The Clare People Archive

THE HSE have had difficulty filling nursing posts in the mid-west area which includes counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

That is according to Regional Director of Operations, HSE West, John Hennessy who was responding to criticism that retired staff continue to be employed within the HSE on a part-time basis.

Mr Hennessy maintained that staff were only re-employed in certain circumstances and for a short period of time. He added, “When we had permanent nursing posts in the mid-west we had difficulty finding someone to take up the post.”

Clare County Councillor Tom McNamara (FF) criticised the HSE for its re-hiring practices.

“There are people working in the HSE that have retired in the last five years taking posts that could be filled by young graduates,” he said.

“This [practice] is forcing young people out of the country, while these people’s pensions are not touched because they can work a day or two to bring them up to their former wage before it is touched.”

He proposed that the HSE take new people into the health service on a 12-month contract instead to cover any gaps in the system.

Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources, said it was HSE policy not to rehire people on pensions.

“In circumstances where we found ourselves having to re-hire pensioners it was only in extreme circumstances where we do this. This would also be for a very short period and only where a very specific specialist was needed,” he said.

“There is no financial gain in this to the pensioner. During this period their pension is abated. It is an issue we very carefully monitor.”

This week Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy proposed that selective redundancy be used in the public sector. “The problem is we are losing people we want to keep and we are keeping people we probably need to lose. We really are going to have to get the unions engaged on that and be supportive of that. I am 100 per cent supportive of the Croke Park Agreement because in fairness they [public sector staff] are working very hard,” he told The Clare People .

“But like everything else there is dead weight in a lot of organisations that has to be picked out and say no you don’t serve a purpose anymore and you are not doing what we need you to do and those are areas we have to tackle.”

A LEGAL case involving a thirdlevel student from Ballyvaughan will be appealed to the Supreme Court later this year, in a test case which could see full maintenance grants restored to thousands of students in Ireland.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) confirmed last week that they have decided to appeal the case taken on behalf of Medb McCarthy, from Murtyclough, outside Ballyvaughan, after receiving advice from their legal team.

Medb, along with other students Robert Johnson from Monaghan and Iesha Rowan from Oranmore in Galway, are fighting to restore their non-adjacent grants, which were removed following changes in the Department of Education criteria which came into effect in September.

The Student Services Act increases the distance that a non-adjacent student would have to live away from the educational institution from 24 kilometres to 45 kilometres. According to the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn (LAB), this change was introduced to reflect the improved public transport and general transport infrastructure in the country in recent years.

Under the new rules, Mebh, who is a third-year Arts student at NUI, Galway, would be considered to live “adjacent” to the university – in an area where commuting each day would be possible.

With no effective public transport in place in the North Clare area, Mebh will not be able to reach Galway City for college each day until after 11am. Despite working to support herself during her time in college, she is not in a position to make up the shortfall in the grants payment.

Mebh is currently in receipt of a grant of between € 6,100 and € 6,700 per year to go towards rented accommodation and maintenance while she studies in NUI, Galway. If the decision is not reversed, it will lead to a loss of between € 2,440 to € 3,900 towards her maintenance in college next year.

The case is being seen as a test case by hundreds of students in Clare who will have their grants reduced if the new system is enforced.

An initial legal challenge was heard in February of this year, with Mr Justice John Hedigan reserving his judgement for more than six weeks while he considered the arguments made.

When the judgement was released in April, Justice Hedigan ruled that grants cuts were in the public interest given the dire financial circumstances facing the country. However, Vice President of the USI, Conor Murphy, confirmed last week that the students organisation would be appealing the decision.

ONE Clare TD has described the resounding acceptance of the Fiscal Stability Treaty in Clare as the “least bad option”.

Labour TD Michael McNamara said, “It has been a difficult decision for many people, myself included, but I’m glad that clarity has been brought to the situation. The people of Ireland and Clare have provided a decisive result that will reinforce the Govern- ment’s efforts to work our way through the Eurozone crisis with greater urgency with our EU partners. We need to press ahead with the growth agenda and to work hard on getting a deal on the bank debt.Passing the referendum is not a solution to our problems. In many ways, it can be described as the least bad option,” he said.

Fine Gael’s Joe Carey maintained, “There was a very clear message that we had to pass this referendum in the interest of our country so we would have certainty going forward.”

The Clare TD was Fine Gael Director of Elections for North Munster and he was happy to see a lot of young people involved in the campaign. “It was encouraging to see so many young people getting involved in this campaign. I think they viewed it as their future. They wanted to make sure a yes vote was returned in their interest because it is really about putting our country first,” he said.

Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said he was arguing for the referendum from a business point of view and he believed being able to borrow at a reasonable rate is key to the future of industry. “At the end of the day, the people have spoken and said let’s steady the ship and keep the whole thing going,” he said.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said, “I know from speaking to people during the course of this campaign that they were very much aware of the importance of passing this treaty in terms of Ireland’s future role in the European Union. The fact that the Irish people are set to endorse the treaty is already receiving a very positive reaction all over the world. I have received quite a number of calls from colleagues throughout Europe congratulating us on the result. The fact that we were the only country in the EU to hold a referendum and that as a country we have taken the lead in support of the treaty will, I have no doubt, pay dividends into the future with foreign direct investment continuing to flow into this country. It will also strengthen our Government’s hands in future discussions at EU level,” he added.

THE voter turn-out for the Stability Referendum last week was the lowest in the county in almost a decade.

Campaigners from all sides said they were disappointed with the 49.8 per cent turn-out in Clare, which was just short of the national average. However, the large number of people staying at home at the time of a referendum is not unusual in Clare’s recent history.

Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.

This was a huge drop from the previous referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for ‘Recognition for Local Government’.

In March 2002, just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turn out for a referen dum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on the Citizenship.

From then until last Thursday, the turn-out remained over 50 per cent in the Banner county, with 52.48 per cent voting on Lisbon 1 in June 2008, 56.9 per cent voting on the second Lisbon referendum in October 2009, while 56.12 per cent voted on the House of the Oireachtais Inquiries and 57.95 per cent on Judges Remu- neration during the Presidential election in October 2011.

Last week’s drop below 50 per cent was a disappointment to the majority of people involved in the campaign. Some blamed referendum fatigue, others a lack of knowledge on the subject.

“An element of referendum fatigue was built into the turn-out. I was disappointed that more people didn’t choose to vote but it is the norm for referendums that you don’t have a large turn-out,” said Fine Gael TD Joe Carey.

Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy said he believed the low turn-out was due to frustration and annoyance among people. There was also an element of “people not understanding it” he maintained.

SHORTLY after the ballot boxes opened on Friday morning, it was clear that the people of Clare had voted overwhelmingly to accept the Stability Treaty, and there were few if any protest votes among those tallied.

At 2.09pm, Clare’s Returning Officer Patrick Wallace announced that the people of Clare had resoundingly accepted the treaty.

As many as 26,121 people, or 65.7 per cent of the poll, had voted yes the previous day, while 13,613 or 34.3 per cent had voted no. Less than half a per cent of the votes were spoilt.

While the turnout was low, there also appeared to be no orchestrated protest vote against the Government.

Even in areas like Parteen, who are concerned about the proposed Limerick Northern distributory road cutting through their village, there seemed to have been no orchestrated protest vote. The Parteen ballot box opened in Clare showed a tally of 130 for, with 72 against. The second Parteen box was opened as part of the Limerick City constituency.

There was a slight swing towards the no camp in Shannon Town but the yes vote still won the day.

In the Shannon Electoral area, an estimated 61 per cent of voters voted for the treaty, with 39 per cent voting against. According to the tallies, there was one “no box” in Shannon Town. However, the tallymen and women missed a box and a half of votes from St Aidan’s School Ballycasey. It was estimated that the town voted 54 per cent in favour of the treaty and 46 per cent against, which made it the lowest yes vote in the county.

In total, the joint tally between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil accounted for 78 per cent of the boxes. Despite missing a few boxes, the tally was still within one per cent of the overall result, predicting a yes vote of 64.8 per cent.

The north Clare area was the biggest supporter of the treaty, according to the tallies. As many as 67.8 per cent of people in the Ennistymon Electoral Area voted in favour of the treaty, with both Ennis electoral areas returning a joint yes vote of 66 per cent.

Kilrush Electoral Area returned a yes vote of 65.5 per cent, with Killaloe Electoral Area supporting the treaty by 64.73 per cent.

Shannon Electoral Area had the lowest yes vote, but still voted in favour of the referendum by a margin of 61 per cent to 39 per cent.

AN Bord Pleanála are due to deliver a decision on a controversial € 34 million retail park on the outskirts of Ennis next Monday.

In January, Ennis Town Council refused planning permission for a proposed retail development at the Clare Road / Tobertascáin.

