The Clare People Archive

MICHEÁL Martin used the occasion of his first Eamon de Valera Commemoration in Ennis as party leader to blast the Fine Gael/Labour coalition for ignoring the former Taoiseach, President and Clare TD’s pivotal role in the making of modern Ireland.

In his address to a small gathering of the Fianna Fáil faithful at the de Valera Monument in Ennis’ People’s Park, the Fianna Fáil leader rounded on the parties of government for failing to honour Mr de Valera 75 years after his crucial role in drafting Bunreacht na hÉireann in 1937

“This is the 75th anniversary of the adoption by the people of Bunreacht na hÉireann,” said Mr Martin, “and the constitution is rightly seen as primarily the result of Eamon de Valera’s determination that this country should have a modern republican constitution. It has been continuously in place longer than the written constitution of any other European state.

“It is a great pity that the coalition government refused to take any step whatsoever to acknowledge this anniversary.

“They have to begin to step outside of the non-partisan consensus on the past which I mentioned, and have shown an unwillingness to acknowledge the work of people of other parties at all stages in our recent history,” he added.

Continuing, Mr Martin told the Fianna Fáil gathering that it was Mr de Valera – who served as a Clare representative for 42 years between his famous East Clare by-election victory of 1917 through to 1959 – and Mr de Valera alone, whose leadership and statesmanship secured Ireland’s place in international affairs.

“The foundation of Ireland’s strong standing in the world is undoubtedly his leadership in those deeply troubled times,” said Mr Martin.

“Because of Eamon de Valera, we have a strong and democratic constitutional tradition as a country which is founded on nationalist ideals but is fully committed to the international community. He raised the standing of Ireland in the world and built a republican constitutional tradition of which we should be proud,” he added.

CLARE Gardaí have received no reports of cyber-bullying in the county’s schools.

According to Community Liason Officer Sergent Joe Downey, the best approch to the bullying is first through a trusted adult, then the school, the parents of the bully and finally, if the issue cannot be resolved, the Gardaí.

Cyber-bullying is not restricted to social media sites, but includes texting, Twitter and emails.

This type of bullying is particularly harsh as it follows the child or teenager into their own home, and they find it almost impossible to escape.

“The first thing they should do is bring it to the attention of someone they trust,” said Sgt Downey.

From there, the school should be contacted and then the parents of the bully.

If the issue cannot be resolved through the school’s anti-bullying policy, Gardaí can investigate a charge of harrassment under Section 10 of the non-fatal acts.

However, an offence is committed only after unwanted, persistent contact is made after the person has been asked to stop.

“It must be considered persistent and the person must have been asked to stop before it is considered an offense,” said Sgt Downey, as he explained the law.

For example, if someone receives unwanted texts, they must reply, asking the sender not to text them again.

“In relation to schools, we like to see it resolved between the kids, parents and the school,” he said.

He advised those who are targeted on social network pages not to reply and block the access of the bully. He also advised reporting the abuse to the internet provider.

A child should always be encouraged to tell someone about it, he reiterated.

The long-serving Garda said he has to date never investigated a school cyber-bullying complaint.

THE courage shown by pioneering author and broadcaster from Clare, the late Máiréad Ní Ghráda, will be celebrated in Glór in the coming weeks thanks to a series of workshops that built around her most acclaimed piece work.

The workshops on Ms Ní Ghráda’s play called ‘An Triail’ comes in the wake of the move by the Department of Education to include the work on the current syllabus for the Leaving Certificate Irish exam.

The workshops are being provided by Irish language enthusiast Fidelma McDonnell, starting this Wednesday and continuing for six weeks – a programme that’s seen as the first step towards a fully-blown production of the play in Glór next year.

“The play’s storyline features a single mother in 1960s rural Ireland who was forced to go into a Magdalene Laundry due to pressure from family and society around her,” reveals Ms McDonnell. “This theme was very controversial to write about at the time and Ms Ní Ghráda showed great courage in raising this subject through her writing.

“It is a great thing for a playwright from Clare to feature on the Leaving Cert and it will bring her work to the forefront of people’s consciousness once again,” adds Ms McDonnell.

Ms Ní Ghráda, who hailed from Kilmaley was the first female pre- senter on Ireland’s first national radio service, then known as 2RN that started broadcasting in 1926.

An Triail is thought to have been based on an incident near her home that Ms Ní Ghráda remembered from her youth: the victimisation of a pregnant young single girl while the man involved escaped condemnation.

While some people were shocked at the “filthy immoral” drama others saw it as being ahead of its time. Tomás MacAnna, who produced the play, praised it as the precursor of women’s lib. It still ranks with Brendan Behan’s ‘An Giall’ as the most successful play in the Irish language.

BUSINESSES in Clare are continuing to pay their local authority rates in large numbers, despite the downturn in the local and national economy.

According to figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, the Council have collected 71 per cent of the rates owned to them so far this year. This compares to a payment rate of 75 per cent for the same period in 2011.

The council is aiming to collect a total commercial rate of € 32.35 million in 2012. With the final percentage for collection of rates reaching 79 per cent for 2011, Clare County Council can expect to collect an extra € 2 or € 3 million before the end of the year.

