The Clare People Archive

HUNDREDS of Clare farmers could soon turn to part-time forestry as they are forced out of more conventional markets.

A major national campaign, aimed at promoting forestry, was launched by Clare TD, Tony Kileen, in Ennis last Friday.

At just 10 per cent, Ireland has one of the lowest land areas covered by trees in the EU. While Clare has almost 15 per cent cover, it is also one of the counties with the greatest potential to increase planting.

“The fact that the full cost of planting is covered by grants, that farmers can plant up to half their lands and still retain their full Single Payment Entitlements, and the availability of grants to cover pruning, shaping and forest roads during the growing cycle as well as tax-free premiums of up to €499 per hectare makes forestry a very viable alternative land use option,” said Minister Killeen.

Presently, there are more than 62,000 acres of private forestry owned by 1,107 farmers and landowners in the county.

“Because forestry has the lowest labour requirement of all farm enterprises, it is ideal for the growing number of part-time farmers in Clare who are trying to combine farm work with a busy off-farm job,” said Ray Gallagher of the Irish Forest Industry Chain (IFIC).

The campaign is a joint initiative between the IFIC and the Department of Agriculture and is aimed in particular at low-income drystock farmers as well as farmers who have lower than average Single Farm Payment entitlements.

Meanwhile, the first industrial wood chip boiler in Clare is expected to be installed before the end of this year. This project, which is the first of its kind in Ireland, is jointly managed by the Clare LEADER company and Teagasc and aims to develop a market for wood energy from thinnings from farm forests in the county.

Tenders have been received for wood chip boilers and energy supply contracts in five locations around the county. These projects include a manufacturing plant, hotel, school, nursing home and leisure centre, while a decision on the first installation will be made over the coming weeks.

“We are at a crossroads at the moment and there are a lot of farmers who will be looking at different things in the very near future,” said Seamus Murphy, Clare IFA President.

“There is great value in it from the energy point of view. There is not a market in Clare at the moment but we have to create a market.”

CLARE County Council is set for an estimated €2.25 million windfall with the proposed sale of nine acres of land at Ballycasey, on the outskirts of Shannon town.

Local councillors, Patricia McCarthy (Ind) and Tony Mulcahy (FG), yesterday called for the proceeds of the sale to be channelled into projects mooted for Shannon,

The land is up for public auction on October 20 and the site is described as being a prime location at the entrance to Shannon town, the international airport and the Shannon Free Zone. It has substantial road frontage and is close to a large residential area.

The zoning of the land is also expected to increase its value as it is zoned for a mix of uses, while all services are located close to the site.

Cllr McCarthy said that the money from the sale could go towards local projects, including the proposed Arts Centre and other recreational facilities.

Fine Gael general election candidate Tony Mulcahy said he had no issue with the sale because the council would receive a good figure for the land, but the area councillors should have been briefed on the council’s intentions.

He said that the council zoned the land for mixed use only four days before it was advertised for sale.

Cllr Mulcahy said that there was a real need to invest in recreational facilities in the southern end of Shannon where, currently, there is a lot of development.

The proposed sale is the second land sale that the council has been involved in over the past 18 months.

In April of last year, the council sold a two-acre site at Ballymurtagh Cross for €500,000.

The site was purchased by Managing Director of Beaux Walk Properties, Barry Boland, in trust for the Shannon Railway Company.

Mr Boland made the purchase to secure lands reserved for the route of the €60 million rail-link into Shannon airport.

The council compulsorily purchased the site from Shannon Development as part of the N19 road improvements into Shannon.

The Compulsory Purchase Order related to 4.23 acres and the recent sale by the council concerns 1.9 acres of land left over from the road improvements.

MANAGERS at Shannon Airport have been warned that a €30 million redundancy package will be off the table at the end of the week if it is not accepted by unions.

John Horgan, Director of Change Management at Shannon Airport, said the package includes a voluntary severance deal, including enhanced pensions for those nearing retirement and various compensation measures for those staying.

