The Clare People Archive

AIR quality in Shannon is clean, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is monitoring levels on a continuous basis.

The EPA has placed a mobile laboratory in the town and is actively analysing the quality of the air in the town and surrounding areas.

The initiative is set to continue for up to a year.

This is part of a comprehensive assessment of air quality in all major cities and towns in Ireland.

Initial results from the assessment show that levels of all parameters being measured are well below limit values set for the protection of human health, according to the EPA.

An assessment was started in March, on foot of requests from local town councillors. This assessment is done via a trailer, which is located at the rear of the civic offices in Shan- non. Analysers are contained in the trailer and these are read on a regular basis. Concentrations of oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and benzene and toluene are being measured.

According to Kevin Delaney of the EPA, the readings last month were good. “I have looked at the data for the past month and Shannon is pretty clean. That’s provisional data,” he said.

“We are called in to do assessments on a routine basis around the country. We were required to come down and do an air quality assessment within Shannon.

“We have a number of trailer units that we bring around the country and do assessments. We will be there (in Shannon) for six months; maybe up to a year,” he said. “We are assessing for parameters in accordance with the 2008 Cafe Directive.

“It came up at a councillors’ meeting in Clare and that is why we de- cided to do this,” Mr Delaney said.

At a meeting of Shannon Town Council last week, Independent councillor Gerry Flynn welcomed the news that the EPA was monitoring air quality in Shannon and said that businesses must play a key role in this.

“I’m looking forward to the findings. I’m glad that they are staying for 12 months. If it’s a decision I have to take on health or jobs, it’s health unfortunately. Every business has to make sure the Ts are crossed and the Is dotted. What we need in this town is clean industry,” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Seán McLoughlin said, “I would like to see 24-hour monitoring all the time.”

In addition to the trailers that are moving from one location to another, there is also a fixed network whereby a number of sites nationwide are monitored on a continuous basis. One of those sites is Ennis.

CLARE County Council is not yet in a position to provide a date for completion of a contentious housing development in Shannon. That was the message delivered by the town manager at a meeting last week, where councillors expressed concern that the 22-unit development at Cluain Airne is at a standstill, much to the anger of local residents.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) placed a motion on the issue, in which he sought an update on the project. In a written response from the council, he was told that, following liquidation of the initial contracting com- pany, the process to secure a completion contractor has taken longer than expected.

Cllr Flynn told the meeting: “I’m only looking for two simple questions to be answered. When is the start date and when is the finish date?

“We are talking about a small site – 22 houses. That’s the least the residents of Cluain Airne deserve,” he said. He added that anti-social behaviour was taking place on the unfinished site.

Sinn Féin councillor Cathy McCafferty also raised concerns and said that “kids as young as five and six are swinging off scaffolding. It’s ridiculous the way it’s left at the moment.”

In response to a query she tabled, she was informed that security costs have reached € 15,000, while additional costs of € 75,000 had also been incurred by the council in surveying, site security and consultants fees. These costs are recoupable from the guarantor.

Fine Gael councillor Seán McLoughlin said the houses were started in June 2009 and it was envisaged they would be completed within 12 months. “Nobody seems to know what’s happening since. I’m beginning to wonder is there going to be enough money to finish the site,” he said.

Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said the situation “has been allowed to drag on far too long. We seem not to be able to give a time limit. We need to get answers. We need to get action; get people on site and get people into the houses.”

Fine Gael councillor Mary Brennan said that the people of Cluain Airne were “living their worst nightmare”.

The Shannon town manager, Bernadette Kinsella, told councillors: “I share your total frustration. Without a doubt, it is a nuisance for the residents in the area. We have a significant level of expressions from people who are looking for a home.”

She said that the completion period from the time the work recommences until completion is 16 weeks, adding, “but what I don’t have is a start date”.

“There were delays in the retendering process. It had been our intention that we were expecting a nomination in January. The whole process is taking longer than anticipated,” she said.

“The funding for the scheme was always through means of department contributions and a council loan which would be funded then by way of sales,” said Ms Kinsella.

She said she hopes the project will be completed as soon as possible.

COUNTY Clare has missing out on millions of euro in annual funding allocated by the European Union (EU) because Clare County Council has not had a presence on the Southern and Eastern Regional Authority.

According to Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), more than € 440 million has been allocated to Irish projects over the last three years – but none of that money has come to County Clare.

“Last year Kerry, Cork and Waterford got a huge investment and we got none of it. We don’t seem to at the races for this funding. We need to have people who can see what is coming down the track and see what other people are getting and what we are not getting. We have got to look at this in the future,” said Cllr Kelly.

Speaking on this subject last night, the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin (Ind), said that Clare has not got its fair share of money down the years. Cllr Curtin also said that while successive county managers have made sure that the county has done well in terms of funding generally over the years, the employment of a person to directly interact with the Southern and Eastern Regional Authority would help the local authority to get a larger share of funding.

“The manager and his team of directors are very vigilant in terms of the money which is coming down the stream but we need someone who can tap into these organisations directly and see that we get our fair share of funding, which we haven’t got down the years,” he said.

