The Clare People Archive

ENNIS Town Council will mark the second anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s visit to Ennis with an event to encourage young people in Ennis to be ‘The Best You Can Be’.

The event, which is due to take place in October, will promote excellence in different areas of life including sport and academic studies.

Ali, a former world-boxing champion, drew crowds of thousands when he visited Ennis in September 2009.

Details of plans to mark the occasion were revealed at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Town Clerk Eddie Power explained. “To mark the second anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s visit it is intended to host an event in Glór. The theme for the event will be ‘The Best You Can Be’ and will be aimed at second level students. It is planned to have notable speakers who can relate their own stories and achievements to the attending stu- dents. The objective of the speakers will be to motivate and encourage the students to aim for excellence in whatever they do and to capitalise on their natural skills and abilities.”

Mr Power continued, “Preparatory discussions have taken place with the Clare Youth Service and contact has been made with secondary school principals in Ennis. The idea has been warmly welcomed and it is anticipated that it will attract high numbers of students.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said more should be done to promote Ennis’ links with Ali.

“Our slice of the cake is getting very small and this town has to be promoted like it never has been before,” he added.

Welcoming the initiative, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the event would encourage young people in Ennis to achieve excellence. He said that any project that gives hope to young people should be welcomed.

Questioning if the Council could use Muhammad Ali’s name in promoting the event, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “We’re celebrating something that we can’t explicitly mention.”

Town Manager Ger Dollard said the Ali name will not be used by the Council to mark the second anniversary of the sporting legend’s visit to Ennis.

Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said ‘The Best You Can Be’ event could be developed along the lines of the Young Scientist competition.

EXACT DETAILS of Traveller accommodation costs along with costs of litigation relating to cases involving Travellers and the council will be outlined at next month’s meeting of Clare County Council.

That was the message delivered to councillors at their monthly meeting yesterday.

County Manager Tom Coughlan told the meeting that after a “difficult” first six months of this year, preparations for next year’s budget have commenced.

“It’s going to be a very difficult budget to draft. It’s going to be very challenging,” he said.

He said that expenditure in the area of Traveller accommodation “has been increasing year on year”.

“We can bring a report to the October meeting on policies and issues in relation to expenditure on Traveller accommodation,” he said.

Independent Councillor James Breen asked, “How many court cases have we taken against the Travelling community. How many have we lost? How many have we won? Who is paying for it? Have we recouped the costs?” he asked.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Richard Nagle said he was hopeful that a comprehensive report covering income and expenditure in this area would be presented. “I do think we need a full debate on it,” he said.

Mr Coughlan told the meeting that staffing at the council “is under constant review. In the next couple of months I expect we will see a number of resignations and a number of retirements. That will have an impact on services. What it will be I’m not sure, but I’m sure it will have a negative impact on services,” he said.

A LONG awaited section of the Ennis inner relief road is due to go to tender before the end of the month, according to Ennis Town Council.

The road, which will link Clare Road and Station Road, is being constructed to ease traffic flows in the town centre.

To facilitate the project, a significant redevelopment of one of Ennis’ best known buildings, Madden Furniture, has been underway for the past 12 months.

According to owner Michelle Madden, work on the building, which was formerly Paddy Con’s Hall, is nearing completion.

“Our building is practically finished. We should be open in a few weeks. We will be opening our showrooms in a few weeks and we welcome the road and we think its going to be good for Ennis and the town and traffic in the area,” she said.

Ms Madden added, “We had to demolish one end of it and build back up the side. Last September we started demolition. We’re very much looking forward to having it open and getting back to some sort of normality. We feel it’s going to be good for Ennis in general.”

According to the latest quarterly progress report on Council projects, section E of the inner relief road should be in place in 2012.

The report states, “The Council is proceeding to tender the works on E-tenders in early September. Temporary work will be in place at side of Madden’s furniture during the tender process until the contractor takes possession of the site. It is anticipated that the inner relief road works will take six months from the date of commencement”.

Speaking at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said residents in Ardlea Road and Clare Road had concerns over the potential impact of the road on their property. He urged the Council to engage in a public consultation process with residents in the area.

SINEAD O’Connor left Lisdoonvarna this weekend without finding love, but matchmaker Willie Daly is determined to find the lovelorn singer a man.

Sinead was introduced to a single farmer by Willie and his daughter Claire last Friday but the amount of interest in getting a glimpse of Sinead prevented the couple from really getting to know each other.

But Willie will keep her information on file and hopes to find her another match once the media glare has passed.

