The Clare People Archive

ENNIS Town Council says it has “serious concerns” that development bonds valued at € 1.5 million have been left unsecured following the Government’s decision to wind up the former Anglo Irish Bank.

A report on unfinished estates in Ennis states that the council “could not afford the cost of completing estates which are the responsibility of the developer or financial institution (or their successor) that hold the bond commitments”.

A full team of three staff has been allocated by the council to deal with the issue of unfinished estates in Ennis.

In a report to councillors, Town Clerk Leonard Cleary says the issues relating to unfinished estates is “absorbing significant local authority management time”.

The report acknowledges that many homeowners “experience frustration and disappointment” when estates are not complete.

Mr Cleary states, “In many instances, developers are still in a position to trade, but have been slow to fulfill their responsibilities to complete their estates. This is unacceptable.

The report states that there are currently 27 developments that remain incomplete within the urban area of Ennis.

Category 1 developments are those with bonds with held by IBRC and Ulster Bank and / or referred to the council’s legal team; Category 2 developments are progressing in conjunction with developer or bondholder; Category 3 developments are not progressing with little or no activity on site.

Since 2010, Ennis Town Council has taken in charge 11 housing developments including three – Glean na Coille, Claureen, Drumbiggle Drive and An tSean Dún, Tulla Road – in 2013. Eight category 2 developments are proceeding satisfactorily and are on target for taking in charge by either the council or management company.

Mr Cleary states that the pursuit of uncooperative developers through legal channels is required in several situations.

He adds, “The council is cognisant of the public purse when pursuing a legal course of action in an unfinished estate. The view from operations experiences is that if appropriate the best first action of the council to achieve a satisfactory resolution for residents and citizens of Ennis is with the active assistance and cooperation of the developer or those now responsible for the development in the absence of developer fulfilling his/ her responsibilities. The presence of receivers, liquidators NAMA etc has complicated matters even further but is a reality of the current economic circumstances of the building industry. When the above approach does not receive the required response in terms of estate completion, the council has no hesitation in discharging its regulatory role through Court proceedings.”

A DISTRICT court judge labelled the atmosphere in a small West Clare community “septic”, as he fined a father of two € 750 for assaulting and injuring the local school principal.

Martin Tubridy (55), Quarry Vale, Mounthshannon, Labasheeda, had been found guilty of assault causing harm to Liam Woulfe at Labasheeda National School on December 9, 2011, during a court hearing on January 20, 2013.

School principal Mr Woulfe suffered a bloodied nose, black eye and dislodged tooth during the after school attack.

At Kilrush District Court Judge Patrick Durcan said evidence had been given that Mr Tubridy had driven to the school on the afternoon in question.

Mr Woulfe was meeting with another parent, when Mr Tubridy walked up the steps of the school to deal with a matter regarding his eight-year-old son.

Mr Woulfe told the accused that he would speak to him later as he was dealing with another parent, and Mr Tubridy struck him in the face.

Caroline O’Shea the parent, who had been in the classroom meeting Mr Woulfe, had told the court the Mr Woulfe recoiled back over the door in shock. Mr Tubridy then left.

Mr Tubridy’s solicitor had challenged Ms O’Shea and said could not have seen the assault from where she was.

Mr Woulfe, who has been principal at the school for 17 years, said that he had never had to deal with a parent in such an aggressive manner.

At Tuesday’s sitting of the court solicitor for the defence Fiona Hehir said that the publicity of the case had taken its toll on her client and that he had left employment due to depression.

“He fears the publicity on this court will affect his chances of getting work,” she said.

Ms Hehir handed in character references from Thomas Linnane, the charity Second Chance Rescue, Shannon Gael’s GAA Ladies Club and a private reference from parish priest Fr John Kelly. Fr Kelly’s reference was not on behalf of the board of management, the court was told.

A list of charity work carried out by Mr Tubridy was also submitted.

“I am satisfied on review of evidence as I was on January 20, 2013, that Mr Martin James Tubridy assaulted Liam Woulfe,” said Judge Durcan.

He said that he had adjourned the case for a lengthy period aware of the impact the case could have on a small community like Labasheeda.

He said he was conscious that this was a special community, where resources were scarce and small schools, like the two-teacher school in Labasheeda, are under threat.

He then referenced a Department of Education report carried out on June 30, 2012, that showed 89 per cent of parents said their children felt safe in the school.

