The Clare People Archive

KILRUSH Town Council came under fire yesterday when it emerged that the Kilrush parish would be in debt for the next 10 to 15 years to pay the €5 million costs of renovating St Senan’s Church, which is a listed building.

The costs of the project were initially put at €2.5 million four years ago. However, delays encountered as a result of concerns expressed by Kilrush Town Council over the project have pushed the costs up by 100 per cent, to €5 million.

With €1.9 million raised, fundraising for the scheme was suspended for two years due to the delays, leaving the community now with a €3.1 million shortfall.

Kilrush parish is expected to announce the contractor for the substantive portion of the works this week, with the renovations due to start in mid-August. The works are expected to take one year to complete.

Parish Priest, Fr Michael Sheedy, expressed his frustration with Kilrush Town Council for delaying the project.

“We spent five years trying to placate people who in the end only ignored us,” he said.

The town council – based on a report by the County Council’s Conservation Officer, Risteard Ua Cronin – refused planning permission for a substantive portion of the works last year, only for the decision to be overturned by An Bord Pleanala.

The Board overturned the decision of the town council after the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, intervened in the dispute. The delay pushed up the construction costs. The chair of the parish finance committee, Pat Shannon admitted yesterday that the community “is facing a big, big challenge”.

“I believe that Kilrush community could be paying off the current renovations works over the next 10 to 15 years,” said Fr Sheedy.

Both Fr Sheedy and Mr Shannon said that they hoped that the Diocese of Killaloe and the Department of the Environment would provide funding towards the renovation works.

Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) said yesterday, “The church authorities have been penalised and it is grossly unfair”.

The parish is expected to draw down a bank loan to pay for the works. Masses are to be transferred to the local community centre.

However, Fr Sheedy said, “The community centre has capacity for 300, while we would have a number of masses where over 450 people would attend, so we will have to put on extra masses.”

The works are to include alterations to the entrance, under-floor heating and re-wiring.

WORK began this week on the preliminary stages of a bypass for Kilrush town.

After more than a year campaigning and lobbying, the local HGV action group saw a new route around the east of the town get the green light.

But while work may be beginning, it is still very much at its infancy stage.

Kilrush area members of Clare County Council, Kilrush town councillors and members of the concerned action group met with senior engineers from the council last week, where it was explained that the bypass must first be part of a constraints study.

The study would look at the environmental impact of such a road in the area. It will also consider the engineering requirements.

The area considered capable of sustaining all heavy goods vehicles travelling to the Moneypoint Station and Roadstone is east of the West Clare capital, stretching from Knockerra Cross to Dunogrogue Cross to west of the Killimer car ferry and on to Ballynote Cross. The neighbouring woodlands will be excluded from the study.

On completion, the study will be put on public display. A decision will then be made whether to upgrade an existing route or build a new road.

Chairperson of the HGV Action Group, Barry Coppley, told The Clare People that while he was happy that some work had begun, the solution to the town’s HGV traffic difficulties was moving at a slower pace than he had hoped.

“We were hoping it would be at road selection stage by now. It is slow but it is moving along,” he said.

With the completion of the road years away, the council and local lobby group are now giving immediate attention to an interim solution, in the form of traffic calming measures.

Clare County Council is currently drawing up plans which will include up to six pedestrian crossings estimated to cost €6,000 each and eight islands costing between €2,000 and €3,000 each.

“Traffic calming measures are not going to solve the problem with the HGVs. They will slow down the traffic but they won’t deter them,” warned Mr Coppley.

The HGV Action group have been lobbying the council to solve the 26year-old traffic problem, which has seen heavy goods vehicles travelling to Moneypoint using the highly populated route through Lower Moore Street and Crawford Street and by St Senan’s Terrace and John Paul Estate.

IN A defection not seen since the ending of the Cold War, Fianna Fáil councillor, PJ Kelly has confirmed that he is applying to join An Taisce.

