The Clare People Archive

AND SO it begins. Since Phil Hogan announced a new structure to local government there has been a cold war of sorts over the local elections next summer.

The town councils were going to be dissolved, so there were potentially 36 new candidates with experience of elections already circling the county council seats.

It was also known that those county council seats would be fewer in number, the only question was by how much.

All was to be revealed in May, and on the second last day of the month all became clear.

There would be four constituencies or Local Electoral Areas in Clare as opposed to the six that are currently in place. The areas, particularly two, would be larger with fewer councillors to serve them as the county council membership is to be cut from 32 to 28 after the 2014 local election.

In total the number of local elected representatives in the county will drop from 68 (including town councillors) to 28. That is 40 elected representatives that will retire between now and next summer, or risk swimming in a much bigger shark infested pond.

Those overseeing the next election for the major parties know they have a busy few weeks ahead, but all agree that at least now they know what they are dealing with in terms of the boundary.

The “war” can begin – and nowhere is that more fierce than the battles within political parties.

Ask anyone in the world of politics, the most difficult part is not the election, but the selection process to make it on to a party ticket.

As well as the young guns already signing up and showing an interest, and other councillors changing party allegiances, the incumbents will also be concerned about the impact their party colleagues decision to re-run will have on their own chances of reelection.

There are significantly less seats, and this is even more of a concern when you include eager and in many cases accomplished town councillors in the race.

There will be a lot of soul searching during the coming weeks and months as councillors decide if there is a place for them in their newly-designed electoral area, and if a move to a new one would increase there chances of survival.

When surveyed by The Clare People in February, the majority of county councillors said they would contest the next election.

I would suspect there will be a number of minds changing with the changes to the boundary in the coming weeks, and the reality that two thirds of the town councillors have expressed an interest in the 2014 contest.

The major parties must now decid- ed strategies. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have admitted that they will be drawing up strategic plans as soon as possible.

Conventions will need to be held soon, but a long summer ahead will probably postpone the majority until September at the earliest.

The independent candidates will also have a lot of soul searching to do. In many cases the area to canvass has become significantly larger, and the people behind the doors are no longer neighbours and friends. The added financial cost of this election must also be a consideration for independents as they have more area to cover and people to connect with.

Whatever decisions are made by councillors and potential candidates, there will be some interesting times ahead for political anoraks.

Let the 2014 games begin.

A CLARE artist will travel to the Kennedy Foundation in Boston with one of his three paintings of John F Kennedy’s visit to Ireland, just weeks after he sold a second for well over the asking price at auction and presented the third to the late American president’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy.

Michael Hanrahan, Lahinch, was inspired to paint the trilogy after reading Ryan Tubridy’s book on the 1963 presidential visit to Ireland.

Remembering his own sighting of John F Kennedy in Ireland, he wrote to Caroline Kennedy explaining that he was an artist in Clare, and a few weeks later he was sent archival images of Kennedy in Ireland from the Kennedy Foundation.

“I did three pictures, photographed them and sent the photos back to the foundation,” he said.

The foundation was impressed by the work and was particularly interest in the painting of Kennedy in Cork in 1963, so Mr Hanrahan offered it to them.

He will be flown by Aer Lingus to Boston in the coming weeks to present the painting to Tom Mc- Naught, CEO of the Kennedy Foundation, where the picture will be put on display.

Whytes Art auction then expressed interest in a second painting – Kennedy addressing the Dáil – and this was sold for € 2,500, with a guide of between € 1, 500 and € 2,000 on the piece. The buyer remains a mystery.

The third painting depicting John F Kennedy speaking at New Ross will be presented to Caroline Kennedy by New Ross Town Council when she visits Ireland to mark the 50th anniversary of the late president’s visit, on June 22.

Mr Hanrahan, a former bank manager, is no stranger to providing paintings to significant art collections.

His painting is the only one by a living Irish artist in the private collection of Queen Elizabeth II.

One of his paintings of Mary Mc Aleese is part of Aras an Uachtaran’s art collection, while another of his paintings of Barack Obama hangs in the White House following the American President’s visit to Ireland in 2011.