He said he was not satisfied that any steps had been taken however to rectify the issue outside of the court.

“There is a septic atmosphere out in Labasheeda that needs to be addressed,” he said.

“I am dealing with what happened on December 9, 2011.”

He said he was satisfied that the references showed Mr Tubridy was a “committed” man that did work for charity.

The judge added that this did not get away from the fact that the defendant walked into the school and hit the school principal.

“The assault on a school principal in a small community is a very serious matter,” he said, describing the school principal as a leader in the community.

He sentenced Mr Tubridy, who had no previous convictions to pay a fine of € 750.

Mr Tubridy had previously been ordered to pay € 400 compensation to Mr Woulfe and Ms O’Shea.

HE’S lost over 13 stone; he’s completed four marathons and counting, raising money for charity en route, but for Darren Kelly that’s not enough – there’s more as he takes to the skies this weekend for his latest exploit.

The 26-year-old Ennisman is going to Galway, along with up to 20 more Clare Crusaders, for a fundraising sky dive in aid of the Barefield-based charity for children with special needs.

“There was a group doing the sky dive for the Crusaders, so I decided to give it a go,” Kelly told The Clare People about his latest adventure since losing nearly half his body weight over the past 18 months.

“In January of last year I joined Weight Watchers and it started there. I put an awful lot of emphasis on exercise and started exercising every day of the week.

“The hardest thing was to start and trying to keep going. I was always swimming, but I wasn’t put the huge amount of effort that was needed. My sister was getting married last year and I set myself the target of getting down a couple of stone by the time she got married. That was a good target to set – then I set another target and aimed for that it went on from there,” he added.

His progress can be measured, not only in his weight loss, but also by his marathon times since first taking on the 26 miles 385 yards test in October 2010.

“I walked my first two marathons,” he revealed. “The first year I did the Dublin Marathon in nine hours and then the following year in nine and a half hours, but after really starting training in 2012 I’ve ran the last two, breaking five hours in Dublin last year and doing the Limerick Marathon in 4:42 a few weeks ago. I was delighted with that.

“I also did White Collar boxing for the Crusaders last year – it was all part of setting targets for losing weight and I’ve now lost over 13 stone and am now about 15 stone 12. There is great enjoyment reaching your targets. The more you do it the more it becomes a habit,” he added.

As for his latest adventure, which is quite literally a leap of faith, the affable Kelly is taking it in his stride. “We will go up on the day – you’re tied on to somebody up to 10,000 feet and weather permitting we’ll jump,” he said. “We have set ourselves a target of raising € 250 each. I’m doing a raffle of a signed Munster jersey, an Irish soccer jersey and a Clare jersey,” he added.

IN THE last three years the Loophead peninsula has gone from one of West Clare’s best kept secrets, to attracting thousands of visitors every year and being shortlisted as one of the top five places in Ireland to visit.

Much of the credit for the prominence of the Loop has been attributed to the local community who is working hard to promote the area and the opening of the lighthouse as a tourist attraction during the summer of 2011.

The numbers of tourists visiting the lighthouse has increased steadily since, and figures release yesterday (Monday) shows that despite the inclement weather conditions of the past two months, more than 2,000 tourists passed through its doors.

That is an average of 250 people every weekend.

The 19th century lighthouse’s opening hours will be extended to weekdays from the June bank holiday weekend and will remain open up to the end of September, attracting even more tourists.

The speculation of a local ghost is also adding to the mystery at the westerly lighthouse, with modern day ghost busters currently writing up a report of their findings in the historical building.

And the peninsula has been shortlisted in the last number of days as one of the five finalists in the The Irish Times Best Place to Holiday in Ireland competition.

For the competition – which has been running since March – members of the public were invited to nominate the places they love to holiday. The shortlist features three remote areas of natural beauty: the Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary; Inishbofin island, Co Galway; and Loop Head peninsula, alongside Derry city and Killarney, Co Kerry.

The Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly, congratulated the people of Loop head and said;

“The fact that Loophead has made the shortlist from an entry list of more than 1,400 destinations throughout Ireland is testament to the quality of the tourism product on offer. A huge amount of work is being carried out by local community groups, supported by Clare local authorities, to promote the peninsula as a visitor destination to both domestic and international tourists.”

understand that Mr Daly will be involved in the publicity for the event but it is not yet clear if he will be actively matchmaking during the weekend. For more visit www.theouting.ie.