The move by the leader of the Fianna Fáil group at Clare County Council will come as a surprise to many, as Cllr Kelly has excoriated An Taisce in various forums in recent times.

Recently, Cllr Kelly labelled An Taisce “Ireland’s only secret society that receives State recognition” and speculated that its number might include members from al-Qaeda and the CIA. Cllr Kelly has also christened members of An Taisce as “born-againsts”.

However, in a national radio discussion with the Director of An Taisce, Cllr Kelly said, “I am making my application here now (to join An Taisce) and I am hoping that your chairman will accept it over the airwaves.” In response, Mr Harte said, “Why wouldn’t he?”

Cllr Kelly said that he hoped he would not have to take an oath of allegiance over joining An Taisce.

He said, “I only know of one An Taisce member in Clare, my good friend Oliver Moylan, and I don’t know if there are other members and if there are, I certainly would love to know their names. There is a rumour circulating here that An Taisce holds its AGM in a phone box in O’Connell Square in Ennis.”

Cllr Kelly said that it was “totally unacceptable that we have a secret society and I would like to know who the plain-clothes members of An Taisce are”.

Cllr Kelly said that last year, An Taisce made 852 observations on planning applications in Clare.

“I don’t think the planning department should be clogged up by the frustrations of the bornagainsts.”

Green party councillor, Brian Meaney said yesterday, “It is a free country and anyone can apply to join any organisation if they wish, but I would be suspicious of Cllr Kelly’s motives in seeking to join. If PJ has seen the light, he can also apply to join the Green Party.”

MR O’Brien’s solicitor, Pat Enright, said there was no evidence to connect his client to breaking the window. He said the State was “seeking to make up evidence.”

A number of witnesses told the court yesterday they did not remember what had happened on the night of the alleged assault.

The accused’s girlfriend, Samantha Dullaghan, said, “What was the point in me giving a statement when I didn’t see anything?”

Two others, Michael and Brigid Scully, said they could not recall what had happened, but they were not approached by the O’Briens, while Mr Kelleher’s wife tendered a doctor’s cert, saying she was suffering from anxiety and could not travel to court.

“A balance has to be reached between the rights and freedom of Mr O’Brien and the rights and freedom of Mr Kelleher. Mr Kelleher’s rights as a citizen, an injured party, a witness, are more important than the rights of liberty of Mr O’Brien,” said the inspector.

However, the solicitor said the State was attempting to impose a custodial sentence on his client, “when this case is a shambles, with no prospect of it seeing the light of day.”

Judge Joseph Mangan held with the State application, saying, “Without reservation, I accept and believe the evidence of each of the garda A FEAKLE man who grows his own marijuana plants says he shouldn’t be branded as a criminal for growing the herb.

Dennis Webb says he had a visit from gardaí recently, who cut the tops off 65 plants and confiscated them.

But Webb, who says he makes no secret of the fact that he has been growing the drug for 14 years, believes that homegrown “grass” should be legalised.

The gardaí arrived after the polytunnel in which Webb was growing the plants was exposed to view, following clearance of a neighbour’s land.

He was interviewed and cautioned but, as yet, no charges have been brought.

Webb says that he smokes the herb for medicinal as well as social purposes and has been asked for some by a local farming woman who suffers from a painful disease.

“I suffer from an incurable medical condition and I use herbal marijuana to help manage and control the symptoms.

“Without it, I will be prescribed three kinds of medication and antidepressants.”

The Feakle resident believes that the crime of growing the plants, “is a crime without a victim.

“If cultivation, possession and supwitnesses. The demeanour of the ci-

vilian witnesses I have heard today

and last Friday leaves me without a

scintilla of doubt that various wit-

nesses have been subjected to the

most serious, most sinister and most

massive intimidation, relating to the

charge before the court.

“I believe the removal of the ac-

cused from the place of the alleged

crime and his continued remand in

custody will help ameliorate the situ-

ation,” he added.

