The Clare People Archive

ROAD safety signs in Clare may soon be required to appear in Polish and Lithuanian if a new safety campaign receives the backing of Clare County Council.

Ennistymon County Councillor Martin Conway is preparing a motion for the next meeting of the local authority in September which will include a call for a complete examination of all the dangerous bends in the county, as well as putting forward the case for multilingual signs.

“I think that we need to be much more proactive about the signage,” said Cllr Conway. “We should be looking at putting up signs in other languages where there are Polish and Lithuanian people working and driving on the roads.

“I am really looking for Clare County Council to look at road behaviour, identify the dangerous bends and give us a commitment in terms of time and funding.”

Six people have already died on the county’s roads this year and with the creation of the Road Safety Authority, road safety looks certain to be a major issue in next year’s general election.

“What I want to see is a complete survey from Clare County Council of all dangerous bends and road surfaces in the county,” continued Cllr Conway. “It is very easy for officials to wash their hands and say that it is not their fault.

“As an agency, we have a role to play. I see this as something concrete that can be done to reduce the levels of road accidents. There is a myriad of areas around the county with bad roads and they need to be addressed. I want to see a commitment to action by Clare County Council.”

With funding for road projects always in short supply in the local authority, it may be necessary for an outside agency to foot the bill for the road improvement.

“Funding is always going to be an issue. I would say that the Department of the Environment would have a role to play in that but, wherever the money comes from, it is needed sooner rather than later,” said Cllr Conway.

“There are a number of accidents which don’t have fatalities and don’t get the media attention. This doesn’t mean that these sections of the road are not dangerous and will not be the cause of fatalities in the future.”

CLARE County Council has expressed serious concern over a proposed €40 million housing development for Kilkee.

Putting the planned 196 homes by Colm Kennedy, Noel Gallivan and James Rael for Kilkee Upper on hold, the council has expressed concern over the impact the development will have on adjacent properties, its density, the implications it will have for traffic safety and its piecemeal approach.

The three developers are seeking full planning for 116 homes and outline planning for 80. The plan also includes the construction of a childcare facility and nursing home.

However, the plan has attracted 24 separate objections. In their objection, Jackie and Joseph Haugh state, “Were this development to go ahead, it would be a social, environmental and economic disaster of epic proportion for Kilkee.”

In his objection, local businessman, Brian Melican said, “I live on the Dunlicky Rd, just a few hundred yards away from this development, and we can smell the raw sewage from where it is being pumped into the sea. Adding more to this will destroy our beach which is the biggest attraction in Kilkee.”

Estimating that there are 1,000 holiday homes in Kilkee, Mr Melican asked, “will someone in the council wake up and call a halt. We have a beautiful place but we have to protect it. Enough damage has been done. Leave it at that.”

Now, in its request for further information on the proposal, the council states that it has “serious reservations relating to this development as a result of the number of units with resultant volumes of traffic accessing onto Dunlickey Rd and Merton Close, and the absence of the relief road extending to adjoining lands. The council would be more favourably disposed to a more comprehensive approach to the development of the overall wider zoned lands and relief road.”

The council also states that it has reservations about the location of the crèche and the principle of the “lockup” units, due the requirement for through traffic to access the crehche and the potential for anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of the lock-up units.

A decision is due on the application later this year.

SERIOUS doubt has been cast on the future of plans to upgrade Ennis Hospital after a HSE committee asked for a value-for-money report on the project.

With just over €20 million sanctioned for the project, the costs have now risen to a reported €40 million plus, and the health authorities finance board asked at a meeting last week for the figures to be explained and justified, sources have revealed.

But hospital campaigners say that the underestimate and subsequent report are causing unjustifiable delays, while one senator has raised questions about the viability of the plan.

Senator Timmy Dooley said he has fears that the continuing delaying in proceeding to planning stage with the upgrade are “a smokescreen. I have to ask, is someone within the HSE trying to stymie this development in favour of investment in developing the Regional Hospital in Limerick?”