“Sinead came in and talked to me for more than half an hour and told me what she was looking for. One of the main things that she was after was a farmer – that is something that would appeal to someone living life in the fast lane. She didn’t say anything to me about the appearance of the man but she said that she wanted to meet a kind person, maybe someone of 40 years or older. She did say that she was looking for someone with stubble and there were plenty of men with beards around the town over the weekend,” said Willie.

“We introduced her to a very nice person. He was a big fan of hers and was very smart looking – he had a farm and a business. They talked for a while in our office and while that was going on a lot of people came in to get photos with her. She was nice about it but after a while she said she was leaving. So maybe Sinead might get back to her match once people are not around.

Despite Sinead’s failure to land a man in Lisdoonvarna, two of her male minders did find some companionship thanks to Willie.

“She had two young lads with her and I introduced them to some girls – I met them late on Sunday night and they said that they had enjoyed themselves anyway. I know that they did get some companionship while they were there.”

Sinead’s visit to Lisdoonvarna also had a benefit for tourism providers in the locality with the biggest crowd for the second weekend of the festival in years.

“Sinead O’Connor’s involvement certainly did help the local tourist trade. The local hotels were never as busy with a lot of people coming to meet Sinead and that was a boost locally,” said Marcus White from the Matchmaking Festival.

“But the festival has also helped people. The dancing is a great boost for a lot of people and a lot of the older people were especially happy in Lisdoonvarna. In the past people were a bit shy about coming to Lisdoonvarna, because they though you had to be single to come here, but these days about half of the people come to Lisdoonvarna to dance.”

CLARE County Council faces a bill of up to € 1.5 million to fix a large number of metered stop valves which were installed incorrectly by developers during the property boom.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 homes in the county are believed to still have the defective valves – which were intended for use in warmer climates and are prone to break during cold spells, such as those witnessed over the past two winters.

Clare County Council has repaired a number of these valves for free over the past two years as many of the developers who installed the valves were either non-contactable or out of business.

It was revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that the local authority had no funds available to it to provide repairs of this kind in the future.

It was also revealed that the cost of repairs for the existing stock of defective valves could come to between € 1.1 million and € 1.5 million.

“I know that the council have had to do a lot retrofit work for people in these houses because of the hardship that we have seen over the last couple of winters and that a lot of work has not been done to proper specifications,” said Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind).

“Let’s hope that this winter will not be as bad as previous winters, but if it is then we are going to get a large number of people who will have difficulty with this. The problem is that the specifications were not followed.

“The quality of the metres was not the issue but the type of the valves were made for a warmer climate and they won’t stand up to the lower temperatures. There is no funding to fix this problem so the people who are losing out are the people who bought properties in good faith and will have to go without water.”

According to a council spokesperson the defective valves have been installed on houses all over the county and are not confined to any particular type of house or contractor.

“It is awful to see water flowing down footpaths and roads, especially when there is no clean water in the houses beside them. The general public should not have to suffer because of the bad work done by certain contractors,” said Joe Cooney (FG).

IT LOOKS like Dev’s car is not on the move, at least not to Clare County Council’s headquarters.

The car, which was restored by Sixmilebridge businessman and councillor PJ Ryan and which weighs two tonnes, has been located in a garage at the back of the De Valera library in Ennis for a number of years.

Earlier this year, Independent Councillor Christy Curtin tabled a motion calling for the car to be relocated to the foyer of the county council’s building, Áras Contae an Chláir, where it would be prominently displayed.

However, in a letter presented at the monthly meeting of the county council yesterday, it was stated that the proposal was considered. However a number of issues arose.

According to Senior Executive Officer in Corporate Services, Michael McNamara, a number of issues required further detailed examination. These include the weight of the car and the structural capacity of the council’s foyer area to bear the load, along with possible damage to the limestone paviours in the foyer in getting the car into its location.

Councillors heard that underfloor heating distribution pipes are laid in the atrium floor slab and moving a car of his size would have a huge impact on this. Also, moving the car into the building would require one of the entrance doors to be disman- tled and re-assembled, at a significant cost.

“Since the car was restored earlier this year, there has been much interest in the car and several requests have been received for the ‘loan’ of the car for specific functions and events. These requests have not been accommodated,” wrote Mr McNamara.

County Manager Tom Coughlan told the meeting, “We looked at every possibility of trying to do it but unfortunately we can’t do it at this point in time.”

Cllr PJ Ryan (Independent) said, “I’m a bit disappointed that we can’t find a home for this particular piece of iconic history.”

“It has to stay where it is for the time being. The only thing I’m concerned about is if we get inclement weather and the River Fergus flows over, the building is going to get flooded again,” he added.