Michael Lynch Ltd had sought permission for the (1) Demolition of all structures on site including five residential units, office block and all ancillary buildings; (2) Provision of a public plaza fronting on to the Limerick Road including both soft and hard landscaping; (3) A retail development including a food store incorporating customer restaurant and cafe, off licence sales area, dot com area and storage service area; (4) Separate ancillary two-storey retail and office blocks, a standalone two-storey office block, 610 parking spaces, provision for cycle parking, trolley bays and vehicular access to and from the Tobarteascain Road.

The developers had said the project would create 300 jobs in construction and between 180 and 200 per- manent jobs.

However, objectors, including town centre businesses, argued that the development would have a “significantly detrimental effect on town centre retail” and lead to a “decreased viability of the town centre”.

Residents on the Clare Road also fear that the proposed retail development will have an adverse impact on flooding in the area.

An engineering planning report prepared on behalf of Michael Lynch Ltd states that the site would be developed in a sustainable manner “in order to minimise the impact of the development during construction and throughout the lifespan of the proposed store”.

In its decision, the council deemed that the proposal is premature pending the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant at Clareabbey and pending the implementation of the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme.

The council also cited changes in the Planning and Development Act 2010.

The decision was subsequently appealed to An Bord Pleanála. The Board are expected to make a decision on June 10.

Gerard DAVOREN
of Griffith Ave, Dublin and late of Caherconnell, Kilfenora. Peacefully. Laid to rest in Kilcorney Cemetery. Donations in lieu to St Michael’s House. May he rest in peace.

Eamon MOLONEY
of McNamara Park, Ennis. Suddenly. Privately cremated. Donations, if desired, to the Irish Cancer Society. May he rest in peace. May he rest in peace.

Flan CUNNINGHAM
of Quilty East Quilty. Suddenly. Laid to rest in Mullagh Cemetery. Donations, if desired, toThe Irish Heart Foundation. May he rest in peace.

Tom LILLIS
of Killofin, Labasheeda. Laid to rest in Killofin Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

William SHAW
of 1 Collins Park, Shannon. Late of Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. Laid to rest in Lemanagh Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Mary MOORE
of Dromindoora, Caher. Formerly of Killeaney, Maynooth and Carbury, Co. Kildare. Laid to rest in Killanena. Donations, if desired, to Cahercalla Hospice. May she rest in peace.

Pat DUGGAN
of Corry Lane, Kilkee. Suddenly, at his home. Laid to rest in Lisdeen Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Anthony HEGARTY
of Crowhill Newmarket-on-Fergus.After a short illness. Laid to rest in Lemenagh Cemetery. House private please. May he rest in peace.

Eileen O’REILLY (née Markham)
of Castlefergus, Quin. Funeral Mass at St Bricken’s Church, Doora onTuesday at 11am. Burial afterwards in the Church grounds. May she rest in peace.

THOUSANDS of householders across the county are now finding it increasingly difficult to meet their mortgage payments, with the number of people who are defaulting on loans with Clare banks increasing all that time.

That’s the warning that has been sounded out this week by the Clare Citizen Information Service, which has reported increases in calls to its helpline service for those coming un- der financial strain.

Speaking to The Clare People this week, Clare Citizen Information Service chief Paul Woulfe has urged people to come forward if they are experiencing financial difficulties as both his organisation and the debtcounselling service MABS gear up to meet the demands of giving muchneeded advice to cash-strapped individuals and families.

“People’s circumstances are changing all the time,” Mr Woulfe warned, “and there are a growing amount of people in the county getting into trouble with their mortgages. It is a huge problem that’s out there. People are defaulting on their mortgage payments in Clare and they have to go and try to re-negotiate with the banks.

“With the amounts of calls that are coming in every day, things are getting worse and they aren’t improving. It wasn’t a problem a couple of years ago, but now is the biggest problem facing people in the county. We see that every day,” Mr Woulfe added.

As part of this process the Clare Citizen Information Service has urged under pressure mortgage holders in the county to avail of the advice offered by the revamped keepingyourhome.ie website and MABS outlets in Clare that are located in Ennis and Shannon.

“It’s very stressful and mortgage arrears brought by losing your job can trigger other things as well,” warned Mr Woulfe. “It can lead to isolation, because with financial hardship you can lose your network and not interact with people as you used to. That’s why getting advice is so important,” he added.

FROM this week on, the people of the Kilrush area have a second lifesaving telephone number to remember, especially in cases of cardiac arrest and sudden collapse.

After a Good Samaritan dials 999 or 112 for the emergency services, they can then dial 099 31 112 to get in touch with the newly formed Com- munity Responder Group.