€20.8 million for the up-grade was sanctioned this year under the Capital Development Works Plan. But now, it is understood, the actual cost of the project stands at a figure closer to €40 million. *1986 – First talks about redevel-

opment of hospital take place.

*2001 – £15 million is pledged for

the redevelopment of the hospital.

Discussions set up to draw up a

hospital development control plan.

*2006 – The Tanaiste and Minis-

ter for Health, Mary Harney, signs

off on the €20 million needed

for the development to proceed to

planning stage.

*June 2006 – Finalised plans were

due to be ready to submit through

the planning process.

*July 2006 – The HSE go into dis-

“This is bureaucracy gone mad. Someone within the bowels of the HSE has managed to complicate a plan which should be very straightforward,” said Senator Dooley.

A spokesman for the Ennis Hospital Development Committee said that the further delay “just isn’t good enough. It’s nearly six years since €20 million was committed for this plan. With inflation running as it is and changes to the original plan, anyone who thought it was going to come in at the same price now is living on a different planet.”

The spokesman warned that people in Clare “will not tolerate this. This is going to cost votes and all the candidates will have to make a firm commitment to the provision of a first-class hospital service at Ennis.”

But Deputy Tony Kileen said that he is “confident the costings will stand up to scrutiny.” He added that he doesn’t believe the need for extra funding will delay anything. “Very little of the money will actually need to be paid this year or even next year,” Deputy Kileen said. But he added that he would be “happier if reliable information were more readily available from the HSE.”

There was no comment available from the HSE. cussions on the increased costings

of the project.

*August 2006 – The HSE finance

controllers seeks a value-for-mon-

ey audit of the new costings. *September – The plan gets ap-

proval.

*Late 06/early07 – Contractors

come on-site

*Late 08/early 09 – Final fit-out is

completed.

THE end of a glorious era in Clare life was signalled yesterday with Anthony Daly’s decision to step down as Clare senior hurling manager after three years in charge.

Daly’s announcement, given to The Clare People , is expected to usher in the final break-up of the team that brought unprecedented success to Clare hurling in the past 12 years.

“My time is up,” Anthony Daly revealed with a heavy heart as he bowed out of the centre stage of inter-county hurling in the aftermath of Clare’s eight-point defeat to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final.

And, he won’t be alone. Daly who captained Clare to All-Ireland victories in ’95 and ’97 will be joined in retirement by his successors as captain, Brian Lohan and Seánie McMahon who almost certainly played their last game for the county.

Tributes have been led this week by County Board Chairman, Michael McDonagh, who has urged Anthony Daly to reconsider his position and commit to another term of office.

“He has been an inspiration, I will be sorry to see him go. Even at this stage I would hope that he would reconsider his decision,” McDonagh told The Clare People .

“I want Anthony Daly to stay for another period – he did a fantastic job with a team that put in a massive effort, while to the players who are going to retire I salute the massive contribution they made to Clare life and urge them not to finally make up their minds for a couple of weeks. ”

A MIDWEST businessman has called for regulations which would level the playing field when it comes to waste collections in different counties. Mr Binman boss, Martin Sheehan Snr, told The Clare People that he collects waste in seven different areas and has to deal with different rules in each of them.

He was responding to an announcement from Environment Minister, Dick Roche, of Government approval to initiate a public consultation on regulation of the waste management sector.

“In recent years we have put in place a robust system of environmental regulation to ensure that the waste management sector can operate in a sustainable manner. The time has now come to examine whether there is a need for a better system of socio-economic regulation to complement this,” the Minister said.

But Sheehan, head of one of the biggest waste collection businesses in the MidWest, with collection services in Clare, Kerry, South Tipperary, Limerick county and city, Waterford and Kilkenny, said the Minister should standardise the regulations in every county.

