The Clare People Archive

THE owners of Clare’s 143 thatched structures are being encouraged to come together to lobby insurance companies about their costly insurance.

According to Clare’s Conservation Officer Risteard Ua Cróinín there is a move nationally to organise the owners of these buildings in an attempt to reduce insurance costs.

Although those with thatched roofs are entitled to grants, they are still costly to maintain.

A report by Carrig consultants has found that the grants are imperative.

It stated that most historic thatch roofs in the county belong to people in the lowest income brackets.

The cost of maintaining these roofs is also continuing to rise say the experts.

The report into thatch houses in Clare has warned that the number of vernacular thatched cottages in Clare is dwindling fast.

Just 61 vernacular, or historic structures, were recorded in the county.

“Without these historical structures, in years to come there will be no living evidence of how Clare has developed and architecture has evolved,” the report warned. It blames the abandonment, or total modernisation of cottages after the owner dies, for the decline in the number of thatched houses in the county. A grant in the 1940s and 1950s encouraged homeowners to re-roof their cottages with slate.

Today the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government operates a thatching grant, to a maximum of €3,800. In exceptional cases of extreme disability this can rise to €6,350.

Clare County Council are empowered to pay out grants valued at 50 per cent of the cost to a maximum of €13,000 in cases where the building is a protected structure, or proposed by the planning department as such. There are currently eight people in the county availing of this grant.

In the cases of thatched buildings of great importance the Heritage Council provides a further grant. Such buildings are rare, because they are built of mud blocks – cobwalled homes – or, because they were built in the 17th and 18th century.

People can also avail of a grant under essential repairs criteria, or receive a Section 482 tax incentive where the building is opened to the public.

The current cost of putting a spar coat to a three bay vernacular farmhouse is in the region of €11,000.

Meanwhile Clare County Council is looking for thatchers for its trade’s directory. All inquiries to the Conservation Officer at 684 6407.

A LITHUANIAN man produced a false passport with the aim of getting a PPS number for another man, at the social welfare office in Ennis.

Tadas Grigaitis, with an address at Aiden Park, Shannon, pleaded guilty to one charge, contrary to the Theft and Fraud Offences Act, at Ennis District Court, arising out of an incident on November 11 last.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the accused went into the office and produced a false passport, in the name of another Lithuanian national, with the aim of getting a PPS number.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said another man had given her client the passport.

She said the other man threatened him that he would hurt him, his car and his family if he did not do what he had asked him.

She said her client was “the tool of the instrument” by which somebody else wanted to obtain a PPS number.

Inspector Kennedy said gardaí accepted others were involved with the accused in committing the crime.

Judge Joseph Mangan said he would dismiss the case under the Probation of Offenders Act, given the mitigating circumstances.

A MOTHER-OF-TWENTY allowed her dogs to roam as they wished, and one of them bit an employee of Ennis Town Council.

Ellen McDonagh (59), of John Paul Avenue, Ennis, was charged with breaching the Control of Dogs Act, arising out of an incident on May 24 last year.

Gda John McGovern told Ennis District Court that he went to John Paul Avenue, where an estate agent with Ennis Town Council had been bitten on the heel by a small brown dog.

He said the accused was the owner of the dog. This dog and another one were allowed to roam as they wished and were on the public road.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said the dog, Brownie, had since been sent to Tipperary and her client’s other two dogs were under control and had dog licences.

She said her client was very upset about the matter and felt the best thing to do was to send the dog away.

Gda McGovern said he agreed with what the solicitor had to say. He said while Ms McDonagh now had licences for the two other dogs, she did not have these licenses on the date in question.

Judge Joseph Mangan said the matter was too serious for the Probation Act.

He imposed a fine of €30.

THE case of an Ennistymon man accused of murdering his 17-year-old sister is “one of the most complex clinical cases” ever encountered by the psychiatriast assessing the accused.

Dr Paul O’Connell made the comment at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, in relation to Patrick O’Dwyer (20), who is charged with murdering his sister Marguerite, at Shrohill, Ennistymon, on November 29, 2004.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said he was aware of the enormous trauma the case had caused, and therefore he had attempted to have it heard several times.

“Everytime we assembled in court in Ennis, your side is not prepared to go on with the case,” he told defence counsel Hugh Hartnett.

Dr O’Connell, a psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin, said he had first met the accused in December 2004, for the purpose of carrying out a forensic psychiatric examination on his mental state.

But he said he needed more time to receive the views of a number of additional experts, including one from England.

“In my professional career, it’s one of the most complex clinical cases I’ve had to deal with,” he said.

