The Clare People Archive

THE Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has given an undertaking that the voice of Ennis General Hospital Development Committee will be considered in a major review of acute hospital services.

But Clare Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, has called on Ms Harney to “come clean and admit” that their assurances on the future of accident and emergency services at the Ennis hospital did not stand up.

Ms Harney promised to listen to the development committee, in a response to a Dáil question.

“Concerns raised by individuals and groups, particularly in relation to the smaller hospitals, and the work already undertaken by groups such as the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee, the Independent Reconfiguration Panel in the United Kingdom and the Nenagh General Hospital Action Group, will be taken into account as a key component of the review process.”

She said consultants currently undertaking a review of acute hospital services would make recommendations, “on the options for reconfiguring and redesigning services and, in particular, to identify the elements of healthcare that can be most effectively delivered at each site and set out what needs to be done to achieve this objective.”

But Deputy Breen claimed that the Tánaiste’s assurances put previous assurances “in a new light”.

“The future of such services will remain in doubt right up to the general election and, even then, the Government might hide behind its flawed mantra that management and delivery of health services rest with the HSE,” Deputy Breen said.

“This is an intolerable situation. We have had half assurances followed by fudge followed by silence, followed by withdrawals of statements. I have continually called for a clear statement from Minister Harney on this issue by way of Parliamentary Question and by letter, and every time the nub of the issue is ignored.

“However, it is clear now that the jury is out on the future of A&E services pending the outcome of the review of acute services. If the review goes against Ennis General, then the best the people of Clare can hope for is that they may be thrown the bone of guaranteed A&E services as a pre-election promise. This is a scandalous way to govern in a modern democracy.”

THE POPULARITY of Shannon as Ireland’s low-cost airport continues, with the airport recording a 22 per cent increase in passenger numbers in the first quarter of this year.

According to the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), for the first quarter of this year, 716,000 passengers used Shannon.

Over the Easter bank-holiday weekend alone, an estimated 40,000 passengers used Shannon – an increase of 28 per cent on last year.

However, the continuing growth at Shannon comes against the background of continuing uncertainty over the airport’s future with a recommendation by the Labour Court on the Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) €30 million ‘survival plan’ for Shannon imminent.

The DAA’s Director for Change, John Horgan and Shannon unions, made their case to the Labour Court on the March 24. Workers who decide to remain with the company will receive “substantial lump sum payments”.

Mr Horgan described the package on offer to the airport’s workers “as probably the highest severance package available in Ireland and probably the highest available ever”.

The package gives staff with over 24 years experience a €100,000 pay-off, while it also entitles workers to their company pensions at 55.

The Labour Court has been inspecting proposals by the DAA, which is seeking to cut its workforce at Shannon by 200, through the voluntary redundancy scheme.

“Based on the expressions of interest that we have had, I am completely happy that we will reach our target of voluntary redundancies,” Mr Horgan said.

The company’s proposals for Shannon involve the outsourcing of a number of sections. This is facing stiff opposition from SIPTU, which claims that the proposals would result in the displacement of over two hundred of the existing workforce and their replacement by staff on inferior pay and conditions.

A FRESH row has broken out over military use of Shannon airport, with revelations that Russia has been using the facility to export military helicopters to South America.

The revelations come in the wake of newspaper pictures, which showed USchartered Antanov cargo planes on the runway at Shannon. These planes are used to carry three military helicopters bound for Israel.

The Russian cargo flight landed at the airport on February 20, one week before the US plane. The flight was carrying a cargo of Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters bound for Venezuela.

The use of Shannon by Russian flights carrying the helicopters has been confirmed by Transport Minister, Martin Cullen.

The overall consignment from Russia included 20 Mi-17’s, mostly used for troop transport, 10 Mi-35’s assault helicopters and three Mi-26ts, the heaviest and most powerful helicopters in the world.

In a statement, Minister Cullen said that an inquiry launched after it was revealed that the US flights carrying choppers had landed, had now been upgraded to “a review.”

The minister’s statement said that under international aviation rules, “aircraft making technical stops do not need an authorisation. In Ireland, however, permission is required if munitions are being carried.”

He said that the Russian flight notification had “indicated that no dangerous goods or munitions will be carried on board. In the course of our enquiries the department has learned that helicopters were, in fact, carried.”

The latest controversy also follows claims that CIA planes landing at Shannon are carrying prisoners bound for torture.