“If you look at the permits we have, there are lots of differences from one county to the next. For instance, in some places you can collect dry recycleables in bags, in others they have to be in a bin and in another, there has to be a third bin. There’s no standard operating procedure which makes it very difficult. If the minister plans to regulate the waste collectors, he should also regulate the way local authorities draw up their rules,” he said.

Sheehan also claimed that the situation makes it very difficult for companies like his to expand and do business in neighbouring counties. “I need a permit to go into each county and I have no problem with that but they should be standard permits. There should be one waste strategy across the board,” said Sheehan.

Announcing that he was starting the consultation process, the Minister said: “We now have a waste management marketplace which, unlike other similar sectors, has not got an independent regulator. It is timely to consider if such independent regulation is now warranted and, if so, the form it should take.”

Minister Roche added that he is keeping an open mind on the matter and wants to hear the concerns of the various people involved, “most particularly the public”.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant O2 has refused a request by Clare County Council to reduce the height of a 50-foot proposed mast at Lisheen, Ballynacally.

Earlier this year, the council put the plan on hold, stating that the proposed mast was visually obtrusive and asking O2 to reduce its height. In response, O2 claims that 15 metres is the lowest possible structure that will provide the required coverage.

The company states, “If we were to (reduce the height), coverage would be blocked by the hill to the east of the site and render that sector useless”.

The company was also asked by the council to investigate the option of colocating a mast. O2 responded, “There are no structures in the area upon which to co-locate”, but added that co-locating a mast would have been its first and preferred option.

The plan has encountered stiff opposition locally. In all, 57 objectors, led by the Lisheen Mast Action Group, have lodged objections. The objection lodged by the Action Group, and signed by over 120 people, expressed health fears over the mast.

A decision is due on the application later this month.

Meanwhile, residents in the Moveen area of west Clare have made a last ditch attempt to prevent eircom from retaining a phone mast that residents believe is illegal.

Last month, Clare County Council granted planning permission to eircom to retain the structure at Moveen Hill, Kilkee. A five year planning permission was previously granted to eircom and this permission expired in May 2004.

The proposed structure encountered stiff local opposition. In an objection lodged by the Moveen East Protest Group, its chairman, Shay Hynes stated: “The existing mast doesn’t have planning permission and should have been removed since May 2004. This is an illegal structure.

“Eircom Ltd has blatantly ignored the requirements of the original planning permission, has changed the use of the mast without permission, increased RF radiation emissions to unknown levels and ignored the enforcement order issued by the council.”

However, eircom warned that the removal of the mast would leave the area without eircom or Vodafone coverage for a substantial period of time.

Now, the Moveen Mast Protest Group has appealed the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanala. In a brief two-page appeal, Mr Hynes states that eircom has materially changed the development from that originally permitted. “This makes the mast a prominent feature in the skyline all around Kilkee,” he states.

A decision is due on the appeal later this year.

AN ENNIS business consortium has bought the whole Island of Ireland – and they paid just €20 million for it.

And in this Ireland, you can take a water taxi to Thailand for lunch, do dinner in New York and still be back in Eireann before pub closing time.

The Ireland in question is a man-made island off the coast of Dubai, measuring five acres and is part of a project called The World in which countries are represented by smaller islands shaped like the originals.

Ray Norton, MD of Larionova has teamed up for the investment with his brother-in-law, Andrew Brett and property developer, Noel Conlon, both from Ennis as well as John O’Dolan from Galway.

“We will try to build a vision of Ireland on the land – that is the Ireland of 2007 – and we are currently developing plans for what we hope will be landmark buildings that will truly represent our country,” Norton said.

There are plans for 170 apartments and some villas with their own marinas, with prices on the properties ranging from €400,000 to €1.9 million.

The development will be worth €125 million in all and Norton is hoping that it will attract some Irish investors, although the local market in Dubai is the most likely one.

Larionova is also the exclusive Irish agent for Dubai Sports City, a 2 billion development that will include four sports stadia, a golf course, commercial district and office blocks.