MORE than half (51 per cent) of all Clare people over the age of 75 in 2012 considers themselves to be disabled – one of the highest percentages in Ireland.

These figure, which was obtained from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), come at a time of widespread cuts to supports for people with disabilities.

Research compiled is the Clare People’s Life in Clare 2013 study reveals that much has changed in the county over the past decade. This change can be see in the way we live our lives – how we live and even who we are.

More than 11,000 non-Irish born people now call the Banner county their home. The majority of these new Clare people come from UK and other EU national, but the county is now also home to 940 people who were born in Africa and more than 700 people who classify themselves as being Asian born.

The way in which people in Clare has also changed dramatically with three out of every 10 people choosing to live by themselves – the highest level on record. The technology serving these houses has also changed dramatically with 68 of Clare households now containing at least one computer.

Detached houses are by far the most popular homes owned by peo- ple in Clare. Of the 46,000 houses in the county – almost 60 per cent (59.1) are detached, with 22.9 being semidetached and 11.9 per cent terraced.

Four in every ten Clare people own their own home (39.8) without any outstanding loan or mortgage. This in one of the highest levels of debt free ownership of houses in Ireland. Almost 37 per cent of Clare peo- ple own their house but have an outstanding mortgage and just 22.2 per cent of Clare people rent their home – one of the lowest percentages in Ireland.

A TWO-tier property market has emerged in Clare over the last five years as demand for properties in urban centres such as Ennis and Shannon far outstripping rural areas.

According to figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 22 per cent of the houses in Clare are currently unoccupied – one of the highest of any county in Ireland.

Clare spokesperson for the Respond housing charity, Paul Hargaden, believes that the recession has created a two-tier property sector in Clare.

“The situation is very different depending on where you are. People might not realise this but there is a demand for houses to be built in places like Ennis at the moment,” he said.

“In other areas there are lots of empty houses that nobody wants and it is hard to see that they will ever be a demand for all of these. The majority of these properties are buy-to-lets or holiday homes in rural parts of the county.

“There is a demand for houses which are located close to where the jobs are located. There is need to build new houses in these areas and there is also a need for more social housing and local authority housing in places like Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush. There is basically a two-tiered housing system at work in Clare at the moment.”

A growing number of Clare families are also struggling to pay their mortgage and Respond are calling for a revamped mortgage-to-rent scheme to save Clare people in arrears.

“We are also seeing a lot of people in Clare who need help and support in maintaining their mortgages. It is a growing problem and it needs to be tackled by the banks and the Government,” continued Mr Hargaden.

“There is virtually no successful claims coming through the current scheme and something needs to be done to address that because people are in over their heads.”

The construction industry in the county has been the hardest hit as a result of the recession with a massive 87 per cent drop in the number house completions between 2005 and 2007.

team. “They have a policy they work with and we couldn’t meet that target,” he admitted.

TARGETTING cargo traffic through Shannon is set to be a major plank of the new chief executive blueprint for Clare’s international airport, once he takes up his piovital post in early June.

That’s the view of a number of aviation commentators this week as Shannon celebrates what has been described as a “coup appointment” of Scottish-born Neil Pakey to the post of chief executive of the newly independent airport.

The potential of cargo services through Shannon, which could be developed as a European hub operation was highlighted in the Booz and Company consultants report on Ireland’s three state-run airports in 2011.

Now, Mr Pakey’s appointment is seen as a huge step forward in maximizing Shannon strategic location as a freight and cargo nerve centre, because of his track record in doing business with one of the major freight operators in Europe.

“While he was in Liverpool one of his major coups, not just with EasyJet and Ryanair, was to bring KLM in,” revealed aviation commentator Joe Downes.

“KLM are one of the world’s biggest cargo carriers.

“The Shannon board has said that that freight is one of the targets of the new airport – to turn it into a hub for freight cargo. Mr Pakey has the experience to do this,” he added.

The Booz report, which was published last year, said that “the viability of (Shannon) business cannot be justified through passenger growth only”.

“New sources of revenue should be explored including exploitation of land banks, exploration of cargo business potential and improved leverage and expansion of the US preclearance facilities to include cargo.

