The Clare People Archive

CLARE businesses pay the third highest water charges in the country – it was revealed at last Tuesday’s budget meeting of Clare County Council. The issue was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) – who questioned why businesses in the county were paying highest than elsewhere in the country.

According to Anne Haugh, Director of Service for Environment and Water Services at Clare County Council, the same system is used to calculate Clare’s water charges as every other local authority.

“If there is one area that Clare County Council has to improve on it is why we have one of the highest water charge per metre cubed of any local authority in the country,” said Cllr Meaney.

“I would like an understandable, repeatable explanation as to why we have such a situation – especially when compared us to neighbouring counties with a similar cost base and structures.”

According to Ms Haugh, the price difference is explained by the physical make-up of the county’s water system and other cost factors such as waste.

“I don’t have a lot of say on it really. The mechanism that we use to set the price of water is set our by the Government,” she said. “There are large variances between counties in relation to the charge of water and the main factor in this is the cost. This is mainly to do with the number of schemes and water system in place in one county as opposed to another.”

Current levels of water leakage in Clare now stands at roughly 38 per cent of the water produced.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) called for special exemption from water to be made for voluntary sports clubs.

“I would expect a concession for sporting bodies. We should make a clear distinction between commercial sporting bodies and those that are not,” he said.

CLARE businesses will not receive any rates reduction from Clare County Council in 2013 – despite many businesses already facing an uphill struggle to pay of current rates arrears.

Clare County Council voted on Tuesday to approve the Draft Budget for 2013 – which included no change in the rates for the county. The local authority has seen intensive lobbying from members of the business community in recent month – who claim that the current rates burden could force a viable local businesses to close their doors.

According to the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, the Council is not in a position to reduce the rate for 2013 because of large cuts imposed on other parts of the local authority’s budget.

The money that Clare County Council receive under the Local Government General Fund has been cut from € 16.48 million in 2008 to a projected figure of just € 10.07 million for 2013 – a cut of almost € 6 million or 3 per cent.

Over the same period the council wage bill has been reduced by € 44.8 million to an estimated figure for 2013 of € 35.6 million – a projected cut of € 9.2 million.

“The preparation of the Draft Budget has become increasingly difficult in recent years. The ongoing reduction in income has driven ongoing reductions in expenditure which has resulted in the implementation of ongoing efficiencies,” said Mr Coughlan.

“It appears that that model of operation will continue for the foreseeable future.”

A number of councillors raised the issue of a possible rates cut but this was deemed not possible at this time – if levels of services offered by the council are to be maintained.

Mr Coughlan said that a proposed 10 per cent rates cut – which would yield € 3.6 million – would mean that € 3.6 million of saving would have to be cut from other parts of the budget.

“If we were able to introduce a € 3.6 million reduction in rates, over € 2m would go to 13 ratepayers. That is the impact. The 2,107 ratepayers left would share the € 1.6m,” he said.

THE head of Clare County Council’s Special Policy Committee for housing has recommended that no further money be spent on repairing Traveller accommodation until “underlying situation” concerning these houses are resolved.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that it was a recommendation that she “had not come to easily” but one that she felt was necessary given the cost of repairs to Traveller accommodation in 2012.

According to figures released at last Tuesday’s budget meeting of Clare County Council, repair payments for each house designated as Traveller accommodation was more than 10 times higher than the cost of the nonTraveller housing accommodation.

The average cost of repairs to the council’s 63 Traveller accomodation units was € 6,700 per house in 2012. This compares to a cost of just € 616 per house in the council’s non-Traveller stock over the same time period.

“I would recommend that no further money be made available to Traveller accomodation until the underlying situation can be resolved,” she said.

“The council cannot be expected to repair units only to have them damaged again and again while other people are waiting to get accommodation.”

This sentiment was echoed by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), who is also a member of the Housing SPC who described the money being spent on repairing Traveller accomodation as a “matter of considerable concern”.

The council also heard that € 156,000 was spent in 2012 on security for the Beachpark Traveller Accommodation in Ennis.

A new CCTV facility is put in place on this site, and at a second Traveller accommodation site in the county, at a combined cost of around € 250,000.

Once this system of CCTV is up and running, the € 156,000 security contract for the Beachpark Estate will finish.