Fianna Fáil Councillor PJ Kelly said he was “very, very disappointed with the response” from the executive.

He said if the weight of the car would challenge the capacity of the council’s headquarters, “if that’s the situation we had better get out of an unsafe building”.

Mr Coughlan said he wished to refute any suggestions that the building was not safe.

IT HAS been claimed this week that a “masterplan” hatched between Comhaltas Ceoltóirí activists and political heavyweights in Northern Ireland has come between Ennis and playing host to its first Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 35 years.

This conspiracy theory that scuppered the county town’s chances of being named host town for the 2012 spectacular, thereby denying the Clare economy a financial windfall of up to € 30m and long term tourism platform that such an event would create for the county.

In May, The Clare People exclusively revealed that behind the scenes preparatory work was taking place to bring the traditional music festival to Northern Ireland for the first time in its history in 2013.

At the time sources within Comhaltas Ceoiltóirí Éireann said a move to mount a campaign to bring the Fleadh to Derry in 2013 when it will be UK City of Culture could represent a nail in the coffin of Ennis’ 2012 bid.

“If it goes to Derry, the chances of it comes to Clare in 2012 will recede,” one Comhaltas insider revealed.

“This is because the usual thing is for a town to get the Fleadh two years in a row, but giving it to Derry will strengthen Cavan’s bid to be given the Fleadh for a third year in 2012 before they would then hand over to Derry the following year,” he added.

This concern was added to during this year’s Fleadh in Cavan when Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who is a native of Derry, threw their political weight behind any application to bring the festival there. Now, those worst fears, first exposed by The Clare People , have come home to roost with Cavan becoming the host town for the third successive year and Derry now widely expected to formally launch its Fleadh bid early next year. “Once Derry was mentioned, Ennis was in trouble,” local traditional music activist Joe Arkins said this week. “If Derry wasn’t in the background it should have been a straight shoot out between Sligo and Ennis to host to 2012 Fleadh, but now if Derry gets it in 2013, it could be 2014 before Ennis has a chance of hosting the Fleadh.” However, the chairman of the Fleadh Cheoil Working Group, Micheál Ó Riabhaigh, has rejected the notion that the spectre of the 2013 Derry bid has come between Ennis and hosting the festival. “I still believe that Derry is pure speculation,” he said. “There is a very definite process in Comhaltas for the allocation of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. It’s a process where towns have to apply for it and make their submissions and presentations and then it goes to a vote. “If the Ard Comhairle receive an application, process it and believe that Derry is the place for Fleadh Cheoil 2013, that’s where it will go, but it will be on the basis of a democratic vote by all the members of the Ard Comhairle,” he added.

ENNIS will play host to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann at some time in the future, as befitting its status and reputation as being one of the primary homes and melting pots for traditional music in Ireland.

That’s the defiant message being aired this week by members of the broadband coalition of forces that came together to spearhead the county capital’s bid to play host to the 2012 staging of the event.

“It’s a big blow,” the chairman of the Fleadh Cheoil Working Group, Micheál Ó Riabhaigh, admitted this week, but he added defiantly “I would certainly believe that we will come back again.

“We have an excellent location for it. We have done an awful lot of the work. We have proven that we are regarded very highly in terms of a location, so I think it’s inevitable that Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann will come to Ennis,” he added.

“Ennis has a well deserved national and international reputation as a centre in which to enjoy superb tradition Irish music and we still believe it is a perfect fit for this wonderful event. This is not the end of our efforts to secure this prestigious event for Ennis, we will try again,” the Shannon Development chairman, Dr Vincent Cunnane told The Clare People .

The Ennis bid was officially launched last April, after the initial moves to bring the Fleadh back to Clare for the first time since 1977 were first proposed by the Abbey branch of Comhaltas Cheoltóirí Éireann in August of 2011.

The ambitious plans were subsequently backed by Clare Comhaltas, while Shannon Development, Clare County Council, Ennis Town Coun- cil and Clare GAA also rowed in with support.

“Meetings will be held fairly shortly to see where we go from here,” revealed Mr Ó Riabhaigh. “Our working group will meet later this week and we will do a review of the whole thing. The Abbey branch of Comhaltas that put in the initial bid will meet and there will be a meeting of the county board as well.

“I think people will give due consideration to the whole issue and to where we go forward from here. While we have been bitterly disappointed, the amount of work that we have done has been enormous and it has been a huge insight into the whole thing for us. We learned a great deal.

