Category: Uncategorized

can reveal.

The castle, which was built in 1306 by the O’Connor family, has developed a number of deep cracks over the last few years which now Web usrelKo) /MMOOCoMECIE-1OyEDIA MOJO Os loMIINUECOr neko

Dough Castle lies between the seventh and eight hole of the La- hinch Castle Golf Course and has been the subject of a major archi- tectural investigation in recent weeks.

Secretary Manager of the club, Alan Reardon, is currently await- ing the results of the investigation before action can be taken to rein- force the castle.

“We are looking into the situation

at the moment,” said Mr Reardon.

‘There are some cracks that have been developing over the years and we are investigating what is the best way to deal with them. It’s not in danger of falling down too soon.”

The investigation will also at- tempt to uncover as much informa- tion as possible about the castle’s long and proud history.

“We are trying to find out as much as we can about the castle and see if it is a protected struc- ture,’ continued Mr Reardon.

“At that point we can see what kind of grants are available to help fund the work.”

While it is impossible to say for sure the castles current state of dis- repair is blamed by many on the sandy foundations on which it is built.

Sections of the building have col-

lapsed at various times during the nineteenth century and at present only one wall remains fully intact.

Dough Castle was originally founded by the O’Connors at the beginning of the fourteenth cen- elas

Its original name was ‘Dumhach Ui Chonchtir’ which translates roughly as O’Connor’s Sandbank.

The O’Connors were ousted from the castle by the O’Brien family in the time of Elizabeth the first of England.

The current castle dates back to the sixteenth century when it was the property of Sir Donal O’Brien and his family.

The castle was save from dem- olition by ‘Commissioners for overthrowing and demolishing castles in Connacht and Clare’ by a Cromwellian officer named Colo- nel Stubber in 1654.

has learned that €6,/97.94 was paid to the court poor box by various defendants who were brought before the courts in Clare last year. Just €1,250 of this was paid out to charitable organisations or Support groups.

At the start of 2004, <€20,850 which amounted over the previous few years, was carried over and this brought the total re- maining in the poor box to €26,397.94 at the end of last year. This has now grown to more than €30,000. On occasions, Judge Joseph Mangan dis- misses various cases under the Probation of Offenders Act and orders defendants to pay a sum of money to the court poor box. Cahercalla Hospice spokeswoman Mary Moloney said she would welcome “with Open arms” funding towards the hospice, which is moving to a new building, as part of a major €2 million development, the plan- ning application of which is being submitted WNL oo) © “Even a whiff of it [the €30,000] would be welcome. I certainly didn’t know it was there. My understanding was if there was money paid in, it would be paid out immedi- ately,” said Ms Moloney. Fundraising co-ordinator of Clare Haven Services — which offers support to women coping with domestic violence — Eileen Murphy, said her organisation would be “delighted to receive anything from it.” She said, “I will write to the court clerk and see what happens, now that that kind of money is there. “We would love to see it distributed among the services which deal with domestic abuse.” Another support group, Clarecare, would also welcome funding from the court’s poor lfe).@ ‘We would never say no to money in this type of business. We are not against getting it. We would have no problem spending all that money tomorrow. The question is where would it best serve,’ said Clarecare General Manager Fiacre Hensey. A spokesman for the Courts Service said it is up to each judge to decide where the proceeds of the poor box actually goes - the decision in Clare rests with Judge Joseph Mangan. “Some judges clear it out at the end of every year [for example Killarney, Listowel, Ballinasloe, Tuam, Naas and Sligo], while others let it build up over time and make large donations to groups or organisations. A decision will have to be made at some stage about what will be done with it,” he said.

A COURT application that a 16-year-old boy currently be- ing detained at St Patrick’s In- stitution in Dublin, be placed in the custody of his parents, has been refused.

The youth, who cannot be named, has pleaded guilty to eight charges, including burglary, larceny, criminal damage and the unauthorised taking of a vehicle, in the Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point areas, between October 2004 and February last.

Earlier this month, he was remanded in custody to St Patrick’s Institution and a probation report was to be carried out. Lisdoonvarna District Court heard last Wednesday that the report was not available.

“It is not my client’s fault that there is no probation re- port here,” said solicitor Jim Finnegan. He said that his client has suffered an injury and that he did not seem to be getting attention for this at St lsu le ay

Judge Joseph Mangan re-

plied, “If you have a prob- lem with the way he is being treated you have one of two options — the Minister for Justice or the High Court.”

The accused boy’s mother said if he was allowed to go home, he would not cause trouble.

“T think he has realised the Seriousness of the matter, having been in St Pat’s for a week. I presume he’d prefer to be at home,” she said.

Judge Mangan remanded the boy in custody, to appear in court again next month.

OVER 40 delegates from eve- ry County and City Enterprise Board in Ireland flocked to La- hinch this week for the eigth annual Association of Assist- ant CEO’s and Business Advi- sors Conference.

