Category: News

TWO Clare primary schools which follow the Steiner method of instruction have moved a step closer to achieving official recognition from the Department of Education and Science.

Raheen Wood School Tuamgraney, Scariff and Mol an Oige, Ennistymon both applied to County Clare VEC to act as patron of the schools so they could progress to stage two of a process that would see them gain official Departmental recognition. To finalise stage two the schools must agree to the curriculum as laid down by the Department. In the case of Mol an Oige recognition would allow them to pursue a permanent site.

The Board of Clare VEC last Thursday accepted a proposal that would see the VEC adopt the role of patron for both schools, provided the Department of Education and Science first grant recognition to both. The Raheen Wood School was established over 20 years ago and transferred to Tuamgraney in 1996. Like Mol an Oige, established in September 2005, it has followed the Steiner method of instruction.

The proposal was put forward by Cllr Peter Considine (FF) who said that stage two should go ahead on the basis that it imposed no financial impact on Clare VEC. He was supported by Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) who added that the Steiner system was a very advanced style of education and it shouldn’t be subject to suspicion.

“The Steiner system operates at secondary and primary and in some instances is probably more advanced than the system we espouse,” he said.

George O’Callaghan, CEO Clare VEC confirmed that any wage costs would be handled by the Department but that in the case of Mol an Oige official recognition may have implications for student and teacher numbers in schools in the Ennistymon area.

FAILTE Ireland has pledged to spend €9 million this year to try to get more tourists to come to the Midwest region and to spend longer here once they arrive.

The cash injection comes as figures were released which show that overseas visitors spend less and stay for shorter times than visitors to any of the country’s other six tourism regions.

Failte Ireland research shows that overseas visitors spend €261 on average.

This is in comparison to the south-west, where the average visitor spends €413 and the west where the spend is €368.

And while visitors to the Midwest stay an average 3.7 nights, visitors to the west stick around for 5.3 nights and spend an average of six nights when they visit the south-west.

The money will be used for marketing, business supports, training and backing Shannon Development. Now management consultants,Mayday have been engaged by Failte Ireland to set up a network of workshops for people in the tourism industry.

The workshops are to start straight away and participants in the courses are promised they will improve their business performance, get greater visibility in the marketplace, increase their productivity, achieve higher standards and better customer value and greatly increase confidence in their management skills.

WORKERS at Shannon Development are “flabbergasted” over comments made by chairman, Liam McElligott that there is now alignment in thinking between the Board and staff over the future development of the company.

A spokesman for staff at Shannon Development told The Clare People this week, “The staff are flabbergasted by Mr McElligott’s comments and his lack of grasp of the situation. He obviously doesn’t appreciate the depth of feeling by staff at what is being done to the company. His comments have resulted in a further distance between Board and staff.”

Earlier this month, at a press briefing to mark the publication of Shannon Development’s end of year statement, Mr McElligott said: “I am quite confident now that there is alignment in our thinking,” when asked about ongoing tensions over the future role of the company.

The spokesman said, “Mr McElligott’s comments are demoralising for staff as they infer that there is now tacit approval by staff of the company’s new mandate, and give the impression that everything is sorted. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Currently, staff are refusing to co-operate with the implementation of the new mandate, pending the outcome of talks between SIPTU and the Department of the Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The mandate would see Shannon Development lose its core enterprise functions to Shannon Development and the IDA.

The spokesman added, “There is real anger and weariness at Mr McEliggott’s comments. This re-affirms SIPTU’s call for the present Board to resign en masse. They are not in touch with what is going on.”

Asked are staff confident that Shannon Development will hold onto the promotion of Shannon Free Zone in their talks with the Department, he said, “We are confident that we have made a very good argument. As to whether we will be successful, I don’t know.

“If it does proceed, it will lead to an impoverished situation for the company and drastically weaken its ability to do positive things for the region as Shannon Development has been a lynchpin in a lot of things.

“In practice, it will reduce Shannon Development to a property management company. And we are very disappointed over the lack of analysis behind the decision to revise the mandate.”