“It was mentioned by Labhrás Ó Murchú at the meeting that both Sligo and Ennis would have been two fantastic venues to stage Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and while they couldn’t give a commitment that they could allocate it to either town, immediately or in the near future, they felt very much that any one of the two towns would have been deserving winners,” added Mr Ó Riabhaigh.

ENNIS lost out on staging Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for the first time in 35 years by one vote in a nail-biting selection process that took place at the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann headquarters in Dublin on Saturday afternoon. The Clare People has learned that the Ennis bid were beaten into second place in the three-candidate election by just one vote on the second count of a selection process believed to the closest contest in the 60-year history of the showpiece of the traditional music year.

The Ennis bid to stage the weeklong traditional music spectacular next August, which would have been brought an influx of over 250,000 visitors to Clare and be worth over € 20m to the county, was edged out by Cavan as the host town for 2012 on 14-13 vote.

Three centres were in the running to host the festival – Cavan which staged the 2010 and 2011 events and Sligo, which last hosted Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 1991 and Ennis, which previously staged the event in 1956 and 1977.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireannn sources have revealed that Ennis topped the poll after the first count – garnering ten votes, to Cavan’s nine and Sligo’s eight. However, following the elimination of Sligo from the contest a second ballot saw Cavan edge the vote by the mininum margin.

“It was a great disappointment, because we had obviously done an awful lot of work. We did an excellent presentation and we felt that we couldn’t have done anymore than we did,” said Micheál Ó Riaghaigh, chariman of the Fleadh Cheoil Working Group.

“We were fairly confident. We believed we had done everything to get Fleadh Cheoil. On the other side we were always realistic that we recognised that there were two other strong contenders – Sligo’s was a good bid and Cavan had a very good track record,” he added.

In winning the vote, Cavan will become only the fifth centre to play host to the event for three successive years. The others were Listowel (1985, ’86, ’87), Sligo (1989, ’90, ’91), Clonmel (1992, ’93,’94) and Tullamore (2007 , ’08, ’09).

However, crucially these other centres were automatically given the right to host the festival for the third year in succession because there were no competing bid from other towns.

“There always the chance that we wouldn’t get it and that’s what we were hoping against,” continued Ó Riabhaigh. “It was down to one vote. There are 31 members of the Ard Comhairle and the chairman only exercises a casting vote. There were two or three of the Ard Comhairle who weren’t available for the meeting. It wasn’t on the casting vote.

“We were very close to landing. If we had lost by more than one vote it wouldn’t have reflected the amount of effort, time and commitment given by everybody involved in the whole bid,” he added.

FINE Gael presidential election hopeful Gay Mitchell has pledged to do everything in his power to mobilise the party’s troops in the county to ensure he wins the vote in the Clare constituency in the November 27 poll.

Speaking to The Clare People during his whistle stop tour of the three biggest centres in the county – Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush – said the key to his objective was enlisting the services of members of the Fine Gael election machine within the county at a time when the party is the dominant player in Clare politics at local and national level for the first time in its history.

“It’s very important that I get strong support across the board everywhere. I’m in Clare because I want to build on the support that I have in the county.

“I really need that support,” Mr Mitchell told The Clare People .

Clare Fine Gael have an unprecedented four Oireachtas members in Deputies Pat Breen and Joe Carey and Senators Martin Conway and Tony Mulcahy; there are 26 councillors between Clare County Council and Town Councils in Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee, while party also holds the mayoral chains of of- fice in three of the four town councils.

“I’m out here with the Oireachtas members in Clare and the organisation in Clare is fully behind me,” said Mr Mitchell.

“We are one of the few organisations with people in every corner of the country and I need that organisation out behind me.

“We had a two-day meeting of the Fine Gael Parliamentary and we gave a good part of the meeting to stretegy and getting the vote out in each county – getting the vote out in every corner of Clare. I think that’s very important.”

Mr Mitchell secured the Fine Gael party nomination to contest the presidency on July 9 when winning a three-way contest that also involved Pat Cox, who originally hails from Shannon and fellow MEP, Máiréad McGuinness.

Mr Cox, a former TD, MEP and president of the European Parliament, was eliminated on the first count, while Mr Mitchell received 54 per cent of the vote, as against Ms McGuinness 46 per cent in the second count.

“I wouldn’t have sought the nomination if I didn’t think I could win and win the presidential election,” Mr Mitchell told The Clare People . “I believe I can win. The polls will show that in October.

“The reality is that if a story breaks in New York the farmer on a tractor in Clare will hear at the same time as someone in Dublin.

“Society is changing. Ireland is a small country and I think that I can get the vote out. I will be in every corner of Ireland that I can be. I will be back in Clare several times,” added Mr Mitchell.