The Green Party has called for an independent probe into the matter.

Green Party chairman, John Gormley asked whether “the Foreign Minister of the Taoiseach knew that these killing machines were exported from Shannon?”

THE SHANNON Airport Authority (SAA) has generated an estimated €14 million in revenues from US troop traffic in the first quarter of this year. Figures released by the SAA show that 116,540 US troops have flown through Shannon on 743 flights. The figures for March show that 41,138 troops used the airport during the past month. This is in addition to the 75,315 troops that have used Shannon for the first two months of this year.

The figures show that there has been a 21 per cent increase on the corresponding period for last year where a total of 95,984 US troops used the airport’s facilities.

The figures released for the first quarter confirm that the airport is on course to exceed the record number of American troops that passed through Shannon Airport last year.

The estimated €14 million generated from troop traffic brings to almost €100 million the amount Shannon has received from the US Government as a result of its campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent times.

Troop traffic has also been instrumental in sustaining the airport’s catering operation in recent years. Last year troop traffic accounted for 10 per cent of the overall traffic numbers going through Shannon Airport.

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) told The Clare People , “The business is very welcome and has assisted Shannon in its transition to a low-cost airport.

“I understand that the greater numbers of troops going through Shannon is as a result of shorter terms for the troops in Iraq.”

The number of troops going through Shannon represents 16 per cent of the overall total. It is expected that this percentage will significantly decrease during the peak Summer season.

It is estimated that there are currently 150,000 US troops in Iraq and an unknown number of troops that flew to Iraq via Shannon have not made the return journey home.

However, Senator Dooley said: “The troop business is welcome, but the airport would not want to depend on it going forward as we don’t know when the US will pull out of Iraq.”

Along with civilian aircraft carrying troops, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that last year the Government granted permission for 753 military aircraft to land in Ireland.

It is understood that the vast majority of these aircraft were US military landing at Shannon.

The Department also confirmed that the Government gave permission to 3,582 military aircraft to overfly Ireland last year. This figure represented a decrease of three per cent on the 3,691 military aircraft that overflew Ireland in 2003.

BRUCE Springsteen could be in line for a surprise Clare concert in the near future, The Clare People can exclusively reveal. This is according to Jim Aiken, head of Ireland’s largest promotion company, Aiken Promotions. The company are currently promoting the New Jersey rocker’s sold-out concert in the Point Depot in Dublin next month.

Mr Aiken also revealed that the Lisdoonvarna Music Festival in its former glory will never again take place, but that a revamped festival could take its place in Lisdoonvarna or elsewhere in the county.

“To revive the old festival would be impossible. It would be just too hard to get planning. But there is no reason why a new festival cannot be designed,” said Mr Aiken. “If Paddy Doherty and Christy Moore came on board, I would be more than ready to listen.”

Aiken Promotions attempted to revive the music festival in Lisdoonvarna in 2004 but were forced to relocate to the RDS in Dublin when planning permission was refused by Clare County Council.

While he refused to criticise Clare County Council directly, he did say that planning permission was the main stumbling block to resurrecting the festival and commented on “the fantastic endorsement that Galway City Council has given” for the recently-announced Andrea Bocelli concert.

“We attempted to revive the Lisdoonvarna festival but it is very difficult,” continued Mr Aiken. “Look at Bruce Springsteen’s new album. If he decided to do a folk festival and someone asked me where to go with it, I would say Clare.”

Interestingly, Mr Aiken also indicated that he would be interested in bringing big-name performers to Clare if the GAA go ahead with plans to build a new stadium capable of hosting major events.

“Nobody can predict what way music is going to go but, in the future, I can see a lot of venues hosting more than one type of sport, along with musical events,” continued Mr Aiken. “You need to have a good audience that appreciates music and a venue that is the right place for the right act.

“It is the way music is developing. It is also a business decision. People like coming to the West of Ireland and this just gives them one more reason to do so.”

CRIPPLING legal costs have forced Doolin-based company, Aran Islands Fast Ferries, to cease their operations at Doolin.

The company has claimed it will use its liquidated assets in order to take a case against the Department of the Marine to the European Court.

They say the Department has refused to allow them operate their boat, the Galway Bay, out of Doolin, on the grounds that it is too large.

Three years ago, the company moved to break the dominance of Doolin Ferries on the lucrative tourism routes to the Aran Islands.