“Shannon Airport is widely viewed as having the opportunity to transform itself into a major cargo hub in Europe, particularly should the Irish Government negotiate cargo preclearance with the US,” the report added.

“My aim is to build the business and lead a team dedicated to achieving operational excellence, superior customer service, efficiency in all functions and with full support for our airlines, partners and stakeholders,” said Mr Pakey on his appointment.

From 2002 to 2010, Neil was managing director of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, one of Europe’s fastest growing airports, where he led the growth in passenger numbers from 867,000 passengers per year to 5.5 million passengers per year.

Since 2010 he has been the senior director network marketing of the Vantage Airports Group with responsibility for 18 airports worldwide, including airports in Canada, Cyprus, the Caribbean and the UK.

A native of Troon in Scotland, Mr Packey is aged 52 and initially joins Shannon on a three year contract.

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) were yesterday accused of “giving the finger” to Clare County Council and the people of North Clare because of its continued refusal to provide funding for a pedestrian crossing at Inagh.

The construction of the pedestrian crossing on the Miltown Malbay road in Inagh has been identified as the top local roads priority by Clare County Council in recent years but the NRA has not yet seen fit to provide funding for its construction.

The Miltown Malbay road currently divides the village of Inagh, with a large amount of community facilities – including a number of resources for young people – located at either sides of the roads.

“I am absolutely amazed the NRA cannot regard this pedestrian crossing as a priority. This is a national secondary route. There are huge volumes of traffic on this road and there and there is a massive numbers of people crossing that road every day,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FG).

“Someone from the NRA needs to come down and have a look at this road.”

Lahinch-based Cllr Slattery (FG) pointed out that this issue has been raised by councillors on four separate occasions in recent years and on each occasions councillors received an identical response from the local authority.

“I received the reply I in January of 2012, Richard [Nagle] got in again in July 2012. We have received the same reply to this on four different occasions and that is not acceptable,” he said.

“People are coming to us with genuine issues regarding this road. What is the point of us putting in these motions and getting the standard response again and again. I know it’s not your fault [Clare County Council] but the National Roads Authority seem to be giving all of us the finger in relation to this road.”

In a response to the motion, local engineer Stephen Lahiff described the crossing as “vital” to the ongoing safety of people using the village.

THE Irish Cancer Society received just 103 enquiries from Clare last year – that is just .3 per cent of the 28,383 calls being taken nationally.

A spokesperson for the charity said it is hoped that with more awareness even more people with the disease will contact the organisation in the coming year if they need assistance.

With less than half a percent of the calls to the society coming from Clare it is one of the lowest in the country.

However local grown organisations, such as the West Clare Mini Marathon Centre, which is not affiliated with the Irish Cancer Society, is busy providing transport to an from hospital for patients and holistic and psychological support to patients and their families.

In the last month the Irish Cancer Society also announced that it would be providing transport for cancer patients in Clare to and from the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for treatment.

Other Irish Cancer Society services available to Clare patients include the National Cancer Helpline, which is staffed by specialist cancer nurses; and the Society’s Night Nursing service, which provides care to cancer patients in their last days of life so they can stay at home with their families.

During 2012 the society’s night nurses cared for 1,818 patients, providing 7,350 nights of care. 167 nights of care were provided to cancer patients in Clare.

Financial aid is also available to cancer patients suffering financial hardship as a result of their diagnosis. During 2012 financial aid to the value of € 1,047,461 was provided to 1,753 cancer patients across the country. € 24, 530 worth of financial aid was given to cancer patients in Clare.

The society thanked all those in Clare who supported Daffodil Day 2013, which helps to fund such services.

The charity said however that the bad weather impacted severely on fundraising this year, with funding down 50 per cent.

An emergency appeal was launched to re-coup the shortfall and appeal to those that could not donate as usual due to the weather. The appeal saw just fewer than 30,000 people donate following Daffodil Day, with donations being made online, by phone and by text. The response to the appeal saw the initial shortfall recover to within 20 per cent of the original target.

The society is now encouraging everyone who participated in this year’s Daffodil Day campaign to bank their funds as soon as possible.