The council also incurred legal costs of € 118,000 in defending legal actions in relation to traveller accommodation in 2012.

Director of Service for housing, Bernadette Kinsella, said the costs had been awarded to the council in relation to some of these cases but that these costs had yet to be paid.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) also suggested that the Beachpark Estate be reallocated to the settled community as a result of damage which has been done to the property in recent months.

“We’ve seen this down through the years. It is more than 30 years ago that I said ‘they’ll never settle’. A problem like this will not be fixed by throwing money at it,” he said.

PERMANENT TSB in Ennis is unwittingly in the middle of a tug of love between an American woman and a Kilmaley native over an account in its bank that holds more than € 1.6m, which has now been frozen as a result of court action taken this week.

A 60-year-old American woman has claimed she was defrauded of millions by her younger Irish lover, who she claims had been leading a double life, the High Court heard this week.

The woman also claimed the man, her fiance, a Thomas Queally, de- scribed in court as being a native of Lahaknock, Kilmaley was also engaged to another woman at the same time.

New York-based Elisa Rodino claims Thomas J Queally, who is in his mid forties and who had been engaged to her, has stolen approximately US$4m of her money – a large portion of which was lodged by him into a bank in the Permanent TSB bank in Ennis.

Solicitors acting on her behalf secured a number of temporary freezing orders against Mr Queally.

They prevent him reducing, dissipating or transferring funds below a value of € 1.6m held in a bank ac- count at Permanent TSB in Ennis.

Seeking the orders, Ross Gorman acting for Ms Rodino, said his client was a vulnerable and wealthy woman who had been taken advantage of by Mr Queally.

Last August she agreed to put his name down on one of her bank accounts he said. It was a deposit account that contained US$5m.

Last October Mr Queally was due to meet up with Ms Rodino in Spain, but never showed up. When she arrived back in the US she discovered that money had been transferred to the bank in Ennis and to a US bank account.

Counsel said that his client did not know exactly where Mr Queally is at present and had not seen him for some months.

She has brought a legal action against him in New York as well as in Ireland, and fears that he will dissipate the funds held in the Irish bank account.

Counsel added it has been difficult to track Mr Queally down, but both Ms Rodino’s Irish solicitors Lyons Kenny Solicitors and her US lawyers were taking steps to find him,

The freezing orders were granted on an ex parte (one-side only) basis by Mr Justice Roderick Murphy. The judge made the matter returnable to early January.

AN unsigned Clare singer/songwriter is celebrating her very own Christmas miracle this week as she will be the iTunes featured artist of the week over the Christmas period.

Killaloe’s Siobhan O’Brien will be one of six musicians to feature on the iTunes Store during the busiest week of the year for music downloads. While the full lineup of artists is not yet known, these positions are usually reserved for multi-million Euro record artists – with major industry backing behind them.

This opportunity was offered to Siobhan after a senior iTunes executive happened to hear her singing live at a gig in West Clare.

“This means that every time that someone logs onto the iTunes Store, I will be one of the featured artists that scrolls across the top of the screen. It is incredible profile for me – this means that I’m going to be subjected to a much wider audience than I ever thought possible,” said Siobhan.

“I suppose this came about through a combination of perseverance and luck. I was singing live in Doonbeg and a major iTunes executive heard me. I don’t want to mention his name but he loved my voice and he said that he wanted to help me out. I couldn’t believe it.”

Everyone who logs into the iTunes Store over the Christmas period will be given a link to downloading Siobhan’s self titled “Siobhán O’Brien”. As a result of being featured by iTunes, Siobhan has also decided to relaunch the album on March 8, 2013, at Dolan’s in Limerick.

“The album came out last year and it was well received and got some very favourable reviews but U just didn’t have the profile to push it properly at that time,” said Siobhan.

“I’m also now in a position to tour in America so I’m going to tour the West Coast of America in January and then I’ll go back to tour the East Coast in March, after the album launch. So it’s exciting times.

“It is really great to get this kickstart [from iTunes]. It is very hard to get promotion as a musician and to get your foot in the door. It can be a luck thing as much as anything else and hopefully this is my time to get lucky.”

The album is produced by Siobhan’s long time friend and collaborator Eamon Hehir. Eamon has also co-written three of the songs on the album alongside Siobhan.