The conference, which was being held in Clare for the second time, began in the La- hinch Golf and Leisure Hotel on Wednesday morning and lasted for two days. The pur- pose of the high level meeting was to compare and contrast the different strategies used by the Enterprise Boards from all over the country and to swap ideas and experiences.

The main issue dealt with at the conference was the role of the Central Support Unit

for County Enterprise Boards. The Central Support Unit, which has responsibility for all the Enterprise Boards, has been up to the present time un- der the control of the Depart- ment of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

However, under the new ar- rangements discussed in Lahi- nch this Central Support Unit will now be managed by En- terprise Ireland.

“It is a fairly significant move,’ said Lucy Reidy, Busi- ness Advisor for the Clare County Enterprise Board. “It is going to bring change to the Enterprise boards but at the moment we don’t know exactly how. The decision was taken by the Government in an effort to streamline the work of the agencies.”

Aside from the Central Sup- port Unit the delegates also discussed the importance of design excellence in Irish busi- ness. Mr Sean McNulty, Presi- dent of the Institute of Design- ers in Ireland, spoke about the importance of design for entre- preneurs and outlined the com- petitive gain for entrepreneurs who use creativity in design.

Life long learning was also on the discussion table with Mr Dermot Coughlan, Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learn- ing and Outreach with the Uni- versity of Limerick, speaking to the delegates.

“It was successful and a lot of good ideas came from it,” continued Ms Reidy. “I think that the ideas swapped here will help the micro enterprise sector in the future.”

GARDAI in Clare are being advised not to use their person- al mobile phones, laptops and cameras for official use.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) issued the advice in response to delays in introducing a new radio system, despite repeated calls for it.

The GRA has been told the new “Tetra” digital radio sys- tem will not be introduced for four years. Justice Miunister Michael McDowell has said there are no finances available,

before then.

Clare-based member of the GRA Central Executive, Garda Tom Keane of Ennis says this is not good enough as the existing system regularly breaks down in rural parts of the county.

“We are trying to get a radio system for years. There are a lot of blackspots where the cur- rent system breaks down. This happens regularly. It 1s totally outdated,’ said Garda Keane.

“We are urging our members not to use mobile phones until they give us a radio system,’ he said.

said that he has used the route from the Ballina side every day for years and has “never experienced anything like the

delays since those lights went in. You have to wait for traffic to turn every which way be- fore you can go straight ahead across the bridge. That means waiting for up to four changes of the lights and they’re all long waits. You can be there for ten minutes or more, I’ve 1p beetsre mn | a

Local Councillor, Tony O’Brien has heard many com- plaints concerning the delays which the lights — turned on just two weeks ago — are caus- ing.

Having raised questions with the council’s roads depart- ment, he was told that they are

tackling teething problems.

The councillor and chair- man of the community coun- cil was told that expert traf- fic management consultants, Traffic Management Solutions Ltd, have been brought in the monitor how the lights are working and pin down snags.

The company is currently looking at how the operation is going and will report back to the county council’s traffic management officials.

“We’ll see what they have to say, but I want whatever needs doing to be done to solve these delays, even if that means switching the lights off,” said Clir O’Brien.

MILTOWN MALBAY received a massive boost this week after Clare County Coun- cil granted planning permission for a €4 million eTown project in the village. The Shannon Development project involves the development of 12 residential and six com- mercial business units.

‘“Miltown Malbay needs this. It’s a tre- mendous boost for the area,” Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said yesterday.

The elown project is part of a new con- cept for developing rural towns in the Shan- non region.

Speaking at the launch of the project, Shannon Development’s Chief Executive, Kevin Thompstone, said that all the ele- ments were now in place.

“The town plan, incorporating the 2.2- acre elown site, has been completed, broadband access has been studied and a solution identified, 12 members of the com- munity have completed training and the ‘Courtyard’ — an integrated complex of workspace and residential accommodation — has been designed,” he said.

The ‘Courtyard’ will accommodate 12 houses, incorporating ‘wired for broad- band’ office space. House sizes will aver- age 2,000 sq. ft., with business units rang- ing from 750 sq. ft. to 1,000 sq. ft.

The work-life accommodation will be available for sale and will be targeted at es- tablished businesses in the traded services sectors. DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald will act as ‘selling agents’ for all sites.

CLARE County Council has come under fire over its demand that a 5,000 year old bog oak tree, that forms part of a sculpture, be cut by one metre in order that it can be part of a Loop Head Memorial.

The demand by the Council’s Planning De- partment was this week described as “imprac- tical and crazy” by Kilballyowen Development Associataion Chairman, John Bonfil.

The Association has lodged plans for the proposal and is refusing the Council’s request to reduce the height of the tree that forms part of a Diarmuid and Grainne sculpture to three metres.

In a letter to the Council, the sculptor of the piece, rural-rights campaigner, Jim Connolly said: “The overall height of the sculpture and base which was conceived as a single artwork cannot be interfered with or reduced. This should not be a planning issue as the height is of a natural tree, albeit one that was dug up from a West Clare bog and is approximately 5,000 years old. The tree itself represents an intrinsic part of West Clare history and culture.