The figures were released in response to a motion put forward by Cllr Oliver Garry (FG) who asked that more staff be put in place to help collecting rates.

“I would, of course, like more people to be available to help in the collecting of rates but that requirement has to be balanced against the needs for staff in different parts of the organisation,” said a spokesperson from Clare County Council.

“The key to handling this situation is early engagement with customers. We do try to engage with people and put some sort of a practical arrangement in place as early as possible.

“With falling staff member in he council there are less people in the organisation overall but this is an area that we do see as being very important.”

CLARE County Council is to write to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG) asking for some clarity in relation to the proposed scrapping of town councils in Kilrush, Ennis and Shannon.

This follows a motion put forward by Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND), himself a member of Shannon Town Council. Cllr Flynn said that the further centralisation of services would lead to poorer services being delivered to the people of Clare.

“It is quiet clear that the minister [Hogan] is seeking to centralise services in the county. All you have to do is look at what has happened with the centralisation of services so far and see the total disgrace which came from the centralisation of education services and the hardship which has come about to students and their family through the new system for third-level grants,” he said.

“We need to ask the minister ex- actly what his intention are and what he plans to do. There are a lot of staff working in these local offices around the country.

“Some of these people, under the Croke Park agreement, would be protected but some would not be protected.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Patricia McCarthy (IND), also a member of Shannon Town Council.

“I think it is important that some clarity is brought to this situation sooner rather than later,” she said.

A PROPOSAL to ask the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, to introduce new ‘D’ plates for any driver convicted of drunk-driving for a second time was rejected at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

The proposal, which was put forward by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), proved controversial both because of the details of the motion itself and Cllr Kelly’s use of the phrase “Séan Mac An Asal”.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) criticised Cllr Kelly over his use of the phrase, which he said was a derogatory term and insulting to rural dwellers.

“Many offenses are on the increase in this country because the punishment is not enough. Unfortunately, accidents are going to happen and we sympathise with anyone who has been involved with it. Accidents are inevitable but some of them are avoidable,” said Cllr Kelly.

“I don’t think that people would drive under the influence if there was a bigger deterrent in place. I think it would be much better to allow people to stay on the road and instead force them to carry a ‘D’ plate on the car.

“As well as that, I would suggest that people who are convicted of driving under the influence should be forced to appear bi-weekly at a local garda station. I think that would also be a deterrent for people.”

The motion was opposed by a large number of councillors and was eventually defeated, with 17 councillors voting against it and just two councillors in favourof it.

“I have a lot of respect for Cllr Kelly but I cannot support this motion. I think this would trivialise this [drink driving] to a serious degree and I can’t support that.

“This is a very serious issue and there have been plenty of lives lost because of this in recent years. The most suitable thing to do is put someone off the road,” said Cllr Cathal Crowe.

This feeling was echoed by Cllr Patricia McCarthy.

“I think that one conviction for drink driving is bad enough, but a second conviction, I think that a person should be put off the road for life. I don’t think anything justifies having a drink and getting behind the wheel of a car,” she said.

CLARE County Council are set to review sections of the County Development Plan that prevent people from selling a property built in certain parts of the county for seven years after its construction.

Councillors decided at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council to review the situation, following a joint motion put forward by Cllrs PJ Kelly (FF), Tom McNamara (FF) and Joe Cooney (FG).

According to councillors, a change to the current County Development Plan could promote construction work in parts of the county and allow people who have been forced to emigrate to offload properties at home.

At present, a property owner can apply to Clare County Council for a condition of a planning permission to be changed.

The council yesterday declined a suggestion from Cllr PJ Kelly to advertise the existence of this process in the local media.

“These mechanisms were put in place to grant planning permission where development would otherwise not have been possible, not to prevent developed. Planning systems are about proper planning and not economic decisions and I think that is as it should be,” said Director of Services for Clare County Council, Ger Dollard.

“Anybody can apply to have the conditions removed under the current situation. But putting an ad like that in the paper would only give false hope to people. There are no easy solutions to this and I don’t think that just letting the conditions be changed is the way forward.”

Councillors yesterday put a timeframe of one month on a review of these sections of the County Development Plan.

Cllr PJ Kelly also questioned County Manager, Tom Coughlan, about the powers of a county manager to make changes to individual planning applications.

Cllr Kelly suggested that he had some information that he would make public in the future.

“I don’t know what Cllr Kelly is talking about. If you [Cllr Kelly] have information, put it out there and let’s deal with it. We can’t answer hypothetical questions about hypothetical situations,” said Mr Coughlan.

“There is a legal policy for changing the County Development Plan and it cannot be done by a notice of motion. There has been a framework set up for making these amendments. The director [Ger Dollard] has suggested that this matter be referred to that process and I think that is what we should do.”

CLARE County Council have spent € 571,000 on legal expenses for the first 10 months of this year, according to figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council. It now appears likely that the total legal fees paid by the local authority for 2012 will be substantially lower that the € 1,083,000 paid out by Clare County Council in 2011.