MORE than three quarters of a million euro was yesterday allocated to 26 different community roads works projects in Clare.

A total of € 767, 529 will be spent on the 26 Clare projects – with a € 614,023 coming from the Department of Transport and the remaining € 153,506 coming from the local communities where the roads will be built.

The scheme is specifically targeted a more rural roads in the county and requires that a portion of funding to be put forward by local communities.

Half of the allocated projects are located in the Killaloe electoral area, where 13 projects have been earmarked funding totally € 420,000. Shannon was the least represented electoral area with just one successful project receiving funding of more than € 15,000.

There were six successful projects in the Kilrush electoral area, four in Ennistymon and two in Ennis.

Clare County Council’s roads maintenance budget has been cut drastically in successive years with decreasing budgets meaning that a large number of roads projects are being delayed by years – or indefinitely.

This funding crisis was compounded by the unseasonably cold and wet winters in recent years which have caused unexpected damages to a large number of roads, with most or sometimes all of the annual roads budget being spent on repairing these roads.

“Local authorities have asked communities to come up with a portion of the cost of road maintenance ei- ther through funding, labour provision, machinery supply or other forms of benefit,” said Alan Kelly, Junior minister at the Department of Transport.

“This funding is then being added to my department’s spend to prioritise maintenance in rural isolated areas and will allow communities have a direct input along with their local authority into local road maintenance.”

It is expected that the funding will effect a total of 108 households in Clare, 56 farms and two forestry plantations.

THE town of Kilrush is back in the national eye, one week after it hosted the National Famine Commemoration, as it has been shortlisted for Best Kept Tidy Town in Ireland.

The Heritage town is one of just four nationally in the final stage of the competition.

Chairman of Kilrush Tidy Town Committee Paul Edson said that winning the award would be “a great stepping stone for the national Tidy Town Awards”.

Mr Edson said that while the town has never looked as good there are still some contentious areas that need addressing. He explained that the town could not become complaisant. Boundary walls in areas such as Pella Road, O’Gorman Street, Grey Street, and St Senan’s Terace needed to be addressed he said.

The Tidy Town’s committee is tak- ing the issue in hand by going door to door to residence and offering to help them to paint their wall if they wish to take on the project.

In what is likely to be the last every report to Kilrush Town Council the Tidy Town’s chairman said, “This might be our last ever meeting with the town council so we want to achieve as much as possible in the next 13 months.”

The council contributes € 4,000 to the Tidy Town fund.

Mr Edson fears that such funding will not be available from the amalgamated Clare County Council.

He said the Tidy Towns also want to concentrate on Francis Street, the largest and widest street in the town.

“It is like a beautiful around a painting that is not completed,” said Mr Edson.

He said the committee were seeking extra funding to put a three tier planter and hanging baskets for the street.

A MEETING will take place in Ennis on Thursday night aimed at helping families affected by the growing problem of drug abuse.

The Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force, together with members of the community from around Clare, is hosting a Substance Misuse Services Information day on Thursday, May 23, from 11am to 2pm at the Temple Gate Hotel. Fr Peter McVerry, from the McVerry Trust, will speak at the event.

Mary Leahy, Clare Community Forum, says; “If you want to know more, please come along to the Temple Gate Hotel.

“You may not be aware of what is available and this is an opportunity to have a cup of tea and see what services are here in our community, for our community. It’s not an area that many of us feel very comfortable about, so we want to encourage people to come along to this informal event.”

Those involved from the community came together after completing the FETAC 5 component certificate in Community Addiction Studies, hosted by Ennis Community College and supported by Clare VEC and the MWRDTF.

Pat Talty, of the organising group said;

“The course focused my interest in wanting to do something further, at a local level.

Together we decided that a starting point for this was to hold an information event, to inform ourselves and the people of Clare of the services available to us, our families and our community when substance use becomes problematic.”

Since last year, a number of new services have started in the mid-west region.

This includes the Community Substance Misuse Team (CSMT), which assists young people, families and communities develop effective and supportive coping strategies to deal with substance misuse issues.

Clare Youth Services, Bushypark House and the Health Services Executive Drug & Alcohol Service, CSMT and Limerick Youth Service recently responded to a clear need, and established a youth support group.