The rivalry prompted tensions between the two, resulting in Clare Council Council last year enacting by-laws for the regulation of affairs at the harbour and numerous court appearances involving the two businesses.

However, Dick Grant confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that Aran Islands Fast Ferries would no longer be offering a service out of Doolin, due to costs associated with their forthcoming legal bid and from various previous legal battles.

“The company has had seven trips to the Circuit Court, nine trips to the High Court and another two trips to the district and circuit involving Clare County Council. We just want a level playing field, but the legal costs have been crippling.

“She is a perfect vessel, but the Department won’t let the boat operate from Doolin because they claim that the boat is too big. I am very disappointed and so is John-Joe Fitzpatrick. It’s tragic really and I am heartbroken after all the effort that we have put into it.”

Mr Grant said that the struggle to get Aran Islands Fast Ferries established at Doolin has been “a long miserable battle.”

Asked if he would be involved in operating a passenger ferry service out of Doolin, Mr Grant said, “I can’t see it in my lifetime.” Mr Grant said that he did not know the cost of the various legal battles. He said, “I don’t know, but it is colossal.”

The move by Aran Islands Fast Ferries to cease operating at Doolin now leaves three companies operating out of Doolin – the two separate companies operated by Bill and Kevin O’Brien and Cliffs of Moher cruises, who also offer services to the Aran Islands.

GARDAÍ are investigating how a deadly arsenal of weapons came to be buried in the woods in Cratloe.

The cache of weapons — discovered embedded in an old stone wall in the woods — is described as being the biggest find made in Clare in recent years.

Gardaí involved in a search for stolen goods unearthed an improvised rocket launcher, four revolvers, three rifles, two shotguns, explosives and ammunition.

The army bomb disposal squad was called on and carried out a number of controlled explosions at the scene.

A Garda spokesman said that army personnel involved in the operation, “said that the missile was the first of its kind seen by them and had the potential to cause massive loss of life.”

Gardaí are investigating a number of possibilities as to how the items came to be left in the woods but cannot say as yet whether the weapons were intended for criminal or paramilitary use.

The spokesman said that while the rocket launcher was improvised, it was nonetheless “very sophisticated. This was a substantial find, the biggest in Clare in recent years, and it is all modern weaponry.”

He added that it was, “a very good day’s work when people’s lives are saved by removing these weapons off the street.”

After the bomb disposal team carried out their controlled explosions, samples of explosive material were taken to the Garda forensic laboratory for examination.

A team of 15 gardaí kept the area sealed off so that a full examination could be carried out.

The Garda search of the woods was prompted by investigations into a number of robberies in the East Clare area in recent times.

Stolen items are often recovered from the area as thieves use the woodlands to either dump or hide stolen items.

The Garda spokesman said that the cache was “well buried and we cannot say at this stage how long they were there.”

The last very significant weapons find in the county was in March 2004 when a quantity of arms was found close to the River Shannon’s edge near Parteen.

The find included 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a quantity of mercury, which could be used in making bombs.

AFTER weeks of speculation about his political future, Fianna Fáil Senator Brendan Daly has issued an ultimatum to his party.

The former Minister has said he will not agree to be added to the party ticket for next year’s general election, unless issues such as Ennis General Hospital and the ongoing wait for sewerage schemes in the county, are adequately addressed.

“I do not believe in issuing ultimatums or making unattainable demands, but in the matter of the development of Ennis hospital, unless there is a clear unambiguous decision, as far as I am concerned Fianna Fáil will have to seek another candidate other than me to stand in the next election,” he told The Clare People .

“Unless there is a clear understanding that the Ennis hospital project is on track, the political positions is unsustainable,” he added.

“This time last year, I made it clear that I would stake my political future on the safeguarding of Ennis General Hospital and was given assurances in that regard.

“A clear commitment and assurance has been given by the Taoiseach to the continuation of 24 hour Accident and Emergency facilities at Ennis General Hospital. Any change in that position would have very serious political consequences in the constituency and as far as I am concerned, would be totally unacceptable,” he said.

“No amount of ambiguity will disguise the issue,” said Senator Daly, a member of the Oireachtas for 30 years.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney, and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern gave a commitment on the future of acute services at the hospital to the Ennis Hospital Development Committee last year. But the lobby group have been unable to secure a similar commitment from the CEO of the Health Service Executive, Prof Brendan Drumm.