Dr O’Connell said he had sought the opinion of a consultant neurologist as well as a psychological assessment and brain scans. He hopes to have concluded his final report by June.

Mr Hartnett said the accused man’s family was anxious that he be given the appropriate psychiatric care.

Last week, at a Central Criminal Court sitting in Ennis, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he was frustrated in his efforts to bring an early hearing in the case.

He said it was his practice to give an early trial locally in cases in his court.

A date for the trial will be fixed in June.

THE west Clare businessman sentenced to three months in jail last year for failing to comply with a court order, has failed in his bid to secure retrospective planning for his oil and transportation business at Moyasta in west Clare.

Last September, at Kilrush District Court, Judge Joseph Mangan jailed Oliver Marrinan of Henry St., Kilrush over his failure to remove an authorised oil depot at Moyasta in west Clare.

Mr Marrinan is on bail pending his appeal and his solicitor, Michael Ryan, failed in an attempt to have the district court matter adjourned pending the outcome of Mr Marrinan’s appeal to An Bord Pleanala.

The appeal was in response to last August’s decision by Clare County Council, who refused Mr Marrinan’s application to retain his business on the main Kilkee-Kilrush Road on four counts.

However, the appeals board has refused Mr Marrinan’s appeal on three counts.

“It is the policy of the Clare County Development Plan to encourage the location of industrial and commercial development into established and designated settlements.

“It is also policy to safeguard the rural amenities of the county.

“Having regard to the location of the development proposed for retention and completion in an unserviced rural area, it is considered that the development by itself and the precedent it would create for other services facilities, would conflict with the Development Plan, contribute towards an erosion of the rural amenities of the area and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The Board also refused planning permission with regard “to the nature of the development proposed for retention and completion, and its location in proximity to Poulnasherry Bay, which is the site of established shellfish harvesting activity and a designated area of nature conservation (National Heritage Area, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation).”

As a result, the appeals board ruled that the development “would be prejudicial to public health and would adversely affect the integrity of the said nature conservation designations and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The appeals board also found that “the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of road users.”

Mr Marrinan is due to appear at the Circuit Court next month in relation to his appeal. He declined to comment on the decision this week.

MOBILE phone users in Clare have been warned to beware of unsolicited text messages, after a Clare woman was billed an extra €64 for a series of messages received over two months.

The woman claims she unwittingly signed up to the service by replying to an unsolicited text in November inviting her to enter a competition.

She then received a series of texts, which she deleted instantly. The woman was not aware however, that these “spam texts” were costing her €2 each.

An 02 spokesperson subsequently warned that at the bottom of some of these text messages was “small print” saying that by entering, one was agreeing to enter a text draw costing €2 a time.

The Data Protection Commissioner has already investigated a number of companies for making unsolicited texts.

Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, has warned of the danger of “spam text” to mobiles, after hearing of this constituent’s experience.

“I would call on mobile phone users to be extremely vigilant when it comes to text messages offering prizes, or draws and to ensure they read the entire text. They should also make a complaint to the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) if they receive an unsolicited telemarketing call, or text message,” said the Clare TD.

CLARE County Council increased its activity against suspected rogue developers by over 30 per cent last year, figures released yesterday by Clare County Council reveal.

According to the council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella, the council’s Enforcement Unit took 311 separate actions in the field of enforcement – a rise of 31 per cent, or 75, on the 236 actions taken in 2004. Ms Kinsella also revealed that a number of homes across the county last year had to be partly demolished as a result of enforcement action taken against people who had been built without planning permission.

The figures show that the council’s enforcement unit served 168 Warning Letters, 115 Enforcement Notices and instituted 28 separate legal proceedings.

This compares to the 128 Warning Letters, 84 Enforcement Notices and 24 legal proceedings being instituted the previous year.

“Through the actions of the enforcement unit, the council is aware that some people still think it best to build first and think about planning later. This leads to a greater cost to all, a cost to neighbours, or those affected by a development, cost to the person of having to regularise, or demolish the development, pay the costs of the council and legal costs if the matter goes to Court,” Ms Kinsella said.

“In 2005, there have been cases where houses had to be partly demolished to comply with planning to remedy the matter, while remedial works have had to be done on site, a housing development had to be stopped and businesses had to close down, or move.

“It is therefore vitally important that before any work is started on any site that the need for planning permission be considered and that where a person has planning permission, that it is strictly complied with.

