The Clare People Archive

THE Chamber of Commerce in Ennis has expressed concern that a number of prominent premises at the heart of the town centre are vacant and retailers do not appear to be attracted there.

Chamber CEO Rita McInerney made the comment in the wake of Bank of Scotland choosing to locate in a prime retail premises at the centre of the town.

The bank, which will open in April, will move to the former premises of ACC bank on High Street in the town.

While welcoming the move to the town, Ms McInerney said, “The only concern in relation to the location is we would want to see more retail in the town centre. I would like to see more retail moving into the town”.

A number of buildings including the premises formerly occupied by Japan, Fox’s butchers, the old Carrig Donn building and Cassidy’s Pharmacy, on O’Connell Street, are all vacant. Carrig Donn and Cassidy’s did move to larger premises, but their old premises remain vacant.

“We do welcome Bank of Scotland coming to the town, but I would be jumping up and down even more if it was retail,” added the Chamber CEO.

Bank of Scotland, meanwhile, says it did not move into the former ESB offices on Carmody Street – many of the Bank of Scotland outlets moved to vacant ESB stores nationwide – because it was too big.

The bank’s head of retail Chrissie Quinn told The Clare People , “It was just too big. We were looking for a particular size of unit.”

Workers are due to go on site at the High Street building next week and will continue to work there until scheduled opening in early to mid April.

Some former ESB employees – who worked in the Carmody Street office prior to its closure – will take up employment with Bank of Scotland, whose Ennis branch is one of 46 nationwide due to open over the next 14 months.

“The emphasis will be on value for money and products that customers said they wanted. The premises are very open, colourful and welcoming,” said Ms Quinn.

Asked if there is a possibility of further expansion, to include other Clare towns, she said, “We will consolidate and see where we will go from there. The first 46 branches will give us reach to two-thirds of the population.”

The Ennis branch will open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and from 9am and 12 noon every Saturday.

GAMA Construction Ltd has received a major boost in its plans to complete the Ennis bypass on time and within its budget.

Clare County Council has granted planning permission to the Turkish-owned company to develop a large-scale quarry to provide materials for the €190 million road.

The council made the decision to grant planning in spite of opposition from local residents and An Taisce.

However, as part of the 22 conditions attached, the company must pay €250,000 to the council in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting the development.

The council has imposed the condition even though the development will not be using any public roads to transfer rock materials to the bypass project.

The go-ahead for the quarry will now allow GAMA to source rock materials for the bypass from its own resources, thereby cutting its costs for the project, which is due to finish in April 2007.

The 37-acre quarry is the third of three GAMA quarries to secure planning permission from the council and by far the biggest.

In all, the council has granted planning permission to GAMA, for two years, to excavate 900,000 cubic metres of rock material, with 480,000 cubic metres of the total to be excavated from the quarry now granted planning at Killow/Kilbreckan on the outskirts of Ennis.

The council granted permission, ruling that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area, or of property in the vicinity and would not be prejudicial to public health.

The authority ruled that granting permission will result in a vast reduction in the amount of material to be imported on the existing road network and thus represent a more sustainable approach towards the construction of the bypass.

At one juncture during the planning process, the council had “serious concern” over aspects of the proposal, but the final planner’s report stated that outstanding issues could be dealt with by condition.

In their objection to the proposal, the local residents group stated: “we now fear that the proposed major expansion of this quarrying operation and its movement much nearer to our homes, is going to result in major structural damage being suffered to our dwellings and we wish to object in the strongest possible terms to permission being granted.”

CLARE Youth Service has drawn up a comprehensive plan for the next three years. Strategic Plan 20052008 was launched in Glór last Thursday by the Minister of State for Education, Síle de Valera.

This is the first such plan drawn up by Clare Youth Service since the enactment of the Youth Work Act 2001 and the publication of the National Youth Work Development Plan 2003-2007.

Youth Work for the first time ever now has a statutory footing and is defined in the act as “a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation.”

Eight areas of concentration have been mapped out by the Youth Service. These include programme development, public relations, partnerships and alliances, training and development and infrastructure and capital programmes.

Since 1974, there have been 15,000 members of Clare Youth Service and 2,000 volunteers.

Today there are 25 staff working in the service.

Since its inception in 1986, the Youth Service Bureau has had 210,000 queries from young people.

“These are very compelling statistics. Clare Youth Service has touched the lives of an extraordinary number of young people and is an extremely positive force within the community,” said the Youth Service Chairperson, Mary Cashin at the launch of the strategic plan.

“It is our goal to build on our existing external relationships with out partners, both voluntary and statutory, and to form new relationships for the purpose of working with these partnerships in the delivery of services to young people,” she added.

“The priorities of this plan are the result of inclusive and comprehensive consultation with all the various strands of the organisation.

“The Strategic plan is a process rather than an end in itself and this process is important in order to develop a real sense of ownership and commitment to the plan,” said Leslie Button of the Youth Service.