This information came to light following a motion by North Clare Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) in which he asked what was being done to protect the Clare coastline from coastal erosion and in particular a section of road between Lahinch and Liscannor.

“I have a particular concern over a road entering the village of Liscannor. We have a situation now where there are more then 700,000 people visiting the Cliffs of Moher every year on this road and there is a large section of this road which is in danger of disappearing,” he said.

In response to this motion Director of Service for Clare County Council, Nora Kaye, said that a national directive on coastal erosion is expected to be issue in the coming weeks.

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) has not returned any correspondence made to it by the Mayor of Clare over the past year.

According to the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin (Ind), the NRA has snubbed a series of letters and questions from the county’s first citizen in relation to damage to signs in Clare for more then 12 months.

This information came to light following a motion at last nights meeting of Clare County Council, requesting that the local authority begins an immediate programme of restoration and maintenance on the existing roads direction signs.

“There has been defacing and vandalism of signs right across this county. Signs are continuing to be defaced – I saw a lot of it during the last general election,” said Cllr Curtin.

“I have been continually on to the NRA about the vandalism of signs and they have not been back to me once over the last 12 months.”

Speaking on the motion, North Clare councillor Joe Arkins (FG) also raised the issue of a number of misspellings on new signs recently erected by the NRA.

“I have a big issue with some of the information on these signs, there seems to be a number of towns and villages showing up all over Clare which I have never heard of before,” he said.

“Can we finally agree on what we call our towns and villages. Just because some sergeant made a mistake when he was translating from the Irish in the 1840s doesn’t mean that we have to keep living with that mistake forever.

“Some of the names on signs for our villages and towns is just unbelievable at the moment. It is a real issue and an inconvenience for tourists and people in the tourist sector.”

Place name and directional signs for a number of Clare’s flagship tourist town have been erected in recent months with spellings, which are not used by the locally. Among the towns who names have been spelt incorrectly are Lahinch, Bal- lyvaughan, Kinvara and Corofin.

“We are finding Burren Connect here in the council to improve tourism but if these signs are left in place we will have Burren disconnect. If people are coming home from America or wherever they are totally confused by the spellings on these signs,” said Cllr Michael Kelly (FG).

Clare County Council has been allocated € 10,000 as part of Civil Responsibility Week which the local authority plans to use for the maintenance of signs.

THE Killone Group Water Scheme will be forced to cease production in the coming weeks due to a lack of funding, the scheme’s chairman has warned.

Murt Redington said the scheme is in a “severe financial predicament” and he has described the situation as “becoming critical”.

The Killone plant, which was built at a cost of around € 900,000 in 2007, serves an estimated 3,000 homes, farms and commercial businesses in the wider Clarecastle area.

Mr Redington’s concerns are outlined in a letter to councillors, TDs and officials at Clare County Council.

He writes, “It appears from our projections that water production will have to cease in or about mid-May unless the subsidies held and capital works grants due to us are paid to us. As we intend to hold an EGM / AGM in the near future, we will be informing members of the group scheme of these difficulties.”

In the letter, Mr Redington requests the support of local representatives as a “matter of urgency”.

He adds, “As mentioned above, our current projections are to midMay but, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, we may be forced to cease pumping due to funding insufficiency.”

The matter of funding for the scheme was raised by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis East Electoral Area.

Ennis Town Manager and Director of Service at Clare County Council Ger Dollard, told the meeting that discussions are ongoing between representatives from the Killone Group Water Scheme and the Council’s water services section.

SHANNON Airport chiefs have turned to the business public for ideas and input into the formulation of a new masterplan for the development of the airport over the next decade.

The unprecedented decision to turn to business leaders in Clare in an effort to come up with the best possible plan to drive the airport going forward comes in the wake of the worst passenger figures recorded at Shannon in many years. The Clare People has learned that the new initiative, being spearheaded by Shannon Airport management, with the imprimatur of the DAA that governs the airport, began on April 28 last when business groups in Clare and beyond were invited to a think-tank aimed at kickstarting renewed development at Shannon.

“The new masterplan will provide a framework to ensure timely delivery of infrastructure,” documentation secured by The Clare People this week says.

“The Master Plan is required to enable DAA to provide a clear direction for the Airport to ensure it develops in a strategic way so that the potential of all aspects of the business are optimized,” a Shannon Airport spokesperson said on Monday.

“A key element in drafting such a plan is to elicit the opinions of airport stakeholders,” he added.

The move to plan for Shannon’s future has also been heralded in light of the fact that the current blueprint for the former hub of the aviation world is over a decade old and, in that time, passenger numbers have fallen sharply.

In February, confidential Dublin Airport Authority figures revealed that passenger numbers at Shannon dropped dramatically and were approaching levels not seen since the early 1990s. In January, 92,000 passengers passed through the airport, a 37.4 per cent drop on the same month in 2010.

This figure comes on top of a similarly poor performance at the airport for the full 12 months of 2010 when 1,755,900 passengers used the airport, 37.2 per cent down on the 2,794,563 passengers that used the facility in 2009.