“During 2005, the council continued to take a very active role in the area of enforcement. Over 200 new cases came to the attention of the Enforcement Unit, many of which are still under investigation. Legal proceedings were commenced in 28 cases, with a number of convictions secured, while some cases have been finalised, with convictions and fines imposed. Many of the cases taken are still ongoing and some have been appealed to higher courts and are awaiting hearing.”

“The need to be able to respond to all complaints, investigate fully all sites and follow through each complaint to its conclusions is very resource intensive.”

CLARE County Council has given the go-ahead to plans to develop a music school aimed at giving Doolin’s world-wide reputation for traditional Irish music a focal point.

In move that will add to Clare’s growing infrastructure for traditional Irish music, John D Flanagan and Richard Maher have secured planning from the council to develop a music school along with a retail unit and residential accommodation.

The council granted planning permission having regard to the site in close proximity to Fitz’s Cross at Doolin, ruling that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area.

However, the council has refused planning permission to a pub which formed part of the application. How this will affect the feasibility of the overall scheme is not known.

The music school is expected to compliment the presence of Glór, the Irish Music Centre, the International Folk Music Centre, located in Doonbeg and the Ennis-based Maoin Cheoil an Chláir.

The architects for the venture, Michael Leahy and Paul Conway state that the “music school will give Doolin’s world famous scene a focal point.”

Their submission states: “the music school will consist of a performance hall, café practice rooms and manager’s apartment at the top of the site on approach to the Fitz Cross part of Doolin.

“The music school is a venue which will have activity through the day with classes taught during the day and performances at lunch-times and evening and will be a year-round industry.”

The council refused planning permission for the pub after opposition was expressed by a Dublin couple who own a holiday home in the area.

Brian and Dympna Campbell claimed that the proposed public house and fast food outlet would create noise, interference and disturbance that would seriously diminish their use, enjoyment and value of their adjoining property.

“The nature of the development comprising part of a public house and fastfood outlet will create a substantial security risk to the use and enjoyment of our property.

“Both of us and our family spend all our holidays on the property and it is our plan to reside there full time in the near future.”

LOCALS in Newmarket-on-Fergus and Sixmilebridge are vehemently opposed to plans by An Post to move their sorting offices to Shannon in three weeks’ time.

Although it has yet to be finalised, An Post has suggested that the move will be made on February 20. People living in the two areas believe this move will inconvenience them.

Five postmen who operate out of Sixmilebridge and four, who work in Newmarket-on-Fergus, will have to work out of Shannon, where the letters will be sorted, if the move gets the green light.

“Why are they doing it? The postmen don’t want to move,” one local told The Clare People .

Another local in Sixmilebridge said that this could spell the death knell for the post office, in a village where there is no bank.

“Public support is needed, to prevent this,” said a local.

However, An Post said while the proposed change was been considered, nothing had yet been finalised.

“There have been some customer service issues there recently and any changes will take account of the growth in mail volumes and delivery points in the areas,” said spokeswoman Anna McHugh.

She said, currently, the issue was an “internal matter and the people in the areas would be notified, once it was finalised.

Asked would people from those areas have to travel to Shannon to pick up registered letters and parcels, she said, “It is too early to say that. That is all hypothetical.”

TOURISM bosses are buying visitors a drink and offering them free boat trips as well as discounts, kiddies’ concessions and free-bed nights in a bid to tempt more tourists into the region.

Shannon Development’s new Extra Value Holidays brochure aims to improve on the €125 million which domestic visitors spend each year in the Shannon region.

Among the goodies that visitors are being offered are free bottles of wine with meals at certain restaurants, free dolphin-watching trips, free bicycle hire, free over-50s clubs, free accommodation for children and free summer camps for them, free afternoon tea and free walking maps and additional free nights accommodation.

The extra value guide was launched at the Holiday World Show, which started in the RDS in Dublin at the weekend.

John King of Shannon Development said, “the Extra Value Holidays guide will encourage people to take an early holiday break, with tourism interests in the region offering extra-value breaks from January through to June 2006. And visitors can get discount admissions to a range of local attractions by downloading them from our website at www.shannonregiontourism.ie”

Mr King said that the drive is being put in place because competition for the home market “is stronger than ever with all regions in the country actively promoting their own areas. That is why Shannon Development will be working even harder, in partnership with the region’s tourism interests, to attract more domestic visitors and encourage them to stay longer.”

With the domestic tourism spend at €125 million, it represents the region’s single biggest tourism market.

“This guide highlights the excellent value-for-money packages available for every age and group covering a wide range of activities and interests, as well as great value in fine food and entertainment,” said Mr King.