Mr Horgan told The Clare People that Shannon Airport would lose an estimated €130 million during the next 10 years.

“We must find a way of reducing the cost at Shannon to bring it in line with the other airports,” he said.

“We were willing to discuss any proposal made by the unions that would contribute to the airport but no such proposals were forth coming,” he said.

Airport managers have voted unanimously to conduct a ballot for industrial action up to and including strike.

The managers, who are members of IMPACT, oppose cuts in services which they say will cost up to 75 jobs.

General election candidate, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG), has appealed to both parties to sit down to try to find common ground, in the interest of the workers and the future of the airport.

The union claims that closure of a bar and reduced opening hours in the airport restaurant are knock-on effects of a management decision not to replace certain part-time positions when staff leave.

IMPACT Assistant General Secretary Michael Landers said “the cuts would lead to an unnecessary loss of jobs and will undermine the airport’s viability at a time when passenger numbers and profits have never been higher.

“These are profitable operations and the airport authority is engaging in a reckless act of economic vandalism in a crude attempt to impose their will on the workforce.”

The issue has already been to the Labour Relation Commission, the National Implementation Body and the Labour Court.

“I regret that the management and unions are taking such a polarized position,” said Cllr Taylor-Quinn.

“I believe the forecast of €135 million loss over the next 10 years needs to be addressed in detail and it must also be taken into account that a loss was forecast in the past and that turned into a profit,” she said.

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny is optimistically seeking two seats in the next elections, despite claims at grassroots level that he is overloading the constituency with too many candidates.

Deputy Kenny has told The Clare People that he expects a 50 per cent success rate in Clare next summer.

“I think that if the people want change and a Government that will work as hard as they do, they’ll vote Fine Gael and give us two seats here in Clare,” he said.

“We have four exceptional candidates and as long as we work as a team and urge the voters to use their vote to change the Government, I’m confident we can take two seats.”

But the team have to carve out the mostly rural constituency between them.

In an unprecedented move, the party’s Executive Council added Cllrs Joe Carey and Madeleine TaylorQuinn to the ticket, which already included Deputy Pat Breen and Cllr Tony Mulcahy following a contentious convention in May.

It was believed Mr Kenny had promised Cllr Taylor Quinn a place on the ticket if she ran in the European election, a promise that he kept.

A party poll at Christmas showed an increase in Fine Gael popularity in Clare and the possibility of securing the coveted second seat the leader now craves.

But the addition of the two names led to fears among local party members that its current seat was in danger. At a national conference in Athlone, Deputy Kenny tried to revert back to a selection process that would allow a number of delegates from each branch select the candidates.

He was narrowly defeated in a vote, which meant the one-person -one-vote method introduced six years ago remained. This week, he said he had no plans to change that selection process.

Meanwhile, he refused to speculate about the chances of a Clare minister in a Fine Gael-led government.

“Forming a Government and appointing ministers is a job for after the election,” he said.

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny has not ruled out the controversial Hanly Report for Clare, but has warned that the proposed centralisation of hospital services is not based on patients’ needs.

The alternative Taoiseach also warned that the capital development programme for Ennis General Hospital was “a smoke screen” to hide “the fact that the Government does not want to improve services” at the county hospital.

Deputy Kenny said he was concerned that the Government was planning to downgrade services there “in the long run”.

In an interview with The Clare People , the Leader of the Opposition said “no services should be removed from smaller hospitals until there is a genuine alternative in place that would not affect patient care.

“Many of the plans for centralisation of hospital services around the country do not focus on the needs of the patient, but rather appear to be based on cost containment.”

He said the infrastructure for routine transfer of patients over long distances between hospitals was not in place.

“The Government has consistently refused to give any commitment on the future status of Ennis hospital, and there is every reason to be concerned that Fianna Fáil and the PDs want to downgrade it to a local hospital.”

As the country’s politicians prepare to return to the Dáil after their long summer break, Deputy Kenny criticised the Government’s lack of commitment to the Banner County, which he said can be seen from its poor job-creation record.