For more about Siobhan’s music visit www.siobhanobrien.com.

DAVE ‘Lockie’ O’Loughlin, 27, is peeling off the layers and getting ready to spend his second Christmas in New Zealand.

The carpenter from Ennistymon learned his trade in the early 2000s, during the boom years. However, when the construction industry collapsed, young newly qualified tradespeople like Dave were the first to be let go.

At first, Dave loved his newfound freedom. He got by with an odd job here and there and gigging with different pub bands. It felt like he finally had the chance to participate in the sort of college lifestyle he missed out on during his apprenticeship.

Bur over time, with no jobs on the horizon, the novelty wore off. He decided, like many others before him, to pack his bags and seek his fortune Down Under. He set his sights on Christchurch, New Zealand.

The reports were that the major earthquake which rocked the city in February 2011 and the subsequent aftershocks had left large swathes of the city in rubble. Rebuilding work was underway and qualified builders were in demand.

Dave arrived in November and found work almost immediately. “Here is like what it was back in the boom in Ireland; everyone happy out with a few quid to spend,” he says.

Now a senior man on his site, he is shouldering the responsibilities and perks which come with the role. He drives a company van and gives directions to those working with him.

He also plays with a new band called Smashbox, with whom he has had bigger gigs than ever before.

Dave finds the warm weather at Christmas strange. He shares an anecdote about Santa arriving at a shopping centre, fully geared up in his winter robes, with the sun beating down on him and sweat pouring down his beard.

He finds it hard to get into the Christmas spirit. “Christmas to me is snow, frost, cold, the Christmas swim, home with the family. You need all those ingredients,” he explains. “I can’t see having Christmas again unless I’m back in Ireland.”

Overall, he says, “I think I’m happy. I totally love my job.” But he adds that he misses having a network of family and friends around him, especially at times like Christmas when there are holidays from work.”

When asked about returning home, Dave was skeptical. He admits he couldn’t imagine not working and “wouldn’t risk going back to try find a job”.

Finally he adds, “I can’t see myself, for the next couple of years, ever coming home for a long period of time.”

IN AUGUST this year, Gabrielle Fennessy, 51, her husband Chris Kearns, 51, and youngest son Finn, 16, decided to uproot from Kinvara, in Galway, and take up a job offer in Boston.

They left their home and the security provided by family and friends to see whether the grass really is greener on the other side.

“The job opportunities are a lot better here than Ireland for both of us,” explains Gabrielle, “and the education system is a hell of a lot better!”

Chris says he was happy “to get away from the economic and political environment in Ireland”. From the beginning, Finn noticed how, “much more positive people are here.” The couple agree that it is much easier to save money working in the US than it is to do so here.

Gabrielle had work secured before leaving and was straight into it once she arrived. Chris and Finn took a little longer to settle in. At first, setting up the new family home kept them busy. Unlike their countryside home in Ireland, they moved into a suburban apartment. A car had to be bought, insurance cover arranged, phone and internet access organised. And Finn had to be registered in the local high school. It was all very new and exciting.

Five months later, Chris is working with an international, high-tech firm which specialises in cloud computing. Finn has settled right into the American lifestyle. He has replaced hurling and rugby with American football, which he plays with his high school team. They will not be home for Christmas. “We’re going to have an Irish Christmas here instead,” says Gabrielle. While they will miss their extended family and the traditional Christmas round of visits to friends and neighbours, they are lucky to have some family travelling over for Christmas. Gabrielle reflects that Christmas in Boston is different to Ireland. “It’s seen as a Christian holiday here,” she explains. They live in a predominantly Jewish community. Cribs and baby Jesuses are left out in favour of more secular Christmas decorations such as snowmen and reindeer.

The traditional Irish Christmas dinner of turkey and ham is considered more of a Thanksgiving staple. At Christmas, a wider range of foods are eaten. Many people that they work with are only taking one day off work.

Whether this is just their first of many Christmases state-side remains to be seen. Gabrielle says that while they initially left for the US with the intention of staying one year, “now we’re looking at extending it.”

WHEN Marie McNamara went to Australia in 2008, it was with a sense of adventure.

At home, she found herself in a job that just wasn’t the right fit for her, she had always wanted to travel and had heard stories from her brother and friends who had spent a year travelling around Asia and Australia.

