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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.

THE COST of the Cliffs of Moher visitor cen- tre has now climbed to more than eight times the original estimate and Clare County Coun- cil faces an estimated €4 million shortfall in funding for the scheme.

Work commenced on the project last April. Project Leader Ger Dollard has confirmed that the revised estimate for the cost of the scheme is now €31.45 million.

Already, the Council has secured €10 million in grant aid from Failte Ireland for the scheme, while it has approval from Government to se- cure a loan of €15 million.

The overall figure includes an historic invest-

ment of €2 million by the Council in the 15- year-old project in land acquisition and project development, including payments to consult- ants.

The grant aid, loan approval and historic in- vestment add to €27 million, leaving a short- fall of €4.45 million.

However, the Council will be able to recover monies from Shannon Development spent on fit-out costs and the cost of providing tempo- rary facilities.

The two-storey centre is to be built into the hillside by Cork firm, Rohcon, behind the ex- isting centre.

Mr Dollard said that in an effort to bridge the funding gap, “we are putting in place a separate

company structure to manage the commercial aspects of the operation and allow VAT re- EN bes mae

He said, “We also have an application for additional grant aid with Failte Ireland, based on the actual tender received as opposed to the estimates originally submitted. And we are de- veloping a strong pitch for a corporate spon- sor.”

With the closing off of the lower part of the viewing area at the Cliffs as a result of the con- struction work, a growing number of tourists are going over the wall barrier near O’Brien’s tower to sit on the cliff edge.

Mr Dollard said, “I think the situation will be very much improved when the new experi-

ence is put in place. The location of the path- ways further back from the edge, the creation of raised platforms as viewing areas and the putting in place of extensive discreet signage will all help to encourage visitors to remain on the official pathways.

Wardens will also assist 1n advising visitors not to go to the cliff edge.”

As part of the project, the Council is to also seek World Heritage Site designation for the Oa

The Council’s business plan anticipates a 21 per cent increase in visitor numbers to 790,000 in the first five years of operation of the visi- tor centre, which will allow the Council secure over €4 million in entrance fees.

NEW RYANAIR flights, due to launch from Shannon this Autumn have been cleared for lift-off, amid fears that an industrial dispute could ground re eN ee

If a dispute that is currently in progress at Boeing, runs into Novem- ber, it could hamper Ryanair plans to launch new routes, chief executive, Michael O’Leary has warned.

The airline is currently phasing out its fleet of older aircraft and is due to stop using the old fleet and take de- livery of new planes in the next two TpeKeyels ete

But the retirement of three of the old- er planes has already been delayed by

the Boeing action, which has been go- ing on since the start of the month. The last strike at Boeing lasted 69 days.

At the airline’s annual general meet- ing in Dublin, O’Leary said that Rya- nair could stay on schedule for the launch of new routes, if the action continued into October. But he warned that new routes could be in trouble should the dispute drag on.

A spokesman for Shannon Airport said today that the new routes, due to launch in Shannon in October and No- vember, were expected to go ahead.

A new daily flight to Bristol is to Start in October, while two new routes, serving Nantes three times a week and Malaga twice a week, are to com- mence in November.

“The difficulty will be the knock-on effect of delays in getting all the new planes, so the routes which could be affected are those due to launch from January on… As far as the new Shan- non routes are concerned, we expect they will go ahead without any prob- ance

Meanwhile, the Ryanair boss has re- vealed that they are in talks with Shan- non, Kerry, Derry and Knock about the possibility of connecting flight to Dublin. O’Leary said he cannot say for certain when the next domestic route might be opened.

“It will be whenever the airports come up with a competitive package. That could be October or that could be October two years from now.”

IN A WEEK when Ireland celebrated IRA decommissioning, the people of East Clare made it clear to the Minis- ter for the Environment, Dick Roche, that they would not be giving an inch when it came to their boundary row with Limerick.

The minister said he would consider Limerick City Council’s proposal to extend into Clare and Clare County Council’s opposition, and make a de- cision as soon as possible.

The people of East Clare are ada- mant that will not change their iden- tity overnight, however.

“If Limerick city wants to expand, let them take some of County Limer- ick,” said Parteen councillor Pascal Fitzgerald.

The councillor believes that the people of Parteen, Meelick, Westbury and Shannon Banks are being used as pawns by Limerick City Council.