“New jobs are being created across the country, but Ennis is being left behind. Ennis must not become a dormitory town, with its residents forced to travel elsewhere to work,” he warned.

“Job creation depends on good transport links, and Fine Gael believes the Western Rail Corridor should play an integral role in attracting new employers.”

He said his party sees Shannon Airport as vital to the future of the mid-West and the entire country.

He added that access to the airport was vital to making Shannon an attractive destination for any airline planning to avail of Open Skies, “and if this isn’t prioritised, we will have grass growing on the runway long before 2015.

“Any loss of access to the US will impact on critical US employment in the Shannon area and risks seeing big investors pull out of the West.

“Although discussion on Open Skies has been deferred, should it become a reality, Open Skies will present opportunities for every EU and US airport, including Shannon. Equally, Shannon will face competition from every well-placed European airport, most of which have excellent onward links to almost any other mainland destination. That is why domestic links to Shannon must be prioritised,” he said.

Deputy Kenny outlined how the people of Clare had suffered a decline in quality of life in the last decade.

“The Government has given lipservice to the rights of people to build houses in their own communities, while working against this through planning regulations,” he said.

“Average house prices are up from €69,000 in 1996 (the last full year Fine Gael was in office) to €245,000 at the end of last year making it impossible for many young couples to afford their own home,” he added.

“There are 3157 primary school children in classes of 30 or more, despite Fianna Fail promises.”

THE chairman of the Clare Association of An Taisce has warned that four large retail parks on the fringes of Ennis will have a negative impact on businesses in the town centre.

Plans for the retail parks are before Clare County Council and An Bord Pleanala. If approved, they could dramatically alter the town’s commercial landscape.

In a submission to Clare County Council, Oliver Moylan said that “if these out-of-town retail centres are allowed to continue, the town centre will be affected. What will happen in the end is the decline of retail shops on the streets and their places will be taken up by solicitors, finance houses, auctioneers and insurance companies”.

There are plans for a €50 million retail park on the Quin Road, a €25 million development at Claureen, Lahinch Road, another park as part of a €50 million development near Clarecastle and another €50 million park on the Clare Road.

“All these will bring about the decline of shopping in the town centre – the consumer choice will be gone. Note, there are five solicitors offices in Parnell Street – fatal for attracting shoppers,” said Mr Moylan, who also operates a business in Ennis town centre.

“In all honesty, do we need another retail park? Are we not overretailed?

“In the Ennis and environs plan 2003, it states that ‘no out-of-town centre retail developments will be allowed unless it can be demonstrated that no other suitable sites are available’. I put it to you that the Ennis area is amply covered in all aspects of retailing, especially with the existing seven centres.

“There are at present virtually seven retail parks in the Ennis area: town centre, Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Roslevan and the Lynch proposal for the Limerick Road. I really must ask is there a need for another one?

“There is a population of 110,000 in Clare. Of that, only half come into Ennis to shop. The other half, especially those living in south Clare, go to Limerick to shop.

“That leaves roughly 55,000 to shop in the existing centres. It is an awfully small cake to share out. It is interesting to note that Dunnes Stores has 100,000 square feet of retail space, almost equal to the square footage of the small shops on the three main streets.”

Decisions are due on the retail park applications in the next number of weeks.

FURTHER concern has been expressed over the declining number of people living in the centre of Ennis.

The most recent census figures show that the population of Ennis grew by 7. 5 per cent in the period from 2002 to 2006, with the town now home to 10,305 people.

The areas of Ennis defined as rural also grew, in this case by 9.4 per cent.

However census figures also show that the core population has dropped by almost 20 per cent in the past 10 years with the town’s urban population now standing at 5,917 compared to 7,163 a decade ago.

According to Rita McInerney, Chief Executive Officer, Ennis Chamber of Commerce, the decline is a cause for concern.