He said the case should be dealt

with as soon as possible and re-

manded the accused in custody for a

fortnight. ply of home-grown marijuana was decriminalised, its charisma as an illegal drug would go and it would remove the herb and the people who use it from the influences of drug dealers.”

And if growing marijuana were legal, it could even become a valuable crop for farmers, Webb argues.

“At current prices, an acre of herbal marijuana could yield between €2 million and €4 million. The product is labour-intensive and five people could be employed for each acre during the growing season with an extra 10 to 15 being taken on for the harvesting period.

“Even with a fall in price on decriminalisation and sellers margins, it would still be a very attractive crop which could be grown on marginal land without disrupting the usual farm business.”

The Feakle man added that he did not believe that smoking marijuana is particularly addictive.

A Garda source confirmed that following the raid at Webb’s home “the case is being processed.”

The source added that the “cultivation of marijuana plants is illegal.”

CLARE County Council is proposing to strengthen by-laws banning the consumption of alcohol in public places that are no longer being enforced by Ennis gardaí.

The council has just published new by-laws targeting the outdoor use of alcohol, non-prescribed drugs and solvents. In recent years, by-laws relating to the consumption of intoxicating substances in public places have been introduced in Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon by the respective town councils.

The new regulations will affect the rest of Clare, including the coastal resorts of Lahinch and Kilkee.

However, figures seen by The Clare People show that no person has yet been fined in relation to the by-laws applicable to the Ennis area in 2006.

The Ennis figures show that in 2003, when the regulations came into force, 73 fines were issued; 12 fines were issued in 2004; two in 2005 while, so far in 2006, not one fine has been issued.

Explaining the figures, Superintendent John Kerin said that the Public Order Act covered all Garda requirements in relation to drinking and disorderly conduct in public places.

“We don’t have any necessity to have recourse to the local by-laws in the vast majority of cases. The Public Order Act covers all eventualities, though this may be different in the county’s coastal resorts”, he said.

His north Clare colleague, Supt Eamon Dolan, who has jurisdiction for the Ennistymon area which includes Lahinch, Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay, welcomed the proposed bylaws.

“Drinking in public is a big problem on Lahinch prom and this will be a big help. I have been pressing for these by-laws for a while and they should be of great assistance. I expect that they will make an awful difference and be of real benefit to policing the north Clare area.”

According to council senior staff officer, James Barry, the revised bylaws will ensure the council has a comprehensive set of by-laws to encourage appropriate behaviour to the benefit of all of the community”.

Offenders who are caught breaching the by-laws will be served a notice specifying a fixed payment of €75, while prosecution allows for fines of up to €1,500.

The local authority is currently inviting public submissions in relation to the proposed legislation.

CLARE County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) have been spared millions of euro by private developers who are to build a link from the Quin Road business park to the €190 million Ennis bypass.

Ennis businessmen Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan have lodged plans for a €50 million retail park that is expected to provide 150 jobs.

The proposed €50 million development, comprising 14,840 square metres, will include a large anchor DIY store with garden centre and builders’ yard.

Ennis Retail Park will also comprise 9 smaller retail units. The large store will occupy 6,000 square metres while the smaller units will vary from 700 to 1580sqm.

It is expected that 175 full and part time jobs will be created once the retail park is operational.

The construction phase will provide 100 jobs over a 12 to 18 month period.

“Business and jobs that may go elsewhere with the advent of the new bypass will now remain in Ennis. With over 700 car parking spaces, I believe customers will find the convenience of Ennis Retail Park irresistible and we are confident that the town can now sustain a development of this size with its ability to attract national and international names,” said Mr Connellan.

The large 6,000sqm anchor store is likely to attract interest from the major DIY/Home Improvements operators.