Senator Daly is the favourite to be added to the Fianna Fáil ticket for the next election, according to a party spokesperson.

Last week Kilrush Comhairle Cheantar also gave unanimous support to the senator, with a show of hands endorsing any move to add him to the Fianna Fáil election team.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen and Senator Timmy Dooley were selected at the party convention two weeks ago.

BISHOP Willie Walsh, might have saved the life of a man living in Clare, if he had been responsible for handling the man’s clerical sex-abuse claim, the family believe.

A spokesman for the One In Four group told The Clare People that the bereaved family, “believe that if Willie Walsh had been the one dealing with Peter’s case, he would be alive today. He was a source of real comfort to Peter, as was his parish priest.”

Peter had been locked in a fouryear debate with the Diocese of Limerick over his abuse at the hands of Fr Denis Daly, when he was a ten year old altar boy.

His family said that Peter was particularly distressed to discover that the Church knew that Daly had been run out of his parish in Sydney by the police for a “moral lapse”, but did not admit this.

Peter was found dead at his home in Kilkee after years of fighting depression, and just days after a mediation conference with the diocese.

At an emotional press conference in Dublin yesterday (Monday) afternoon, Peter’s mother, Mary, said it was, “with deep sadness and immense grief that I am here to speak the truth for Peter, following his final battle with Dr Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick and the Diocesan legal representatives.

“It was the unbearable weight of the denial of the truth that became too much for Peter. That denial must end.”

Mrs McCloskey said the abuse caused her son, “untold emotional and psychological suffering”.

She also pointed out that, “this suffering continued through his teenage years, into his adulthood and up to the day he died”.

Rejecting the Bishop’s statement that Peter had walked out of the mediation meeting, she said: “Dr. Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick and his legal representatives had Peter nailed to the cross, well in advance of Good Friday.”

A spokesperson for Bishop Murray said the recent death of Peter Mc Closkey was “profoundly sad and deeply upsetting for all who knew him.”

The spokesman said that Bishop Murray gave an extensive interview to RTÉ’s Prime Time and the Irish Times concerning issues raised.

“Bishop Murray has been, and will continue to be available to meet Peter’s family and support them in any way he can at this difficult time, and to discuss concerns that they have.

“In order to respect the confidentiality due to Peter’s family Bishop Murray is making no further public comment for the time being.

“Bishop Murray invites anybody with concerns regarding abuse to contact in confidence the diocese, the gardaí, or the health authorities,” the statement concluded.

THE tightly knit community in Kilmihil is preparing to say goodbye to one of its young people this evening following a fatal road traffic accident at the weekend.

Trainee Garda Martin Coen, from Lackeen, lost his life during the early hours o f Saturday morning, when his car hit two horses at Garlow Cross in Navan, Co Meath.

It is believed the 26-year-old had been working in Kells Garda Station since the beginning of the year. Described by colleagues as a “promising garda” with a promising career ahead of him, Martin was due to graduate from the Garda College in Templemore, in the coming months.

The young garda was the sole occupant of the car that collided with two horses at 5.50am on Saturday. The two animals also died in the accident. Gardai in Navan are investigating the incident.

A GAA enthusiast, Martin played football for Kilmihill. He attended primary schools in Kilmihill and was also a past pupil of the Community College in the village. He was the youngest son of Ann and Billy and brother to Mandy and Brendan. He is also survived by nieces and a nephew. Martin will be buried with full Garda honours after noon Mass in St Michael’s Church, Kilmihil, tomorrow (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, the Shannon based Irish Coastguard helicopter airlifted a critically injured motorist after his car lost control and struck a wall in north Clare on Sunday evening.

The 23 year old sole occupant of the vehicle was only yards from his home, at New Quay, when his car swerved across the road before colliding with a stonewall.

Emergency services from counties Galway and Clare rushed to the scene, on the main Ballyvaughan to Kinvara road, shortly after 5.00pm.

Fire engines from Ennistymon and from Gort assisted an ambulance crew in removing the victim from the wreckage. An off-duty member of the ambulance service, who assisted colleagues at the scene, sought the assistance of a helicopter, such was his concern for the condition of the injured man.

The Shannon based Irish Coastguard helicopter, which was in the area at the time, made its way to the scene.

The chopper set down in a field next to the crash site and the injured man was quickly airlifted to University College Hospital in Galway where his condition was described yesterday as “serious, but not lifethreatening”.