“Certainly it is a concern and we have a committee together who are looking at the reasons why and seeing what recommendations can be made”.

Increased demand for commercial space is seen as one of the reasons for the fall in population and according to Mrs McInerney the town would benefit more from having an increased core population.

“The figures show there is a great demand for commercial space. It would certainly be better to have certain areas in the centre that were residential.

“The idea of having deserted streets is not ideal.

“ It is important there is a good mix of people in any town, and there are also benefits from a security point of view.”

Meanwhile, there have been calls to install a new lighting system near Clare Abbey.

Plans for a new link road to the Ennis bypass that would pass by the ancient abbey have been lodged with Clare County Council and at the September monthly Executive Meeting of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, one of the items discussed was the potential focus on Clare Abbey.

According to statement from the Chamber, “Clare Abbey will now be much more visible to motorists, both locals and visitors alike. Ennis Chamber believes this is an historic religious structure of high architectural value which should be revered.

“Therefore the chamber is calling on the Office of Public Works to develop a lighting plan in order to give Clare Abbey the attention it deserves.

This will ensure its role as a landmark symbol for Ennis, reflecting the rich heritage and culture the town has to offer.”

KILKEE has secured a massive coup by persuading Oscar-winning actor, Russell Crowe (left), to participate in the unveiling of a statue dedicated to the late Richard Harris.

The Hollywood star is to take a break from filming in New York to be in Kilkee next Saturday for the unveiling of the life-size statue.

Event organiser, Manuel di Lucia, confirmed yesterday that the star was to attend and sing a song that Crowe penned in memory of Richard Harris.

The first move in what is likely to be a nine-month long game of strategising, planning and spin began in Clare this week.

Making the first move with a walk about in Clare, Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern was working to keep all three of his pawns in play.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny believes that he needs to have just two of his four remaining pawns standing to secure victory.

He told The Clare People this week that the party hoped to gain two seats in Clare, despite claims that he is overloading the constituency with too many candidates.

“We have four exceptional candidates and as long as we work as a team and urge the voters to use their vote to change the Government, I’m confident we can take two seats.”

But who of the four candidates, Deputy Pat Breen, Cllrs Joe Carey, Tony Mulcahy and Madeleine Taylor Quinn he hopes to have left standing with him remains a mystery.

Meanwhile Mr Ahern is hoping to bring all three candidates, Deputy Tony Killeen, Senator Brendan Daly and Senator Timmy Dooley to the Dáil. Current political polls would suggest that such a move would require a lot of work however.

Speaking in Clare on Thursday the Taoiseach went so far as to suggest that the political games began with the leak of tribunal documents to a national paper.

“Who went to the trouble of such a motivated and scurrilous way of leaking what was a confidential session that I had with a tribunal and put it in the public domain?” he asked the gathered media in Kilrush after admitting the report was damaging.

“I don’t want to say it is politically motivated, but it is dirty (and) dishonest. I mean somebody went to a lot of trouble to place this in the public domain and it has been going on for the last few days,” he said.

Meanwhile Deputy Kenny is planning his strategy to call checkmate in the Banner County. The Mayoman outlined how the government has failed the people of Clare.

A TOTAL of 17 generous people from the Banner county have been honoured for their contribution to saving hundreds of lives.

The 15 Clare men and two women were presented with donor awards from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service on Friday, as each had donated blood more than 50 times.

Donating blood makes it possible for many people to lead normal, healthy lives. Every year, thousands of patients require blood transfusions in hospitals, because they are undergoing surgery, recovering from cancer or have been in a serious accident.

Among the reasons given for these Clare people’s generosity is the benefit a transfusion has been to a family member or a friend.

For many, they were following on a family tradition as their parents were donors. For others, they simply wanted to give something back to the community.

Donors must be over 18 years of age, weigh over seven stone 12 lbs (50kgs) and be fit and healthy.

People are deferred from donating for a short period of time if they are on medication or have a cold. Those who have lived in the UK for more than one year between 1980 and 1996 cannot donate.