Ronan Rooney, of estate agents Hamilton Osborne King, advisors throughout the pre-planning stage, said that many UK retailers such as PC World, Currys, Halfords motor accessories, Harry Corry and Carpet Right were looking to counteract poor trading in the UK by availing of high disposal incomes currently available in the Irish market.

The scheme has been designed by architects Murray O’Laoire.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce and local businesses have been lobbying for the road link to the bypass.

Quin Business Park businessman, Brian McCarthy, a member of Clare County Council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) for Roads and Infrastructure, said: “This gets the council off the hook.

The road proposal makes a lot of sense and avoids unnecessary traffic coming going through Ennis to the Quin Rd site.”

THE Irish Government has said that it will not allow any US flights carrying weapons or munitions for use in the Israeli/Lebanese conflict to land at Shannon Airport.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has confirmed that “in light of the present conflict between Israel and Lebanon, any request to transport weapons through Shannon for use in that conflict will be refused. Those flights will not be allowed land in Ireland.”

The department has also dismissed suggestions that it has already refused permission for flights to land at the mid west airport.

“The department has received no request from the US authorities to transport munitions bound for Israel through Shannon and has therefore not refused any flight permission to land here.”

It was reported at the weekend that US charter airlines, transporting tonnes of military munitions to Israel, had been refused permission to use Shannon as a technical stopover on their way to the Middle East and had instead landed at Prestwick in Scotland. It had been claimed that since the conflict in the Lebanon began almost three weeks ago, the Irish Government had refused requests by the US military to transport consignments of 600lb “bunker buster” bombs through Shannon Airport.

The Department of Transport has confirmed, however, that it granted permission for a flight carrying troops and munitions to Israel to land here on May 11th last, but the spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, “That has no bearing on this policy, it was long before the conflict between Lebanon and Israel began.”

It has also emerged that Prestwick Airport is in negotiations with charter companies that transport troops for the US government to secure some of the lucrative business Shannon Airport has enjoyed in recent years.

Prestwick is understood to be ready to employ a further 80 staff if it manages to strike a deal for the extra troop carrier business. It is known that at least one US carrier is reviewing its operations at Shannon.

It was reported last month that North American Airlines, a sister company of World Airways which pulled out of Shannon in favour of a better financial deal in Leipzig on July 1st last, is also looking at alternatives to Shannon.

According to a company spokesman, “ No decision has been made regarding changes for North American but we have the same economic concerns as World Airways.”

MANY CLARE households are getting twice the national average dose of radiation, a survey on the presence of Radon gas in homes has revealed.

The cancer-causing gas was found to be above the safe level in 15 per cent of homes surveyed in Clare in comparison to a national average of 7 per cent of homes.

But, the level found in the Banner county was nowhere near the highest level, which was found in a home in county Kerry, where occupants were being exposed to forty times the safe level of the gas.

The National Survey of Radon in Irish Dwellings was conducted between 1992 and 1999 by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII).

Radon was measured, over a 12month period, in a random selection of houses in each 10 x 10 km National Grid square throughout the country. The results were used to predict the percentage of houses in each grid square in which the radon concentration was in excess of 200 becquerels per cubic metre (Bq/m3), the National Reference Level.

Six of the 1,710 homes surveyed in Clare were found to have more than ten times the safe level of the gas. A total of 1,446 were under the level considered to be safe. 238 homes had levels of between 200 and 999 becquerels and 20 had levels of between 1,000 and 1999

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which originates from the decay of uranium in rocks and soils. It is colourless, odourless and tasteless and can only be measured using special equipment. When radon surfaces in the open air, it is quickly diluted to harmless concentrations, but when it enters an enclosed space, such as a house or other building, it can cause health problems.

Since July 1998, every new house is required to incorporate some degree of radon preventive measures at the time of construction.

The institute provides a radon measurement service to householders at a price of €50. A radon measurement is usually carried out by placing two small testing devices in the house for a period of three months. The detectors are then returned to the testing laboratory for processing. The procedure is carried out entirely by post. The RPII has produced a set of maps, available on its website, www.rpii.ie, showing high radon areas where more than ten per cent of the houses have levels of the gas above the norm.