““T believe the main objective of Lim- erick City Corporation is to move out the boundary to take in the university and the industrial estate in Raheen.”

He said the rates from these areas were very attractive and that Parteen and surrounding areas was merely making up numbers for the Limerick authority.

He said a lot of work had been put

into the area and the proposed bound- ary would split communities and

GAA clubs. Earlier this week, people from East

Clare raised their disapproval on a lo- cal radio programme where Minister

Roche was a guest.

One woman from Cratloe suggested that the change to a Limerick address would result in increased insurance costs, while another man suggested that the extension of the boundary would continue until Shannon Air- port would become part of the Treaty City.

Meanwhile, Limerick Labour Dep- uty Jan O’Sullivan, a native of Clon- lara, said she supports the boundary extension, but believes there should be no incursion into Clare “without ask- ing the people of Clare first.”

Limerick city mayor Diarmuid Cre avaareyle!

THERE will be no more used farm plastic collected by the Irish Farm Film Plastic Group (IFFPG) in Clare this year if funding isn’t made available to the organisation 1m- mediately according to the General Manager of the plastic scheme, Sean Campbell.

Mr Campbell was in Clare last week and met with representative of Clare IFA in an attempt to re- solve the situation. According to Mr Campbell the IFFPG has already exceeded it contractual obligation by 4,000 tonnes of plastic this year and if it continues to collect it will go out of business.

The problem, according to Mr Campbell, is plastic that is being sold to farmers illegally and no levy is being collected on that plastic.

“Roughly about 18,000 tonnes of plastic was bought in Ireland this year and out of that a levy was paid on only 15,000,” said Mr Campbell. “It is being imported illegally and we are taking a double hit, we are not receiving the levy on the plastic but we still have to dispose of it.”

The Chairman of the Clare IFA Seamus Murphy has described the current situation of plastic collection in Clare as ‘alarming’ and ‘unsatis- factory.’

“The collection has been unsatis- factory and it’s a big blow that it has stopped altogether,’ said Mr Mur- phy. “IFA members in the county have plastic still on their farms for up to three years and while paying the levy on the plastic, it is not ac-

ceptable that this plastic is not col- lected yet.”

The IFFPG has collected in ex- cess of 12,500 tonnes of plastic this year even though, according to Mr Campbell, they are only required to collect 8,500 by the Government. Collection stopped nationwide at the end of August leaving farmers in many counties left with uncollected jo E-NLB (en

Clare was one of the worst coun- ties hit with roughly have of the

counties plastic left uncollected. The worst hit counties are Wexford and Roscommon where little or no plastic has been collected and Gal- way where approximately two thirds of all plastic remains on the land. Mr Campbell told the Clare Peo- ple that they will be approaching the Departments of Agriculture and the Environment with a view to receiv- ing a grant to cover the cost of col- lecting the remaining plastic. Fail- ing that he said that they well have to

look at the possibility of increasing the levy or introducing some sort of direct payment from the farmers on top of the levy.

Seamus Murphy said that he will be raising the issue with Oireach- tas members in the county over the coming days and hopes that some solution can be found for this prob- lem so that the farm plastic collec- tion service will be up and running as soon as possible.

A WOMAN has claimed that she was only summonsed to court to face charges, after she made a complaint against a garda on a separate matter.

Mother-of-one Karen Hyland (35), of Dromard, Lahinch Road, Ennis, was before Ennis District Court, ac- cused of obstructing a garda, while she was out for her work Christmas party, at the Queen’s Hotel on December 19 Ee

Garda Denis Lavan told the court that Garda Cathal O’Sullivan arrested a woman shortly before 2am. The ac- cused, Karen Hyland, was attempting to pull the arrested woman – who was her friend – away from the garda and was trying to come between them.

“She said we weren’t taking her friend. They were her words…She was very wound up and aggressive towards Gda O’Sullivan and I. She refused to calm down,” said Gda Lavan.

Defending solicitor Stephen Nicho- las said the woman being arrested was very upset over a personal matter and his client was trying to help the situa- tion. He said she was a ‘calming influ- ence.’

Mr Nicholas said his client did not receive a summons until the follow- ing March, after she made a complaint about Gda Lavan at Ennis Garda Sta- tion, in relation to another matter.

The solicitor said to Gda Lavan, ‘The reason you are bringing this case is you are angry and annoyed. You bear something of a grudge against this defendant.” Gda Lavan denied this, saying he had six months to serve a Summons on an accused.