Shannon has experienced a 52 per cent drop since its peak in 2006, when 3,639,046 passengers used the airport, and 2010 passenger numbers were similar to 1996 levels.

The figures also forecast that if the rate of decline experienced in January continued throughout 2011, then the airport will only handle 1.1 million passengers for the year, a figure not experienced in 20 years. The Clare People can reveal that strict criteria have been laid out for the formulation of the new plan. Business groups in Clare have until this Friday to make submissions to the airport authorities.

Under the timeline schedule set down by the airport authorities, the identification of Shannon’s future requirements will be formulated in June in time for the completion of a draft plan in July, while the final masterplan will be completed and published in September.

THE business community in North Clare is bucking the national trend with four new businesses in Ennistymon opening their doors to the public over the last number of weeks.

This follows last Friday’s official opening of Banner Books on Parliament Street in the town, an event which comes hot on the heels of the opening of the Twinkle Toes shoe shop, cafe and arts venue The Blue Frog Cafe and the Upstairs Downstairs charity and second-hand shop.

According to Gerry Harrison, owner of Banner Books, the recession can be the perfect time to open a new business.

“There is a saying that there is no better time to start a new business than in a recession because the only way you can go is up.

“I don’t know if that is going to be true for myself or for the other new businesses in town but it is certainly encouraging to me to see that four new businesses have opened in Ennistymon in recent weeks,” said Gerry.

“I like Ennistymon very much and this is the fifth premises that I have looked at in the town. What I found was that, despite the recession, land- lords were extremely unwilling to drop their rents.

“You would assume that, given the recession and the fact that a lot of units are empty, people would be willing to drop their very high rents. It was difficult to find somewhere that was affordable.”

Banner Books will sell a large selection of second-hand books as well as a large selection of new local books and books about the Burren.

“The shop won’t be anything like a high street bookshop. Myself and Marcia, who has a lot of experience selling second-hand books in San Francisco, will not only greet the customers a little bit more warmly [than major high street booksellers] but will also have a large amount of knowledge about all the books which will be on the shelves,” continued Gerry.

“As well as that, we will have jazz playing on the sound system to help make people who want to come in and browse a little bit more comfortable.

“It is something a little bit different for Ennistymon and for County Clare. It is something a bit off-thewall and a bit non-typical.”

Gerry is a former Labour Party politician in London but moved to Clare to open a bookshop with his wife in 2006.

A 36-YEAR-OLD woman lost her life when her car left the road and struck a tree near Shannon in the early hours of Saturday.

Aileen O’Brien, who lived in Raheen, Limerick, and worked at Servisair in Shannon Airport, died when her Peugeot 206 smashed into a tree at Hurler’s Cross, shortly before 5am.

The tragic accident occurred on the main N18 Limerick to Galway road, just a few miles from her place of work.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem examination was later carried out at Limerick Regional Hospital.

Gardaí are investigating the possibility that she may have swerved to avoid an animal on the road.

Ms O’Brien is survived by her husband Wayne, parents Stephen and Margaret, her brother Denis and sister Ciara. She will be buried in her native Pallaskenry tomorrow, Wednesday. Ms O’Brien was the first person to die on the county’s roads so far this year. She had recently told her family that she and her husband were expecting their first child.

Gardaí in Shannon are investigating the accident and are appealing for witnesses to contact them on 061 361212.

THE number of people signing on to the live register in Clare reduced in every social welfare office around the county last month.

For the first time in more than three years, the numbers signing on the live register last month was lower than the numbers signing on for the corresponding month in the previous year – indicating that the unemployment level in the county may finally be coming under control.

Hope has also been raised that the numbers signing in Clare could fall below 10,000 for the first time since September of 2009 when the May figures are released next month.

In total, 10,419 people signed on to the live register in April, a reduction of 205 from the number who signed on in March. Last month was the third straight month that the number signing on reduced in the county.

The largest reduction was seen in Ennistymon, where 1,610 people signed on last month – a reduction of 87 on the previous month. These reductions were echoed in Ennis, where 5,871 people signed on – a reduction of 80 on the numbers signing on for March of 2011.

Similar reductions were also seen in Kilrush and in Tulla.

These latest reductions means that the numbers signing on in the county has fallen by more than five per cent since the beginning of the year.

A JUDGE has described the taking of ladies’ handbags from pubs as “a particularly mean type of theft”.

Judge Joseph Mangan made the comment as he imposed a two month suspended sentence at Ennis District Court on Friday.

Carrie Brigdale (21), with an address at Cappamore, Barefield, and currently living in Cork city, appeared in court, charged with taking a black ladies handbag, valued, along with cash at € 220, from Ciarán’s Bar, in Ennis on December 22 (2010).

The property was subsequently recovered and Ms Brigdale pleaded guilty to the offence.

Solicitor for the accused, Tara Godfrey, told the court that her client had suffered with a significant heroin problem in the latter half of 2010.

She said she is now receiving treatment and counselling for her addiction.

Handing down a two month suspended sentence, Judge Mangan said the theft of handbags was “a particularly mean type of theft”.

He ordered that the defendant enter a bond to keep the peace for two years.