IT MAY have been a ‘school night’ but that did not stop the people of Loophead partying last night (Monday), as they gathered in the Longdock Bar in Carrigaholt to celebrate Loop Head peninsula being named Best Place to Holiday in Ireland.

Kilbaha woman Ailish Connolly was one of the many excited people delighted to see this area of west Clare get national recognition.

“I really can’t believe it. I was out dolphin watching on Saturday and I got a call saying they [‘The Irish Times’ sponsor] wanted to take a photograph. I got all excited but then was told that they were taking photos of all five finalists. I just kept telling myself we didn’t win, but coming in the top five was great,” she laughed.

Kevin Heapes of Pure Camping based in Querrin had spent Sunday night checking the web to see if an announcement had been made.

A win would have been a huge endorsement of the work carried out to date by Loophead Tourism, a group of local private businesses who, with the support of the Clare Local Development Company (Leader) and Clare County Council, got together to market the peninsula for sustainable tourism.

Of the 90 businesses on Loophead, as many as 45 are part of Loophead Tourism. And all 45 are in some way involved in the tourism industry.

Maps and information is published locally on recycled paper, the plaques for each building are designed and produced locally and all marketing and design work is produced locally, feeding back into the local economy.

“None of this would be possible without Leader. We would not have been able to pull it all together and market it,” said Ms Connolly.

“There are five businesses that want to get started in the next 12 months on the Loop and that cannot happen without Leader support,” she added.

Meanwhile Cillian Murphy, Chairman of Loophead Tourism said that with the company’s support sig nificant work had been undertaken during the past four to five years in establishing a community-wide approach to tourism development across the Peninsula.

“As a result of this, we have seen many members of the community establish their own tourism-based initiatives that are complemented by the supports being made available by other established local businesses, the Loophead Tourism network, Clare County Council, Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) and Fáilte Ireland,” he said.

“Loophead excelled in this competition not only because it possesses a rich variety of visitor attractions and activities and one of some of Ireland’s most unique scenery, but also because it matched the competition criteria that were very much focused on community, sustainability and the quality of the tourism product on offer. This reflects a shift within the tourism sector to visitors looking for a genuine and organic holiday experience, which is something that Loophead offers in abundance.”

THE owner of the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis says he expects the business to be fully back in action by Wednesday evening. A temporary closure was needed on Thursday last when a pipe was cracked during refurbishment work. A limited food menu is still available at the Old Ground while bar and accommodation services are running as normal.

In a statement, the hotel said an issue was identified with part of the drainage system of the hotel following a recent refurbishment of the ladies bathrooms.

The statement added, “As a precau- tionary measure, the hotel has taken the decision to temporarily close our main kitchen and we are working in conjunction with our local health authorities towards a speedy resolution of the problem.”

The hotel also apologized to customers for any inconvenience caused. The Old Ground Hotel employs 126 people.

Speaking yesterday, hotel owner Allen Flynn thanked the community and local businesses for the “avalanche of support” given to the hotel in recent days.

Mr Flynn said, “The industry that we are in is in very difficult times at the minute and to have this problem occur just coming into summer isn’t easy. But I suppose if anything has come out of it, it is truly the support of the local community and businesses since the problem arose.

“Truly we have received an avalanche of support from what I would have called competitors – I now call them friends – The Temple Gate Hotel, the Madden Family, Dromoland and especially St Flannan’s College who were more than willing to provide us with kitchen facilities over the weekend.

“They said they were willing to help somebody who does an extra special job of creating as much local employment as possible. It’s great to see support like that coming back to the hotel.”

He added, “We were doing a refurbishment of our ladies bathroom here. We were trying to solve a water issue that we had, we actually ended up cracking pipes underneath and that caused a problem with our drainage. Our drainage experts are back in with us and we’re trying to get all that sorted.”

Mr Flynn said, “At the moment we have a limited menu for food but the bar and accommodation is still running as normal.

“It was wonderful to see again over the weekend the atmosphere that could only be created in a place like Ennis with the Fleadh, with setdancing in the lobby until the wee hours.”