DEREK Considine has now accepted that he was cleverly conned, but has resolved to continue with his garage business, even though his experience has cost him €23,000.

He has run his own garage since he was just 17, and sells new and used cars in Miltown Malbay. He also employs a mechanic at his Ballard Road premises.

Speaking to The Clare People after last week’s court hearing, Mr Considine said, “it is a very hard lesson to learn. You work hard to ensure you are doing everything right and you get caught out like this by a crook.

“Even the judge said I had done everything right and nothing wrong. But that’s business, once in a while someone is going to catch you out. Unfortunately I got caught out for €23,000 when everything is taken into account.”

Mr Considine has already returned to England to try and locate the man from whom he purchased the car originally only to discover that the address he had for the fraudster was for an unoccupied rented house. He has also reported the matter to police there but admits he is not confident that they can do anymore.

“The police say they have tried to locate this man but have had no success. I think that is the end of it and I will just have to get on with it,” he said. “It has been a costly and embarrassing lesson. I sold the car to my brother-in-law so you can imagine how I felt when the car was taken back from him. I replaced it with a newer Audi A4 straight away, but it was very embarrassing for me.

“It goes to show that you can’t be too careful in business. All the paperwork showed the car was above board and the police had no record of the car being stolen. Anyway, it is an expensive lesson and all I can do now is put it behind me and get on with it,” Mr Considine added.

A YOUNG Clare businessman, who legitimately imported a car from England to sell to a client here, has been left out of pocket by up to €23,000, after it subsequently transpired that the vehicle had been stolen in England, leaving a judge with no choice but to return it to an English insurance company.

Twenty-four year old Derek Considine, who runs a car dealership business in Miltown Malbay since he was 17, was told by Judge Geoffrey Browne at Miltown Malbay District Court that his “hands were tied” and could not return the car to him although he had “done nothing wrong.”

Gardaí had pursed the matter under the Police Property Act to have the Audi A4 car returned to its rightful owner after discovering that it had been stolen in West Yorkshire in 2004. Mr Considine was seeking to have the car returned to him while an agent for the insurance company Norwich Union claimed that his client was the rightful owner. Mr Considine told the court that he had purchased the car in England after seeing it advertised in Autotrader magazine.

“I checked with the police and everyone else and I was told that the car was not stolen, had not been crashed previously and was not subject to a hire-purchase agreement,” he said in evidence.

“I had done all the things that were necessary and the car checked out perfect. I paid £8,500 (Stg), brought it home and paid the duties to Revenue.”

Mr Considine later sold the car to his brother-in-law but it later transpired that the car had been stolen. Gardaí visited Mr Considine and inspected the vehicle and later seized it for further examination. Gardaí discovered that another chassis number plate had been placed over the original.

Also contesting ownership of the car was the general manager of an English-based company, given responsibility for recovering vehicles for insurers Norwich Union. Mr John Armstrong of Norman Marshall confirmed that the car had been stolen in England in 2004 and that Norwich Union had paid out £10,395 to the owner for the loss on September 21, 2004.

Judge Geoffrey Browne accepted that Mr Considine had acted in good faith and had “done nothing wrong”, but added, “what can I do? I would return the car to you if I could, but you are not entitled to it. I am sorry, Mr Considine, my hands are tied.”

Judge Browne granted the garda application and ruled that the car should be handed over to Norman Marshall.

THE WORDS of the famous song ‘Summer in Dublin’ were uttered during a district court case, after a judge was told that a garda stuck his head through the trees and saw a young man smoking a joint in the town park in Shannon.

Defence solicitor Stephen Nicholas made the reference in the case of Edward Dooney (26), of Cluain Airne, Shannon, charged with possession of cannabis, at Shannon town park, on July 15, 2005.

The court heard the accused was found in possession of one joint.

Mr Nicholas said his client is in good employment and has been in a relationship for the past eight years.

He said when he was younger, he used to take cannabis. On the date of the offence he had met a friend who gave him a joint.

As he lay on the grass on the fine summer’s day smoking, a garda “stuck his head through the trees and caught him,” said the solicitor and this prompted the reference to Bagatelle.

“I remember that summer in Dublin and the Liffey stank like hell…is the song that springs to mind, but I am not going to sing it,” said Mr Nicholas.

Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned the case for two months, to allow for a professional report re drug and alcohol abuse to be carried out.

PAYMENTS totalling €170,000 made to senior county council staff, including planners, were legal, above board and part of a national plan.

But elected council members have sharply criticised the manager for not saying where the money came from.

At a meeting of the council last night, Cllr Tom Prendeville called on the manager to reveal who the payments were made to and state where the money for them came from.

Cllr Prendeville said he was not satisfied with the explanation that the payments were part of a national bonus scheme, paid to professional grades and performance related.

“Are we going back to the dark ages where a culture of secrecy prevails?” he asked.

