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Big demand for over-55s to get started

THE flooding disaster in Gort was only prevented from turning into a catastrophe through the actions of a small group of volunteers, who have carted away more than 70 million gallons of water from the town over the last two weeks.

Despite the intensive flooding in parts of Crowe Street, large sections

of Gort remain largely untouched by the disaster. Had it not been for this effort, it 1s believed that more than 100 houses and businesses located on the Galway Road out of Gort would have been destroyed by the rising water.

A number of pumps have been go- ing round the clock in Gort since the flooding started and a small army of volunteers have been carting the wa-

ter away using tractors.

‘The situation on Crowe Street – we didn’t realise what we were doing at the time but we saved half the town. We thought we were saving our own street but by doing that we saved half the town by pumping away all that water,” said Mike Finn.

‘There is more then 70 million gal- lons of water pumped out of Crowe Street in the last 10 days. We thought

we had lost the battle on a few occa- sions but we pulled through.

“The gardai were good and the council workers. The community reaction here has been brilliant. We just can’t let it beat us now, we are nine or 10 days into it now and we will stay going – we will fight it all the way.”

Despite the terrible conditions, lo- cal people have been offering their time and support to the flood relief.

“It’s a huge community effort here. We have so many people working voluntarily here, so many machines working voluntarily. It’s not just in Gort, it’s all over the area,’ said Cllr Gerry Finnerty.

“It’s unbelievable the effort that people have made and only for it south Galway would be gone.”

Despite the flooding, locals have been keen to emphasise that Gort is still open for business.

‘There is a lot of good people here in Gort who have been doing their best to help. We need to emphasise to everyone out there that Gort is not closed, it is still open for business,’ continued Mr Finn.

‘This is a bigger disaster than peo- ple realise – if things don’t change all the shops will be closed by the Christmas.”

Remembering the Mills’ lost children

LIBRARY staff in Ennis are still as- sessing the level of damage caused by flooding at one of the county’s premier research centres.

Clare County Library’s Local Stud- ies Centre was hit by heavy flooding last Thursday along with the nearby De Valera Library in Ennis.

The centre houses a comprehen- sive collection of historic books and documents relating to the history of Clare and Irish society.

Speaking yesterday, County Li- brarian Helen Walsh said that one floor of the Local Studies Centre was damaged by flooding, along with the exhibition space in the De Valera L1- brary.

Ms Walsh said a clean-up operation FTES BUDMMENTO(oJ mc Niar-TemoLe lH emo LENE CeDneTess and that it was too early to determine the extent of the damage.

She added, “We’ve definitely had flooding and it appears extensive. We’d just been concentrating on get- ting out what we could. It’s hard to say what has been damaged.”

The centre aims to collect all pub- lished books relating to Clare, all books by Clare-born authors and any general publications containing Clare material. This Clare collec- tion contains approximately 2,000 titles dealing primarily with the his- tory, archaeology and topography of the county. Directories, almanacs, topographical dictionaries and un- published works such as theses and

projects are also part of the collec- tion. The Irish collection comprises approximately 8,000 works on all facets of Irish society.

The Local Studies Centre is a refer- ence library and research centre ded- icated to the collection of material on any aspect of County Clare.

The centre also houses a collec- tion of Irish interest material. Much of the material in the Local Studies Centre has been digitised and pub- lished online by the library’s Infor- mation Services Department, based in Library Headquarters.

The centre also contains a com- prehensive collection of Irish jour- nal titles including all major Irish historical and geographical publica- tions. Journals of specific relevance to Clare include The North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Dal gCais, The Other Clare, Molua, The Clare Asso- ciation Yearbook and Sliabh Aughty.

A SETTLEMENT which will see Clare County Council and the Rev- enue Commissioners write off 85 per cent of a hotel groups debts has come under fire.

Last week, the High Court ap- proved an Examinership deal which will save the Lynch Hotel group from liquidation and secure more than 500 jobs. The deal included preferential creditors being paid 15 cent in the euro on what the group owed while other creditors will get 10 cent.

Among the largest preferential creditors are the Revenue Commis- sioners, who had an outstanding bill of €1.2 million for the Clare-based group and Clare County Council, which was owed €113,071 when the examinership process began.

Unsecured creditors were owed a total of €2.8 million before the Ex- aminer stepped in.

But while the securing of the future of the group – which owns the West County in Ennis, the Clare Inn in Dromoland and runs the Ocean Cove hotel in Kilkee seasonally – was gen-

erally welcomed, their have been concerns raised.