This group provides help to young people aged 14 to 18 years who are affected by a close family members drinking or drug use. Further information on all groups will be available on the day.

SPORT has given plenty of joy to the Twumasi family since they moved from Ghana to Ennis 10 years ago. Brother Nicholas and William are talented GAA players with Eire Óg and Clarecastle respectively. Both have also excelled at athletics and on the soccer field. Last year 17-year-old Nicholas was part of the Avenue United team that reached the semi-finals of the under 17 National Cup. He is on the cusp of winning a Premier Division title with the Ennis club’s junior side. Nicholas dreams of playing at higher level, maybe in England or Scotland. Soccer is his favourite sport. But while sport has given Nicholas great days and memories, it has also introduced him to some of life’s uglier attitudes. Racism never encroached on the Twumasi family’s life except on the sports field. Nicholas explains, “I experienced it a lot. It got me in trouble a few times. It only stopped two years ago. I was surprised because we are all playing sports just for the fun of it. There is no need to do any of that when I haven’t done anything to you. I just lose it when things like that happen. It was players and people on the sideline.”

Dad Kwame says he too was surprised when insults were hurled at his son. He says, “They called him names when they played football. It is a game. You have to close your ears and not listen to them.”

Nicholas says he only ever experienced racism on the sports field. He explains, “That was the most difficult part, when you are playing sport and someone keeps racially abusing you. We reported it a few times but the referee would say there is nothing he could do if he didn’t hear it. With Avenue we reported it a few times and we were told there is noting we can do about it if the ref did not hear it.”

He adds, “The last time it happened, a guy started abusing me straight in front of the ref. It has died down since last year. It’s a lot easier now.”

The family moved to Ennis in 2002. After a 10-year wait, they secured citizenship last year. Kwame, a selfemployed former Dell worker, and his wife Comfort have five children and one foster child. Kwame says the family were welcomed to Ennis and enjoy their life in Ireland.

Citizenship, he says, has made it easier for the family to travel. Nicholas hope to study in England after completing his Leaving Cert. For him, citizenship didn’t come soon enough.

He says, “I couldn’t go through to ‘Football’s Next Star’ (football talent show) with Celtic because I didn’t have Irish citizenship!”

DORIS Akujobi’s face shines with pride when she talks about her children.

Eldest son Victor recently graduated from Dublin City University with an honours degree in Biomedical Science. Doris smiles as she tells how Victor now works in the nutrition sector in Dublin. It’s no surprise to Doris or her husband Anselem that their 22-year-old son pursued a career in science. The former Ennis Community College student represented Ireland at the Junior Science Olympiad in Brazil. Like her brother, Jennifer Akujobi (23) has a talent for science. She holds a degree in chemical science and medicinal chemistry.

“They are very good, I thank God for them,” says Doris.

Anselem, Doris and their seven children – Victor, Jennifer, Chris, Alex, Sandra, Stephanie and Michael – have made a happy life for themselves since first coming to Ennis from Nigeria in 2002. The weather was of course a shock but the family soon settled into their new life.

Doris speaks warmly of her children’s time at Scoil Chriost Rí and Ennis Community College.

She says, “We have been so lucky with the schools and our friends. Life is good. It is calm. It is quite compared to Dublin. Dublin is crowded.”

Anselem worked in the Dell factory in Limerick for five years up to 2009. He now works as a taxi driver. “It’s very quite,” he says, “There is no nice job but it is better than staying idle,” he adds with a wry smile. Doris has worked with the Brothers of Charity since 2008. Last year she graduated from the Open Training College with a qualification in social care with disability. The family were granted citizenship in 2003 after a two-year wait. This was an important step for Doris and Anselem. The family are proud to call themselves Irish citizens. Doris says, “We have been responsible for ourselves. We always wanted to set a good example for our children. When the mother and father are working it sets a good example for the children.” It does sadden Doris though that some people retain a negative perception of African immigrants. She explains, “Sometime I am in the shopping centre with a big trolley of food for my family and people are looking at me. They see you and they kind of give you a second look. They don’t know who you are. They don’t know you are working. They don’t see that we pay tax, work hard. We are doing something to contribute to the country.” Like many Irish parents, Anselem and Doris have seen their children move abroad to look for work. Doris says, “All Irish children, when they finish school, should be able to stay in the country and get work. Every day I pray for the country.”