Karen Hyland told the court she drank a number of glasses of Guinness in a pub in town, before going to the Queen’s, where she drank a bottle of Bulmer’s. She said her friend was ‘very down in the dumps’ and was crying. She went out to comfort her. “I tried to explain to the guard that she was very upset, to leave her alone. I said I was bringing her home,” she said.

She denied pulling at one garda and denied shouting at another garda.

She said she was involved in a road traffic matter the following March, during which she met Gda Lavan. She told the court on that occasion, Gda Lavan said to her, “You assaulted a garda one night.” She said she replied, “T didn’t.” She then complained about Gda Lavan at Ennis Garda Station and after that she received a summons re- lating to the incident at the Queen’s.

A security employee at the Queen’s, Frank Rocke said Ms Hyland wasn’t highly excited or aggressive and wasn’t abusive to the gardai on the night in question.

Judge Joseph Mangan dismissed the Oe Neo

SOME 200 Macra na Feirme County Officers attend Leader- ship Training Weekend in Ennis last week and showing leader- ship in their community was high on their agenda. Speaking at the training weekend, which took place in the West County Hotel, Macra na Feirme national president Colm Markey said that too many people are adopting a ‘leave it to somebody else’ atti- tude when it came to getting in- volved in clubs or organisations UOMO elo) Dur-busreb

“While people are happy to enjoy the benefits provided by organisations, many are slow to take on positions of responsibil- ity,’ said Mr Markey. “Many vol- untary organisations have been depending on the same people to run them for years.

“The organisations themselves needed to do more to attract peo-

ple into voluntary positions of re- sponsibility,” he continued. “Most organisations have too many long-winded and boring meeting and that needs to change.”

The Clare branch of Macra re- sumed their activities last week- end with a host of activities. On Friday night the members spent an evening at the dogs at the Gal- way Greyhound Track and many were present for the training evening on Saturday evening.

Claire O’Callaghan of Kincora Macra and Mairéad Meehan, Joe Carrig and Pat Carrig (all from the Newmarket Macra) re- ceived Bank of Ireland leadership awards from Colm Markey at the banquet.

On September 23 the Clare Macra will holding the regional bowling competition at Funworld in Limerick. All clubs are asked to participate and contact Fiona Treacy on 061 926970 for more Cle NU hse

HUNDREDS of inoculation doses that can prevent bacterial meningi- tis are to be sent out to Clare doc- tors next month, following the trag- ic death of a County Louth toddler.

After media reports on the death of the two-year-old, anxious par- ents began turning up in droves at GPs’ surgeries only to find the doctors did not have supplies of the booster vaccine.

The little boy died while on holi- day abroad, several days after hav- ing been seen at Our Lady Of Lour-

des hospital in Drogheda.

He developed bacterial meningi- tis, despite having been vaccinated against it as an infant.

The child had been thought to have recovered from Haemophilis influenza group B (HiB) but de- veloped meningitis. Children are vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease as babies and given booster vaccinations later on.

The Department of Health has confirmed that supplies of a boost- er vaccine will be made available to Clare GPs over the coming month.

GPs usually have a limited supply of the vaccine, but not enough to cope on an on-going basis with the OCSTeee Neem e-UI orem ON AUST E-Te-VOIA YA

But the Department came in for serious criticism after it emerged that it threw responsibility for the €10 million funding needed for a vaccination campaign back to the Health Services Executive respon- sible for the Louth area.

Dr Niall O’Cleirigh, spokesman for the Irish College of General Practitioners, said that a November date for the roll-out of the booster

vaccine is not soon enough.

“In the light of a child having died, it is not quick enough. Moves should have been made over the summer to have this programme in place,” he said.

A vaccine against the life-threat- ening strain of meningitis 1s includ- ed in the five-in-one immunisation given to all children.

But two months ago, the National Immunisation Advisory Commit- tee urgently recommended that all children under the age of four should be given a booster vaccine.

Of 50,000 children vaccinated since 1996, 38 have developed the disease, despite being vaccinated.

It is believed that there are 200,000 children in need of the booster shots nation-wide.

The Department of Health con- firmed that booster vaccines will be distributed next month and that further supplies will be available in Deore

The shot will be made available free at GPs surgeries and any par- ent who has concerns is urged to contact their family doctor imme- diately.