Responding to the council and rev- enue write-off, Ennis hotelier Allen Flynn, who is one of the owners of the Old Ground and the Imperial Hotel in Cork, said the two bodies ‘should never be seen to allow unfair competition take place. The flexibil- ity they showed to the Lynch Group should, and must, apply to all busi- eA ohn

The Flynn Group owns hotels in Cork, Dungarven, Kilkenny and En- nis and Allen Flynn said that a “level

playing pitch must apply and if other hotels are struggling – and the hotel industry is going through its worst ever crisis – then the Revenue and local authorities should write off the debts of other hotels which are strug- gling…the Revenue can’t enter into special arrangements with one hotel group and not apply the same rules to other hotels.”

He predicted that the Examiner’s deal will present problems for the local authority and Revenue when they come to collect debts from other businesses, if the same flexibility is

not shown.

He said that he is “quite happy to see the Lynch Group survive. The West County has been very good for the town in the many conferences it brings and the economic benefits that result. My biggest concern is govern- ment bodies doing deals with one business and not applying the same flexibility to all businesses.”

The Clare hoteliers comments came after the chair of the Shannon branch of the Irish Hotels Federation also expressed concerns about the fall-out of the examinership.

Driven from home of 33 years

A PROPERTY agent charged in con- nection with the misappropriation of almost €80,000 in rents has been re- turned for trial to the circuit court.

Fiona Lillis (36), of Lisduff, New- market-on-Fergus, is facing 61 charg- es, arising out of a lengthy Garda investigation into missing rents on properties in Shannon and Quin.

She is accused of 49 theft charges and 12 charges of deception, in rela- tion to €76,540, between December 17, 2007, and September 30, 2008.

The charges relate to the owners of six properties. She is facing 45 theft charges and four charges of deception in relation to one property owner, Richard Dineen, totalling €59,570, relating to rent and rental deposits for accommodation at Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Another six charges – three theft charges and three deception charges – relate to Adrian Kelly, in relation to a property at Dun na Manach, Quin. The other six charges relate to Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

The book of evidence was served on the accused at Shannon District Court on Thursday and she was sent forward for trial to Ennis Circuit Court, which will sit in February AUTO

RESIDENTS of Cappahard Lodge, a long-stay psychiatric residence on the Tulla Road, have spent their fifth night in Ennis General Hospital, hav- ing been evacuated from their home due to the flooding.

The 28 residents were removed from the unit on Thursday afternoon due to flooding in the unit’s sewerage system.

Museum House on Francis Street, which houses Clare’s health promo- tion services, opened for business yesterday (Monday) having also fall- en victim to the flooding.

The Bindon Street clinic in Ennis was also cut off by flooding. All ap- pointments for dental and communi- ty care services were cancelled and members of the public were asked not to attend. New appointments will be made later.

HSE staff, including community welfare officers, doctors, child care and social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists, have also been em- ployed to work through the weekend to assist 105 people from Ennis who were evacuated to the West County elolror

The staff were employed to help those evacuated to come to terms with the trauma of the experience.

A WEST CLARE man who has failed to comply with court recom- mendations relating to his farm looks upon his animals as his children.

That was the view of the man’s so- licitor in the wake of a court hearing that the accused has not complied with three of four court recommen- dations made over a year ago.

In September 2008, Patrick Shan- non (56), of Carrownacalla South, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to four charges of cruelly ill-treating ani-

mals. On that occasion, the court heard concerns about the welfare of animals on the farm.

A veterinary inspector told the court that animals on the farm were thin and hungry and were confined by an electric fence. On that occa- sion, Shannon undertook to rec- tify the matter and the case was ad- Selubence MUM ERM iso .@

Superintendent Michael Comyns told the court last Wednesday that four recommendations were to be complied with, but all have not been. All animals were to be tested and

this was done. However, the other recommendations — cattle were to be divided into sections, strip grazing was to be stopped and the cattle were to be sold — were not complied with.

Defending solicitor Michael Ryan said it was a very difficult case. He said the court would benefit if there was to be an assessment by the pro- bation service.

“Mr Shannon is farming for many years. His family are farming in that area for 100 years. He has a great love for the animals. He regards WaCe OO MEZISM OUISIO ODE (GNK=IO MAIN SlomNy-nTOn

Mr Ryan said he did not believe there was a “willful” disregard of the court’s order. “He has very strong views on strip grazing. He feels if he sells, prices are horrendous at the moment. There is a certain common sense in that. He’s not refusing to sell them. He’s refusing to sell them en masse,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan said, “Pro- bation report or not, he will have to tidy up his act. We are talking about severe penalties if he doesn’t get his act together.’ The judge asked the defendant was he undertaking to

take down the electric fencing on the farm. He replied, “I block graze and I give them silage.” Asked would he undertake to comply with court or- ders, he said. “There is flooding there at the moment.”

The judge then told the solicitor, ‘He is looking at a prison sentence.” Shannon then said, “I’m not a person who does bad things. I have no bru- cellosis. I have no TB.”

The judge replied, “You are doing a bad thing now” and adjourned the case for two months for preparation of a probation report.