Despite the likely reduction of legal expenses for 2012, a number of councillors raised the issue of Clare County Council employing its own in-house legal team, instead of sourcing outside legal representation. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) referred to a motion put forward by former county councillor, Senator Martin Conway (FG), on this issue a number of years ago.

“I think the costs of legal fees are quite considerable. One wonders is there value in the argument that the council should have in-house legal expertise instead of having to buy it in in this way. I don’t think that the local authority can continue in this way. The public are looking for value for money and I don’t know does this represent value for money,” said Cllr Arkins (FG).

County Manager Tom Coughlan said that despite a previous motion by Senator Conway being approved by the council, this was not implemented because the council could not afford to take on an in-house legal team.

“The motion put to council by Senator Conway asked if it would be more efficient to outsource our legal services or to employ people in-house. Every motion adopted by the council can’t be implemented, because there is not funding for it. Just because a motion is put forward and seconded by the council, doesn’t mean that we have the ability and the money to actually do it,” said the county manager.

“Savings and value for money is something that we are looking at very closely. I wish we didn’t have any legal costs at all. Life would be much simpler for us if people didn’t take cases against us. It would also be much more helpful for us if these cases were resolved as quickly as possible. But that is the legal system.

“It is not that we just accept a bill and say we will pay it. Many of our bills, especially the larger bills, are assessed independently to determine if we are being charged fairly. I would prefer to drive down the legal costs in the system that we have and not change the system.”

The meeting also heard that total architectural, civil and mechanical engineering fees from January to October of 2012 came to € 930,000, auctioneering came to € 48,000 and energy came to € 3,228,000.

THE young woman who lost her life in a road accident on the M18 near Barefield on Sunday afternoon has been named locally as Vicky Courtney from Athenry.

The young woman, who was due to celebrate her 27th birthday later this week, was driving home from Shannon Airport with her mother Pamela when the accident took place.

It is understood that the car collided with the motorway crash barrier before continuing for more than 20 metres and smashing into a timber fence.

Ms Courtney was thrown from the car and suffered extensive injuries. She was treated for her injuries at the scene by a doctor who happened upon the accident but her injuries were too severe.

Her mother was trapped inside the vehicle for a number of minutes before she was freed by the Ennis fire brigade.

Gardaí from Ennis are investigating the tragedy, which was the sec- ond fatal road accident in Clare this year. On February 24, a 30-year-old man died when the car he was driving struck a wall near Clooney.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Gort are appealing for witnesses after an elderly man died in an apparent hit and run on the N-18 on Friday evening.

The incident took place just after 7.30pm on Friday evening when a 65-year-old man was attempting to cross the road and was struck by a vehicle.

The man, who has since been named as Gerry Keane from Ardrahan, was taken to University College Hospital in Galway where he died early on Saturday afternoon.

Gardaí in Gort are looking to speak to the driver of the car, who did not remain at the scene, or anyone else who may have witness the incident. It is understood that the incident was captured on CCTV but Gardaí are appealing for the driver to come forward.

Anyone who witnessed this collision or who can assist with the investigation is asked to contact Gort Garda Station on 091 636400.

ELEVEN fire and rescue service personnel from Clare who, between them, have a combined service record of 260 years were the toast of the 11th annual National Long Service Awards Ceremony that took place in Dublin at the weekend.

At a ceremony hosted by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Fergus O’Dowd, two fighters from the county were presented with 30-year awards, while the remaining nine received 20-year awards.

The 30-year award winners were Martin Rodgers, who is a Sub Station Officer with Killaloe Fire Brigade and Joe McMahon, a firefighter with Kilkee Fire Brigade.

The 20-year award winners were Clare’s Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly; firefighters Cormac Quinlivan, Brian Rudd, Frank O’Gorman, Paddy Doyle and Joe Tuohy; as well as Killaloe Fire Station Officer Paul Mollaghan and Sub-Station Officer Robert Fitzgerald.

The National Long Service Awards scheme is administered on behalf of the Department of the Environment by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.

The award in recognition of 20 years’ service takes the form of a medal bearing the traditional logo representation of the fire service – a helmet and crossed axes; the medal ribbon bears the Irish national colours, with a central column in red to represent the fire service.

The 30-year award is a representation of a flame in emblematic form. Both awards are accompanied by an appropriate certificate. Presenting the awards, Fergal O’Dowd TD, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment stated that awards scheme is the State’s way of honouring local au- thority fire service personnel for “being there over all the years, for being prepared to respond to calls for help, at all times, and in all weathers.”

“The commitment and professionalism of these long serving fire fighters is indicative of the highly experienced personnel employed by Clare County Fire and Rescue Service,” said Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald in congratulating the award recipients.

“Clare County Fire and Rescue Service has a proud tradition of Serv- ice to the people of Clare. Presently, our fire and rescue staff are among the most highly trained in the country and we are continually pushing to raise staff training levels even further,” said Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly.

“We remain fully committed to providing a multi-skilled approach not alone to the areas of fire fighting, but also to rescue and fire safety engineering. We are available for emergency response to the Community 24 hours a day seven days a week,” he added.