MEMBERS of the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee are to meet with members of the HSE this Thursday, just a week after the group nailed questions about the future of the hospital to the door of the organisation’s regional head quarters in Limerick.

The sheet contained questions for the HSE’s chief executive Brendan Drumm, who the group say has refused to meet them despite numerous requests.

A spokesperson for the lobby group told The Clare People that the group met with the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach and got clarification on the hospital’s future from them.

“The third person we need to find out from is Professor Drumm, and not get half assurances from a more junior employee,” he said.

“We have made it as simple as possible for him, as we drafted a form with simple yes or no answers and sent it to him by registered post.”

When the HSE Chief forwarded the letter to be dealt with by another staff member, the group nailed the form to the HSE doors in Limerick.

In response to the protest the HSE said, “The group knows the score perfectly well. They met the hospital network manager in October and then cancelled a further meeting.

“As far as the HSE is concerned, the door is open if they wish to meet us again. The decision is theirs.”

The hospital group accused the HSE of spinning the truth. The group admitted that it cancelled the meeting but argued that it was scheduled for the national day of protest and some of its members including its chairperson, long-time trade unionist Peadar McNamara, had to attend the protest.

While the members of the Ennis General Hospital Development committee were nailing their questions to the door, there were nine people waiting to be admitted to the hospital through its accident and emergency unit, the largest in the Mid West Region.

The following day, the number had decreased to three according to the HSE. The number waiting in St John’s Hospital Limerick was four, which decreased to two, and the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick reported four people waiting in A and E, which was also reduced to two the following day.

APPROXIMATELY 20 per cent of on-thespot litter fines went unpaid in the county last year.

While the number may seem quite high it is significantly less than the national average, where it is estimated that as many as two in every three litterbugs escape without paying any penalty.

Last year Clare County Council issued 228 litter fines.

Ennis Town Council was ensuring that the county town held its tidy town status and issued 363 offenders with litter fines, while Kilrush Town Council issued a total of 14 litter fines.

Of the on the spot fines issued though the county council, 97 were paid, 36 cancelled and nine ended up in the courts.

Less than half of the court cases were successful, with the council receiving a positive result in just four.

A total of 86 cases are pending further investigation, payment of fines or proceedings if the fines are not paid.

The county council made almost €14,000 in litter fines last year, more than €10,000 less than its urban counterpart.

Ennis Town Council secured €25,000 in the 200 fines paid. In total the town council issued 363 on the spot fines.

Seven of those cases went to court with the council winning six of the seven.

The two litter and environmental wardens in Ennis responded to 595 complaints in the 12 months of 2005.

Barry Keating, Staff Officer with the Environment Section of Ennis Town Council explained that any illegal dumping discovered in the urban area is referred to the county council’s waste management team.

He said that waste management is not a major issue in the towns and illegal dumping is more of a rural problem.

Kilrush Town Council likewise deals solely with one off litter fines. In 2005 it collected €1,000 from the eight fines paid.

Of its two prosecutions, it received a positive result in one, with a fine of €200 imposed.

Nicola Cullinan, Staff Officer with the Waste Enforcement Unit in the county said that imposing the fine can be difficult as people in rented accommodation move on and are difficult to relocate.

There is also a lot of investigation work for the three environmental wardens and the two engineers in the unit, who often have to go through rubbish bags to identify its owner.

Last year the waste enforcement unit issue 30 notices and fines for illegal advertising signage.

A further 70 notices were served under different sections of the waste management plan including notices to land owners for illegal dumping.

Nine prosecutions were successfully made under the waste management plan.

ENNIS has a new rival when it comes to commemorating Fianna Fáil founding father and colossus of 20th century Irish life, Eamon de Valera.

The People’s Park in Ennis will soon have competition when it comes to remembering de Valera’s contribution to world affairs. And this competition comes from outside Ireland, thanks to the decision by the Indian government to name a new road after de Valera in New Delhi.