It was a now-or-never attitude that saw her fill her backpack and travel around Asia for three months before finding herself in Australia.

This was to begin an adventure that would take no longer than a year, then she would be back home in Ballynacally.

Four years on and the reality she left behind in 2008 has changed sig- nificantly.

Now Marie is working full-time in Australia, something she knows would not be possible if she returns home.

She is therefore home for three weeks at Christmas to visit family and friends rather than returning, as she would wish, for good.

“You are really doing the same thing over there as you would be doing here, it’s just that the weather is better. You get into a routine and a way of living,” she said.

“Everyone thinks the grass is greener but we are living away from all our family and friends.”

Marie said that she hopes to come home some day as “home is home” but for now “the country is in a mess and I know if I stayed, there would be no work here. I have to be practical and go back to Australia where the work is. There is nothing for me to come back to now. It would be great to stay home but I have to be practical.”

The Clare native has had a number of various jobs since she arrived Down Under. She worked for six months in an office and then travelled around the country.

As with most backpackers, she then ran out of money but decided she would stay for another year.

To be allowed to stay in the country for a second year, she was obliged to spend it working in rural Australia.

So she ended up weeding, sorting tomatoes and potatoes and doing general agricultural work on a farm.

“It was great craic. There was no pressure and you met a load of people. You experience a different side of Australia that you would not see otherwise,” she said.

After her time on the farm, she came back to Sydney and was sponsored to stay in the country working with the company she had worked with previously.

She is now home for a three-week holiday, her third Christmas trip home in a row.

“The first Christmas in Australia was great craic, having Christmas on the beach and watching the fireworks on Sydney Bridge on New Year’s Eve. By the second Christmas, the novelty has worn off,” she told The Clare People .

“To sit beside an open fire for Christmas – there is nothing like it.”

MAURETTE and Barry Crowley were just newlyweds last December when they decided to go to Australia for a least a year.

Maurette, a teacher originally from Tulla, and Barry, an engineer from Knockerra, are now adapting to life down under and enjoying all that it has to offer, although they admit they do miss home at Christmas time.

“We would love to be home for Christmas, but it’s a good experi ence to be here for one Christmas,” said Maurette, explaining that they both intend to be having turkey and Christmas pudding in Clare next year.

The weather in Melbourne does not lend itself to the Christmassy feel. However, one morning last week, as Maurette got the train to work, the temperature dropped for a few minutes and she had to put on her coat as she passed a busker playing ‘Silent Night’ on a trumpet.

For a brief moment, it was Christmas time as she knew it.

The new Christmas experience consists of high temperatures and summer dresses, different foods and blue Christmas decorations.

“The decorations seem strange. They are all blue. There is no green and red like at home,” explained the Tulla native.

The Christmas carols also give the Clare woman pause for thought and a smile. She is currently working as a relief teacher in an Australian pri- mary school and is teaching the children ‘Ozzy Jingle Bells’.

“Instead of singing about the sledge, they sing about putting on the barbie. It is very funny and worth people Youtubing just to hear the difference,” she said, laughing.

Teaching in an Australian school brings home to Maurette how many Irish people of her generation have emigrated there, many with no other choice. There are Irish pupils in each class in the school, some who have recently moved to Australia with their families and others who were born to Irish parents in Australia in the last five years.

There are also a number of Irish teachers teaching in the school so she is not the only Irish accent in the staff room either.