“This is public money being spent and we have a right to know whether the money was paid out of our budget, if it was, how was the criteria for payment met and what programme suffered because of it?”

Cllr Patricia McCarthy said that the bonus scheme was to be welcomed. “We are losing planners all the time.

“They work all hours and Saturdays and Sundays to clear the work load and there is no overtime or other incentive.”

Cllr Colm Wiley said that the current planners were working overtime to “solve the problems left by some of those who have moved on.”

County Manager, Alec Fleming said that 15 planners were paid a bonus of €7,500 each and bonuses were also paid to himself and a number of other senior officials.

The scheme is identical to schemes operating in every other local authority, he said. “We have a rule that says if a decision on an application is not made within eight weeks, it goes by default and without any conditions so we had to ask the planners to work extra time because of that.

“There was no other option.”

He added that a Government committee decides on whether managers and senior executives have met the criteria for their bonuses.

A ruling had already been made by the information Officer that further details of the scheme could not be the subject of a Freedom Of Information request.

MEMBERS of Clare County Council claim the county is being financially penalised by central government, as it receives the fifth smallest local government funding in the country, at €14.65 million for 2006.

In a week when the council was once again considering the financial estimates for the year ahead, members said they were given extra responsibility and projects by central government without the financial back up.

Cllr Christy Curtain called on the Minister for the Environment and Local government Dick Roche to provide some of the money the Minister claims the country is “flush with”, and Clare will spend it. “Send it down to us and we will spend it,” said the councillor.

Fine Gael councillor Madeline Taylor Quinn told this month’s adjourned

meeting of the council that the ratepay ers from Clare were paying for money mismanagement at national level.

In a bid to finance the Council’s escalating responsibility it is proposed in this year’s financial estimates, yet to be accepted by the council, to increase rates by 5.5 per cent. This will generate an additional €1.55 million for the Council. Cllr Taylor Quinn told her colleagues “ we are expected to make up the short fall by penalising the rate payers at a time when the government is a wash with money.”

Whether councillors agree to allow the 5.5 percent rate increase, described by Cllr Martin Lafferty as exorbitant, will be decided at a special budget meeting of the council next Monday.

DISTRICT Court Judge Joseph Mangan reminded a man sitting in the public gallery at Shannon District Court who was in charge, after he was repeatedly interrupted him during last Thursday’s court sitting.

Owen Rice, with an address in Newbridge, Co Down, was not before the court last Thursday on any charges, but was there to make an ex-partie application.

His case was listed at the top of the printed court diary on the day, but was not dealt with at the start of the court.

After he rose to his feet on a number of occasions throughout the day asking why he was still waiting for his application to be heard, Judge Mangan said, “You are not the boss here. Get that into your skull,” before telling him several times to sit down and conduct himself or he would be held in contempt.

“You are sailing close to the wind. You don’t run the court at all,” added Judge Mangan, who refused to allow Rice the chance to speak.

When asked by Rice later why his case was not called “as per the list” the judge said, “On a previous date I have explained to you what the policy of the court is on the calling of cases. I am not going to repeat myself.”

Later Rice made a number of submissions, including an application to have his case delisted until after a separate hearing in the Supreme Court. The case – where Rice is accused of obstructing a garda officer and dangerous driving at Ballycally, Newmarket-onFergus, on December 6, 2003 – was due to be heard later this week at Shannon District Court. Rice told the judge that according to legal advice he is under no obligation to attend court later this week and it was his intention not to attend.

Judge Mangan said he would not delist the case, but adjourned it until later in the year.

FRESH charges have been brought against three men suspected of involvement in a seizure of guns in Newmarket-on-Fergus almost seven months ago.

Before Ennis District Court were John Murphy (45), Ballina, Killaloe; Cathal O’Neill (39), 20 Upper William Street, Limerick and Michael Gerard Heelan (46), Boherbue, Mallow, Cork.

Previously each had faced three charges, arising out of an incident at Drumline, Newmarket-on-Fergus, on June 24 last year. Two of those three charges were withdrawn against O’Neill and Heelan, while one charge was withdrawn against Murphy.

Det Sgt Michael Houlihan told the court he arrested all three at 12.40am last Friday. He charged all three with possession of an imitation firearm and a sawn-off shotgun, with intent to commit robbery. Murphy was also charged with possession of a CS gas canister, also on the same date.

Dt Gda Houlihan told the court that, when charged and cautioned, Murphy had replied, “No comment.” In reply to the fresh charge O’Neill had said, “Absolutely innocent.” The court heard that the third accused, Heelan, had said “Nothing to say,” in reply to charge.

At the trio’s initial court hearing last June, the court was told the three were travelling together in a van, at Drumline, Newmarket-on-Fergus, when they were arrested by detectives from the Clare garda division.

On that date, the court was told, gardai believed they were about to commit a robbery. On that occasion the court also heard that further charges were likely, once a file on the matter had been examined by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Last Friday all three were remanded on bail and will appear in court next month, for service of the book of evidence.