KILRUSH is the only area in Clare that had less people signing on last month than in the previous July.

According to the Central Statistics office there were 4,099 people on the live register in Clare this July compared to 3,922 in July 2005. The Mid West recorded an increase of 226 people during the same period.

While the Ennis, Ennistymon and Tulla areas all recorded an increase, the figures released in the last week show the number of people on the live register in the Kilrush area has decreased when seasonally adjusted.

The number in the West Clare area signing on in July this year was 579, 15 people less than July last year.

The number in Ennis had increased from 2,374 to 2,523, Ennistymon from 549 to 571 and Tulla from 405 to 426. There are more men on the live register in the Banner County than women, with 2,138 men signing on and 1,961 women.

Just 711 of all of the Clare people on the live register are under the age of 25.

When seasonally adjusted the numbers on the live register nationally had reduced by 2,400.

Government Chief Whip and Minister of State Tom Kitt said the decrease reflected a strong underlying labour market performance.

“Our unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent remains one of the very lowest in the EU, and the outlook remains favourable,” he said.

The Live Register includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to Unemployment Assistance or Benefit, and is not therefore a measure of unemployment.

A SECURITY guard who worked at the Irish Aviation Authority’s Shannon operation settled his claim for unfair dismissal against his former employers, Pegasus Security last week.

Kevin Cusack of Ruan in Ennis took the case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal sitting in ennis last week against the Authority and Pegasus.

But the Tribunal ruled in favour of an application by the Aviation Authority to be stood down from the claim as it found that the security firm was Cusack’s direct employer.

Cusack had also told the Tribunal that his case was one of claiming constructive dismissal but chairman John Fahy, ruled that only an unfair dismissal case could be heard by the Tribunal.

After an adjournment to allow Cusack to consult with an adviser from SIPTU, the former employee told the Tribunal that the matter had been settled and that he wished to withdraw his claim.

Details of the settlement were kept confidential and asked if he was happy with it, Cusack replied that he was satisfied “under the circumstances.”

The Tribunal allowed six weeks for the settlement to be concluded.

JUDGES for the Tidy Towns competition were expected in Ennis over the weekend to see if the town has maintained the high standards it set last year.

While no advance warning of the committee’s arrival is given, adjudicators have visited the town on the August Bank Holiday weekend in previous years. Last year Ennis was named the tidiest town in Ireland but competition rules state that Ennis cannot win the overall award again this year. The Ennis Tidy Towns Committee hope though that Ennis can defend its title of Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town.

The total points awarded to Ennis has increased every year since 1998. The total then was 240 and last years winning tally was 279 points from a possible 300. In 2001 Ennis was named the tidiest large town and in 2002 it received a gold medal in the European Entente Florale Award.

Chairman of the Ennis Tidy Town’s Committee, Donal Griffin is upbeat about Ennis’ chances in the upcoming competition.

“We have no warning but experience would say that they (judges) would usually visit around the August Bank Holiday weekend. You can’t win the big award two years in a row but we would hope to win again in the large town category. It is probably fair that you can’t because there are around 20 towns that could win it every year”

Mr Griffin who has been Chairman for 12 years, said the committee are pleased with preparations so far and praised the efforts of residents associations and the local business community.

“You see a huge amount of people out and residents associations have been very proactive in looking after their own patch. I was around town last week and there was shopkeepers tending flowers at 8pm so I think people have really taken to the competition. Ennis Town Council of course also play a substantial role and the Friary and the Cathedral have also been very helpful providing information in newsletters”

Since being named Ireland’s tidiest town other accolades have fopllowed. Earlier this year President Mary McAleese visited the town to pay tribute to the massive community effort and unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion.

“The visit of the President was a major highlight. Ennis has had massive exposure on local, national and international media, its been great from a public relations point of view its been great. People have also embraced environmental issues and have shown real pride in their town”

The final results of the competition will be announced at a ceremony in Dublin castle on September 4.