And as the staff all settle in for an Ozzy Christmas, Maurette and her husband Barry are heading to the Goldcoast to celebrate their first married Christmas with her sisters in 35- to 40-degree heat with blue Christmas decorations. “HOW is it being away from home at Christmas?” asks Jason Ryan of himself. “I’m in my shorts; we’re all in our shorts; it’s blistering hot outside and I have the The Clare People here in front of me.” It’s true, like the old Harp ad, the sun tan is for free and unlike back home in Clare, if one wanted to hit the town on Christmas Day, there’d be plenty of pubs with a ‘fáilte isteach’. It’s Phoenix Arizona, where 36year-old Jason Ryan has called home for the last seven years, moving permanently in 2005 after first visiting a year previously. With a wife and four children, ranging from the age of seven down to only a couple of months old, he’s not for moving. Back home or anywhere. Jason has The Clare People and Clare Champion thanks to his parents who landed for a week before Christmas. “There are 5,000 miles between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Phoenix,” he says, “so when they come over, it’s a long 14-hour trek. You won’t do it too often, so when your parents come over before Christmas it’s special and it’s important. You miss the craic of home around Christmas so having them over is great,” he adds. Before emigrating, Jason freely admits that Phoenix was never on his radar but that all changed when he met his now wife in NUIG. “Arizona and Ireland – the first thing I thought was total opposites but, after meeting, we came out and it wasn’t until I got here that I realised there’s such a big Irish community here.” And it’s something that Jason has immersed himself in over the last couple of years, mainly through the GAA. Like his father Christy, who is synonymous with the GAA back home, as are his uncles and first cousin Colin who inspired the Newmarket Blues to a first county hurling title in 31 years this year. “Five thousand miles is a long way,” he says, “but the world is a smaller place and, when you’re away, it’s more tolerable. It’s not just an evening phone call – there’s text messaging, Skype, Facebook, Twitter…

and you keep in touch that way with matches back home and what’s going on.

“With the GAA here, I am manager of the Phoenix Gaels and chairman of the South West Board of the GAA, so that keeps you in touch with home as well. When there are big games, you’d go and meet lads and watch them. Tony McCarthy from Killaloe and Eanna Mulkere from Crusheen would be two that I’d meet to watch matches. My brother Johnny is in Perth and there are eight or 10 more from Newmarket there, so we’d keep in touch through the social media.”

Still though, there’ll be a few home thoughts from abroad, but not for too long because he’s well ensconced in Arizona now and so comfortable with life a world away from Newmarket that he has a slow southern drawl.

“When I’m home, my wife can’t understand me but when I’m here you have to slow down for people to be able to understand you,” he says. “Everything is different, but it’s great. There isn’t the big Christmas dinner and turkey wouldn’t be traditional because of Thanksgiving, you’d just do a ham.

“Then you have movie theatres open on Christmas Day and people go there or to the bars – it’s not like home when everything shuts down. Even some of the stores are open for people to go shopping.”

He’ll hardly shop, because it’s not the done thing back home, catching a movie mightn’t be on his radar either, but a pint and toasting the great year that both the Blues and Newmarket Celtic enjoyed on Christmas Day.

Now, there’s a thought.

KILRUSH Town Council passed what was described as “a particularly difficult budget” on Thursday evening, a function they undertook for the second last time as the Minister for the Environment plans to abolish all town councils in 2014.

In drawing up the draft budget, which was accepted in full by the members, the council officials had to contend with a cut to its local Government Funding of five per cent – € 24,287.

Town Manager and Director of Service Anne Haugh said, “The Draft Budget provides for expenditure of € 1,348,986 in 2012. Income excluding rates and the Local Government Fund, has been estimated at € 631,133 in 2013 compared to € 625,473 in 2012.”

Kilrush Town Council payroll has also been reduced by € 32,237 from that provided in the 2012 Budget.

“However, notwithstanding this, Kilrush Town Council are proposing to maintain the existing level of services in 2013,” said Ms Haugh.

In an attempt to balance the books and yet reflect the difficulties that local businesses are experiencing in the “current economic climate”, the local authority agreed to maintain the commercial rates at that 2012 level.

Impacting on the 2013 budget is a loan drawn down in 2005 to fund works on Henry Street and at the Vandeleur Walled Garden.

However, loan repayments have been reduced by € 9,023 on loan charges in 2012 due to capital re- payments on the loan and also the reduced interest rate.

There was some good news for those renting their home from the local government as it was agreed there would be no increase in household rent.

The council was not optimistic in receiving a large income for planning applications in 2013.

“It is anticipated that in the current economic climate that the number of planning applications received will again be insignificant, hence a provision of € 750 for planning ap- plications fees has been provided for in 2013,” explained Ms Haugh.

The town council agreed to support numerous community groups and public vents in the coming year.

A total of € 13, 550 was provided for tourism development and promotion, € 5,000 was provided for the Shop Front Initiative and a provision of € 2,000 was included for the Gathering in 2013.

The council provided € 10,000 in hope that it will be named the lead town in Munster for the National Famine Commemoration.