The Community Responders have been trained by the group’s chairperson, Ian Lynch, to save lives. They can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and operate an automatic external defibrillator (AED) on the patient while they wait for an ambulance to reach the scene.

Mr Lynch is an Irish Heart Foundation (IHA) and Pre Hospital Emergen- cy Care Council (PHECC)-approved instructor and has trained more than 60 people in the Kilrush area.

“With 70 per cent of cardiac arrests occurring outside of hospital, the response of the local Community Responder Group is crucial as they can get to the patient very quickly and can, therefore, increase the patient’s chances of survival,” he said.

“All members of the group are vol- unteers, so we needed a system of alerting members to an incident that would allow the maximum number of members to be on call at any one time. The use of a VoIP ‘virtual number’ is the key to the responder service. The system can ring up to 1,000 numbers all at once. When a person calls the group on 099 31 112, the system rings all our phones. When answered by the trained responder, they hear a message to tell them this is a call from the Kilrush PAD group which gives them the opportunity to answer if they are in the area or not to answer if they aren’t in a position to assist. This allows the group to have all members on call 24-7-365, ensuring maximum chances of a responder being able to attend the situation and increasing the chances of survival.”

A non-profit organisation, the group has received donations and support from the local community and businesses and organisations such as Kilrush Town Council, ESB Moneypoint, Munster Group, Kilrush Credit Union, and the Bolton Family. Information leaflets, stickers and fridge magnets about the Kilrush Cardiac Responder group will be sent to each home in the area and posters will be put up in businesses throughout the town in the coming weeks.

A TOTAL of 2,863 teenagers from across the county will begin the main part of their state exams tomorrow (Wednesday).

Despite having language orals and some projects already out of the way, the majority of students will sit their first written exam at 9.30am in the morning when they face into English paper one.

As many as 1,278 Clare students are registered to sit the Leaving Certificate this month, with slightly more girls than boys heading to the exam halls.

648 girls will undertake this state exam compared to 630 boys.

The number of students undertaking the Leaving Cert exam in Clare this year is down on last year. In 2011, 1,444 Clare students completed the exam.

As many as 88 Clare students have already completed the majority of the Leaving Cert Applied course, with the gender spilt evenly between 44 girls and 44 boys.

And while these older students will undertake one of the most important exams in their lives, 1,497 students are likely to be just as nervous as they sit their first ever-state exam.

Unlike the Leaving Cert there are more males than females sitting this exam, with 769 boys registered to do the Junior Cert compared to 728 girls.For the 2012 examination, 53,789 candidates are entered for the Leaving Certificate examination nationally, 3,301 candidates for the final year examinations in the Leaving Certificate Applied and 59,684 candidates for the Junior Certificate examination.

While the Leaving and Junior Certificates traditionally brought a spurt of good weather, this week students will be looking out at rain as they sit exams, with the first three days of the exams in particular promised exceptionally wet.

EMERGENCY services “pulled out all the stops” to rescue a family who became trapped on Rine Island, just off Ballyvaughan, on Sunday afternoon.

A 10-year-old, three teenagers and their father all became trapped on the island when the tide came in behind them on Sunday afternoon. The island, which is located between Ballyvaughan and Gleninagh, is accessible when the tide is out but becomes completely sea-locked at high tide.

The alarm was raised when the father, understood not to be local, swam ashore and alerted the emergency services. The Shannon-based Irish Coastguard helicopter was scrambled to the scene just after 4pm with the Galway RNLI Lifeboat – which was in the area conducting a training exercise – also in attendance.

The rescue helicopter lowered a crew-member onto the island who stayed with the four youngsters un til they were rescued. Two members of the lifeboat crew waded onto the island and transferred the four chil- dren to the lifeboat.

They were brought ashore to the Quay in Ballyvaughan where two of the four children were treated for hypothermia by paramedics.

“Both rescue services pulled out all the stops and were on the scene within minutes to divert what could have been a tragedy,” said Mike Swan, Galway Lifeboat operations manager.

According to Matty Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard, there are many islands in the area where people can become trapped if the tides change.

He urged everyone using the sea to be vigiliant, especially in relation to the rising tides.

“There are a lot of islands like this in the area and people do need to be aware. Thankfully, this wasn’t a very serious incident and everyone was saved without any major injury but people should always be aware of the dangers that the sea and the tides can pose,” he said.

“The sea was quite calm yesterday when this happened and they were lucky as the Galway RNLI lifeboat happened to be in the area and was able to reach them very quickly.”