TWO of the county’s tourist hotspots are to get extra Garda resources, amid concerns regarding public order issues.

The Clare People has learned that an extra garda is to be allocated to Lahinch and another to Miltown Malbay on a full-time basis from within weeks.

This follows local anger and claims that insufficient Garda resources have been made available to the areas, where populations increase dramatically during the summer months.

Householders in Lahinch were terrified after what they described as a “near-riot” broke out in the early hours of the morning a month ago.

Rocks were thrown through windows, bottles were smashed on the streets and several rows took place on the town’s Main Street, as revellers spilled out of the discos.

Locals in Miltown Malbay signed a petition earlier this year calling on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to allocate extra gardaí to their town.

The recently reformed Active Retired Association (ARA) pointed out that that the number of gardaí in Miltown Malbay was less than half the figure stationed there 20 years ago.

One garda retired three years ago and had not been replaced, they said.

Gardaí in the Clare Division have been invited to apply for the new posts, before the closing date of August 10, and the appointments will be made within days of this date.

Clare Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn confirmed that the gardaí being deployed to those areas will be taken from existing resources in the division.

“We are monitoring the public order situation on an ongoing basis.

“It is always a concern to us. We are responding to the need,” he said.

Residents in both areas have called for at least two extra gardaí, to which Chief Supt Quinn said, “in relation to peak times, extra gardaí are drafted in.

“It is not a case of one extra garda.”

Lahinch Community Council chairman Donogh O’Loghlin welcomed the announcement, but said, “we need more than an extra garda.”

He is calling on gardaí and fire officers to liaise when taking into account the amount of people permitted on licensed premises, given that the main problems emerge at closing time.

“It should be part of planning that fire officers should consult with gardaí, if they can increase numbers, taking into account the numbers that can be policed on the streets.

“Unfortunately somebody is going to be killed,” said Mr O’Loghlin.

PLANS are to be lodged with Clare County Council for a “world class” €20 million greyhound stadium in south-east Clare, it emerged yesterday.

Bord na gCon has lodged plans with the council for the 3,000 capacity stadium in close proximity to the Two Mile Inn Hotel, on the fringes of Limerick city.

The plan is to construct the five storey stadium and a three storey office building at Meelick, which will employ 100 people.

The plan is to also include betting facilities, two restaurants and four bars with a dance floor and function areas.

The Irish Greyhound Board has lodged an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the application.

According to PR and Marketing Executive with the Irish Greyhound Board, Patricia O’Grady, the project is to be funded through the sale of existing assets, tote profit and a government grant.

Ms O’Grady said that the breakdown of the numbers employed would be 30 per cent full-time and 70 per cent part-time.

“We expect the stadium to be operational by 2008. The anticipated annual turnover in relation to the development is €8 million to €10 million.”

Ms O’Grady said that the Meelick site was chosen for a number of reasons, including excellent road access from all areas, proximity to an urban centre, good profile, high visibility and competitive pricing.

The stadium has been desgned by Hamilton Architects and Ms O’Grady said: “we would like to thanks all the owners, breeders, trainers and general public in Limerick and Clare for their patience on this matter and we look forward to providing the people of the Mid West with a world class greyhound stadium.”

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) said: “I’m fully in support of the application. It is a great boost in terms of employment. I am assured by Bord na gCon that there will be a very positive spin-off for the local community.

“I am absolutely thrilled. It allows Meelick to progress forward, while allowing the village to retain its rural character.

“It will provide employment for the area as well.”

“There are several dog breeders in Meelick area who are thrilled at the prospect of the stadium. Clare has a strong tradition with dog breeding and dog-racing and I know from speaking with Limerick dog breeders that they are also looking forward to racing their dogs in Clare.”

A decision is due on the application later this year.