The announcement to honour the former Taoiseach and president in this way was made during Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern’s four-day trade mission to India last week.

“De Valera was a good friend of India,” said the Taoiseach in welcoming the announcement. “Addressing the Friends of Freedom for Britain in New York in 1920, he made clear that he saw India and Ireland as having a common cause: ‘Patriots of India’ he told his audience, ‘your cause is identical to ours’.

“Interestingly, in 1947, when the Indian Prime Minister Nehru, expressed his admiration for the Irish Constitution and said that he intended to study it as a model for the Constitution of India, which was then being drafted, de Valera wrote that he felt deeply honoured,” added the Taoiseach.

Meanwhile, the Indian move to honour de Valera doesn’t represent a first. Back in 1935, Indian universities voted the Clare TD into eighth position in a ballot to decide the great men of the age.

He was in exalted company – Albert Einstein was voted number one, while Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were rated ahead of de Valera in the Indian Inter-University Body organised poll.

THE Whelan Group this week suffered a major setback when it failed to secure full planning for a multi-million euro extension to its flagship operation on the outskirts of Ennis.

The plan had encountered strong local opposition and last Friday, Clare County Council granted planning permission to retain its quarry operation, but refused permission for much of the planned extension.

The retention area covers 23 acres of land, while the planned extension involves 16 acres. Residents had claimed that the plan would lead to nuisance of dust, noise, air and water pollution within the Fountain area.

Plans were first lodged for the proposal in May 2004 and Managing Director of the Whelan Group, Paddy Whelan criticised the length of time it took for the council to evaluate the application.

“It is nearly two years since we made the application,” he told The Clare People . “It sounds ridiculous, but that it is the way it has happened. It doesn’t say much for the promotion of industry in the county.”

Mr Whelan said that he had not yet gone through the planning conditions attached to the permission. They limit the scope of the planning permission granted by the council, which ruled that the plan would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity and would not be prejudicial to public health.

The local authority has granted planning for sections one to five of the application, but refused planning to sections six and seven, apart from one area being sought for planning retention.

The Whelan Group had sought permission to extend the life of the quarry by 26 years and will have an operating capacity of producing 370,000m of limestone product per annum.

However, the grant of permission is for a 10-year period only, unless a further grant is obtained.

The council has also ruled that no works are to commence until planning permission is granted for improvements to the existing access on the main Ennis-Lahinch Road.

The local authority has also imposed a condition that the company supply an annual aerial photo to enable the council assess the development of the quarry.

And it has been requested that the Whelan Group provide €239,000 to the council in planning contributions.

MONTHS of study and preparation paid off for Clare’s students this week at the annual Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin.

This year there was a record entry of 1,100 projects, with Clare schools entering 23 projects. In total there were 14 Clare winners out of the 500 entrants that made it through to the final round of judging.

The day was extra special for two North Clare students who were awarded top prize in their respective categories. Mark Sims, a student in Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, and Declan O’Loughlin, from CBS Ennistymon, were both awarded individual first place at senior and junior level respectively at Friday’s judging ceremony.

Mark’s project ‘Voting patterns – a tale of two counties’, scooped the top prize in the senior section of the Social and Behaviour Sciences Category. The prize represents something of a milestone for Mark. It is the sixth time that one of his projects has taken an award at the competition.

Students from Mary Immaculate Secondary came away from the competition with a total of eight awards and their exploits were the subject of RTÉ’s Nationwide programme on Monday night.

In the technology category Declan O’Loughlin’s entry on improving efficiency in a domestic oil central heating system won first place in the junior section.

The judges were impressed with Declan’s project, which found that by adding a simple modification to the average domestic heating

system he could continue to circulate the wa ter that would normally be left to cool after the burner had been switched off.

In the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category, St John Bosco Community College students, Stephen Finucane and Liam Kenny’s project on the flow patterns of liquids came second in the junior level. Meanwhile, Jennifer Coote, Ashling Crowe and Marie Culligan from Kilrush Community College finished third in the same category and were also recognised in the Special Category.