“The tree can’t be reduced. I have never heard the likes of it in my life. I hope the Coun- cil accept the sense of what I had to say.”

The tree, which is to be complimented by two three-quarter size bronze figures of Diarmuid

and Grainne, forms part of a twin-memorial dedicated to the memory of five West Clare men who lost their lives just off Loop Head in 1862 and reflecting ties with West Clare.

The men were all pilots who helped navigate ships up the Shannon estuary in the 19th cen- elas

The Council put the plan on hold because of concerns over the height of the proposed struc- ehKeny

In the initial documents lodged with the Council, no mention was made by the appli- cants of the age of the tree that formed part of the Diarmuid and Grainne display, which was initially on show at Shannon airport.

In May, the applicants lodged a photomon- tage of the memorial, stating that the Diarmuid and Grainne display was five metres. In Au- gust, they said it was now four metres high and are were refusing to go any lower.

Mr Bonfil said this week: “We are confident that the proposed memorial will get planning permission. It is a positive for the community. The only thing holding up the project at the moment is the planning. We have received €20,000 for the two memorials through Lead- er and also a contribution from the Foynes Har- bour Authority. We hope to unveil the memo- rials at the 3rd annual Loop Head Gathering Festival next July.

THE NUMBERS working at the Cliffs of Moher are set to double when the new €31 million visitor centre opens in 2007.

The newly appointed manager of the visitor centre, Katherine Webster said this week that 87 will be em- ployed there, made up of 39 permanent and 45 sea- sonal staff. Currently, 40 people work at the Cliffs.

“It is very important that the Cliffs are at the centre of the visitor experience. They are what people are coming to see and the facilities will be there to com- pliment that. There is an incredible, splendid vista at the cliffs and we need facilities that live up to that.”

Last year, the Cliffs attracted 780,000 visitors, making it one of the most popular visitor attractions NOMA eeMerOlUNNIB AE

Ms Webster said that this year the numbers would be closer to 700,000, due in part to a drop in the number of US visitors in Clare last Summer.

But, in the visitor centre’s first full year of opera- tion, the numbers would break the 800,000 mark, she Sr nLee

It is expected that 40 per cent of these will come during the months of July and August.

“We will try to build off-peak business and, on the busy days, we will try to distribute flow of visitors as evenly as possible.”

The new visitor centre — complete with interpreta- tive facilities, including a hi-tech audio-visual display — will lengthen the visitor stay at the cliffs.

Currently, the average stay at the Cliffs is one hour and 20 minutes, but people may soon be spending over two hours in the interpretation area alone.

‘The audio-visual room 1s very impressive and very interesting and will be focusing a lot on the wildlife that people don’t get to see too much to see on the cliff edge,” she said.

Ms Webster said the visitor centre will provide an all-weather experience, when outside visibility is poor.

She said that work on the centre was ahead of schedule. It includes installing viewing platforms and extending the path to Hags Head at the end of Cliffs.

Ms Webster said that the introduction of a Park ‘n’ Ride scheme for the Cliffs centre would take place in Phase Two of the development.

She said, “The tourism spend has been going down in Clare … so we want the tourism community in Clare to capitalise on the Cliffs centre.”

CLARE County Council is to take a number of companies to court for their failure to comply with enforcement notices aimed at removing large advertising signs along the main Limer- ick-Ennis road.

The initiative by the council’s Planning De- partment follows an anti-litter offensive during the summer by the local authority’s Environ- ment Section to rid the county of unauthorised signs put up by auctioneers and other busi- nesses.

In the move by the planning section, Acting

Director of Service, Liam Conneally has in- structed County Solicitor, Michael Houlihan to institute legal proceedings against five separate companies: Supermacs Ltd, Abbar Ltd, the Raddisson Hotel, Sign It and Print It Co Ltd and the Clarion Hotel.

The Clarion Hotel was given until May 26 to remove unauthorised signs in the townland of Cratloe and refund to the Council the expenses incurred by the Planning Authority in the in- vestigation, detection and issue of Enforcement Proceedings.

The Radisson was given until August 10 to remove a sign from the townland of Meelick

and restore the site to its original condition and also refund the costs of the investigation by the Council. A Limerick company, Abbar Ltd was given until April 6 to remove a sign at Meel- ick, restore the site to its original condition and again refund all costs to the council. Su- permacs was given a deadline of the April 8 to remove the sign, but failed to do so, resulting in the council’s instituting the legal proceedings.

The Sign It, Print & Sign Co Ltd of Ballysi- mon Rd, Limerick was also given a deadline of complying with an enforcement notice by July 25 to remove a sign at Meelick, but failed to elonrer

A spokesman for the Council this week con- firmed that a court date had not yet been set and said that the signs had not been taken down when the sites were recently inspected for the purpose of legal proceedings.

Any individual or company found guilty of not complying with an Enforcement Notice is liable to a fine of €1,900 on summary convic- tion in the district court. If after such a convic- tion, the individual or company continues the use of the alleged offence, they would be guilty of a further offence and lable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €508 for each day on which the offence is continued.