98 of the 129 records held by the Department on the issue.

The Department refused to release 89 of the records through Section 20 and 21 of the Act, as the records were part of the deliberate process and releasing the records could also be contrary to the public interest. The Department also refused to release the records as they would disclose positions taken for the purposes of any negotiations carried out on behalf of the Government.

The Government also refused to release nine records under Section 19 and Section 27 of the Act, the latter due to commercial sensitivity.

The 31 records released are mainly documents already in the public domain and shed no light on the negotiations that went on between the Irish and US sides.

The phased ending of the “stop-over” is due to commence in November of this year, when a transitional phase of a ratio of Dublin/Shannon flights will go from one for one to three for one in favour of Dublin. From November, Irish airlines will have access to three additional US destinations, while cargo services from Shannon will not be subject to any “stop-over” requirements from next November.

The decision to end the “stop-over” has already met with strong opposition in the region with SIGNAL, the Shannon workers lobby leading the chorus of disapproval.

Since striking the deal, Minister Cullen has consistently refused to carry out an economic impact statement into the ending of the stop-over. Already, an independent study has forecast that Shannon’s transatlantic traffic will drop from 700,000 to 400,000 under an “open skies” regime.

AN unprecedented 49 planning application were deemed invalid by Clare County Council during the first week and a half of this year.

Of the 90 applications made to the planning authority, almost 55 per cent were invalid for a total of 109 reasons.

The high number is believed to be due, at least in part, to a new application scanning system within the council.

Acting Director of Services Liam Conneally said that 25 of the applications were not accepted due to mistakes in newspaper advertising, 14 site notices were incorrect, 35 drawings proved troublesome, while there were mistakes with maps in 18 of the applications.

There were further miscellaneous problems with 17 other applications.

Meanwhile, a special meeting of the council on planning heard how pre-planning meetings for every application is not possible, as the local authority do not have the staff required.

Despite being regarded as best practice, Mr Conneally admitted that if he were to give every individual a meeting, he would require twice the staff currently allocated to his department.

County Manager Alex Fleming said he will increase the planning staff to allow the validation and filing of applications be reduced to one day rather than the five days it currently takes.

Horror stories of people being refused for planning permission were recounted throughout the three-hour special meeting.

Cllr Michael Kelly (FF) went as far as saying that, “people are being evicted from their own land through a backdoor system based on planning regulations and guidelines that are impossible to comply with.”

The council argued that planners were not consulting the members. They also claimed that the planners’ interpretation of the development plan was not as intended when passed by the council members. After hours of discussion it was decided that the subject warranted even further discussion at area meeting level before any changes or clarifications be made to the County Development Plan.

CLARE junior Minister Síle de Valera has said she has no intention of resigning her ministerial post, despite political pressure to do so.

The long-serving TD, who announced that she would resign from politics at the next election, said she was encouraged by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to keep her ministerial portfolio until then.

However, just a fortnight ago, Mr Ahern was believed to be coming under pressure from TDs in marginal constituencies to banish the outgoing Clare politicians to the backbenches.

Elements within the party believe a junior minister’s post would benefit areas such as Mayo, Cork South-West and Limerick-West, because, they believe, Clare can return two seats.

A minor shuffle is expected within the junior ranks this week, with Junior Minster Pat “the Cope” Gallagher likely to take the post vacated by the controversial former junior minister, Ivor Callely.

Mr Gallagher’s replacement is expected to come from Dublin North, so side-stepping a need for a major reshuffle. Without a major reshuffle, junior Minister de Valera is likely to see out her political career in her education portfolio.

Meanwhile, a date for the Clare Fianna Fáil convention has yet to be decided.

The Constituency Committee, headed up by Finance Minister Brian Cowan is to begin considering a new date for the local convention in consultation with party officials in the county.

VISITING restrictions have been put in place at two of Clare’s largest hospitals following detection of 19 cases of the winter vomiting bug.

Yesterday, the Health Service Executive Mid West Region confirmed an outbreak of the highly infectious virus in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Ennis.

Fourteen cases were confirmed among patients and five among staff there. A further four suspected cases were reported in Unit 7 of St. Joseph’s community hospital in Ennis. Strict infection precautions have been put in place.

Norovirus, more commonly referred to as the “Winter Vomiting Bug,” is a community infection, with outbreaks in hospitals simply a gauge or reflection of what is happening in the community, according to the Department of Health.

Visiting restrictions have therefore been introduced at the hospital and anyone wishing to visit is requested to check with reception staff, or contact the hospital.

“Attendance at the Accident and Emergency Department should only be if absolutely necessary,” said a HSE spokesperson.

“Out patient, day care services and routine hospital admissions are not affected,” she added.

The public are also requested to co-operate fully with the advice and instruction of staff.

“All the usual infection control measures have been employed and anyone wishing to visit the unit is asked to check first with hospital reception,” warned the HSE.

The bug was detected at the hospital a year ago. According to the National Guidelines on the management of outbreaks of the Norovirus Infection in Healthcare Settings, such outbreaks are not completely preventable, but they are controllable.

There is growing international evidence that thorough hygienic measures can effectively minimise the impact of this virus.

Ireland had 148 outbreaks caused, or suspected as being caused by Norovirus, which produced about 7,500 cases of illness, in 2002.

This compares with 63 outbreaks and just over 1,000 cases of illness in 2003.

“This is fairly typical of what we know about the behaviour of this virus.

“It comes in waves, producing extensive continent-wide outbreaks every four or five years,” said Dr Paul McKeown, Specialist in Public Health Medicine, NDSC and Chairman of the Viral Gastroenteritis Sub-Committee.

GARDAÍ are hunting for a gang who they believe are responsible for a spate of post office robberies in the east Clare/north Tipperary area over the past few months.

A woman in her 40s endured a terrifying ordeal when she was tied up and locked in the bathroom of her home, adjacent to the post office in Whitegate in the early hours of last Wednesday.

Three intruders, wearing balaclavas and carrying a baseball bat, broke into her home and tied her up, at around 3.20am. She remained tied up until another family member arrived on the premises shortly after 8am.

The men fled with what gardaí described as “a very small sum” of cash, after they failed to gain entry to the safe.

An aluminium folding ladder, with the initials “EW” written on black marker, was found at the Whitegate premises, the bottom rung of which was green. Gardai say this did not belong there. They have urged people to check their premises, to see if a ladder is missing.

Inspector Kevin Moynihan said a link between this robbery and post office robberies in Broadford – in which €30,000 was stolen – Kilkishen and various parts of north Tipperary in recent months was been investigated.

“We are certainly actively pursuing that there may have been a link between the Broadford post office robbery in November and this one. There is a possibility that other post office robberies in north Tipperary and Clare were carried out by the same gang,” said Insp Moynihan.

He is advising people to have alarms fitted to their premises and to ensure they are connected to a monitoring station.

“People should look at the possibility of having CCTV cameras installed. These people would case the place a day or two before carrying out a robbery, maybe not buying much, but paying attention to a premises.”

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) said the break-in at Whitegate should prompt An Post to improve security measures at rural post offices..

A spokesperson for An Post would not comment publicly on security matters.

But she said the company would spend €15 million on security across the national post office network this year.