The Cry Babies project undertaken by Ciara Deloughrey and Louise Morrissey also from Kilrush finished second in the Social and Behaviour category. In the intermediate section of the same category Cora Commane and Patricia Cusack from Mary Immaculate Secondary School also finished second.

The Display winners from Clare were Evelyn Linnane and Tess McGovern from Mary Immaculate Secondary School and Claire Meade, Michelle O’Brien and Megan Fitzgerald Bradley from St Anne’s Community College.

Special recommendation was reserved for Shona Ni Mheachair, Nicole Ni Chearmada and Cillian O’Buiteach from Ennis Community College for their research on diet drinks. Also commended were Laura Sims, Darren O’Gorman, Kevin Walsh, Christy Storer, Aishling Clancy, Noreen Lynch, Shona Fitzpatrick, Lorraine Stringer, and India Molloy, all representing Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna.

The work of Christopher Walshe, Eoghan Ryan and David Lynch from St Caimins Community School on feminising hormones was also recognised.

PADDY Whelan has confirmed that a planning application is to be shortly re-lodged for an explosives factory at Cahercon, Kildysart.

Speaking exclusively to The Clare People , Mr Whelan also stated that plans would be lodged for other industries along the Clare side of the Shannon Estuary.

“We will be proceeding in the near future for industries and the explosives factory,” he said.

Last week’s decision by Clare County Council not to list Cahercon Pier as a protected structure has left the way open for the Whelan Group to lodge its ambitious plans.

On the council decision, Mr Whelan said: “It should never have been listed and the only thing I would say is that if Clare County Council wishes to list piers on this side of the River Shannon, when on the Limerick side, there is no pier listed, where are we going at this side of the river? We have failed miserably to create industry at this side of the river and it would appear that anything any company tries to do on this side of the river, these objectors are there.

They have the right to object, but they seem to get preferential treatment from Clare County Council that we cannot understand.”

Mr Whelan said already there has been substantial jobs lost to the area due to the actions of the County Council and objectors in the area. He said: “The council should know better.”

On the industries that have been lost to the area, he added: “The council is well aware of one that has been lost that would have provided substantial jobs because of council’s attitude towards enforcement notices.”

In 2000, the council granted planning permission for the plans lodged by Shannon Explosives in the face of much local opposition.

However, it was turned down by An Bord Pleanala in 2002, although the Board did not object in principle to the scheme. Already, the company has spent €4 million on the project.

The decision to re-lodge plans for the site is sure to re-ignite the long-running planning battle concerning the explosives facility.

Asked would the plans be lodged for the explosives factory in the next number of weeks, Mr Whelan said: “I won’t say in the next few weeks, I will say in the near future.”

A 20-YEAR-old man who resisted arrest has been ordered to stay out of licensed premises and abide by a curfew.

Colin Ogrin, with an address at 19 Carrig Donn, Shannon, pleaded guilty to assaulting a garda and a civilian, on March 21, 2004.

Garda David Buckley told Shannon District Court that he and Garda Pat Morrissey observed the accused punching another man in the face outside Supermac’s.

Both Gardaí went over to him to arrest him. He was extremely drunk, shouted and roared, and was uncooperative, said the Garda. He said they eventually managed to handcuff him and Garda Morrissey sustained an injury in the process.

Garda Morrissey told the court he was assisting Garda Buckley in carrying out the arrest and the accused swung his arms and was “very violent and abusive towards us. He tried to evade us putting handcuffs on him and I injured my left hand.”

The Gardaí managed to restrain the accused after a short time.

Defending solicitor Rachel Dobson said her client was extremely drunk on the night and resisted arrest.

She said he has lived at home with his parents for the past year, having previously worked in the UK.

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded him on bail to appear again in court in March, to allow a probation report to be compiled.

He ordered that a professional report re drug and alcohol abuse be carried out.

The bail conditions include that he abstain from alcohol, stay out of licensed premises, abide by a curfew between 9pm and 9am and that he stay out of Shannon town centre.