The Clare People Archive

A GENERAL Election in Clare would not be the same if Shannon Airport wasn’t one of the biggest burners of the day. Indeed, it’s doubtful if there’s been an election campaign this past 30 years without the airport’s future being up for discussion.

“The rights of Shannon have always been protected under Fianna Fáil governments, no matter what the circumstances,” said Charles Haughey during the 1987 election campaign.

“There were often threats from different quarters, but we always stood by Shannon. As long as there is a Fianna Fáil government in office, the future of Shannon is assured. Fianna Fáil and Shannon are synonymous with national progress and will be for a long time to come,” Haughey added.

Those words must haunt Fianna Fáil now, because Shannon has been grievously wronged by Fianna Fáil governments, from the abolition of the Shannon Stopover in 1993 onwards.

The current state of ill-health with the airport was graphically illustrated recently when a survey of 300 airports revealed that passenger numbers at Shannon dipped by 37.2 per cent in 2010 – the biggest drop in Europe.

Yes, it’s crisis time for Shannon. The potential to develop the airport is still there, but this past generation it has gone un-tapped. The incoming government has to act because the survival of Shannon is at stake.

Fianna Fáil has failed miserably to live up to Charles Haughey’s words failed to such an extent that the party has no representation on Shannon Town Council.

Fine Gael and Labour have made soundings about making Shannon “great again”. But is the political will there? Is the will there to give fair treatment to an airport that has been under the thumb of Dublin for many years.

Independence for Shannon Airport is one way.

A new Irish Airport Authority, where Dublin, Shannon and Cork are equal partners, ensuring Dublin doesn’t have the whip hand on Clare, is another way.

Handing over Shannon to Michael O’Leary and giving him incentives to make the airport is hub of operations is another way.

One thing is certain – something has to be done and done fast.

Or else the hares John Dillon talked about back in the 1940s will be on their way. The tumbleweed Michael O’Leary talked about too.

A SIX-MONTH suspension of commercial rates in Ennis and greater independence for Shannon Airport were among the main commitments sought by businesses from Clare’s General Election candidates, at a public meeting last week.

Michelle Madden, of Madden’s Furniture told the meeting in Ennis last week that her family had been in business for 99 years in Ennis.

She said Madden’s, which employs five people, pays € 16,500 in commercial rates to Ennis Town Council every year. “High rates are rates are closing businesses,” she claimed.

Ms Madden added that rates should be determined on profit and not the size of a business. She called on the council to suspend rates for six months.

Local publican and representative of the Vintner’s Federation of Ireland (VFI) Gerry Collins, said that instead of having 20 shop units closed in Ennis, it would be better if the council lowered rates “and kept half of them open”.

Gerry Barry of Clare Trade Supplies said that businesses were finding it very hard to pay rates. He said businesses had to cut costs to survive and the council must do likewise.

CEO of Ennis chamber Rita McInerney told the meeting that businesses in Ennis paid € 5.5 million in rates to Ennis Town Council last year. She described the business community as a “significant stakeholder” that should have a greater voice at local government level.

However, Green Party candidate and Ennis councillor Brian Meaney said that without commercial rates, the council would not be able to provide essential services to the public.

He said there had been no increase in rates in Ennis for the past three years and any suspension would represent a “serious deficit in income” for the council.

He said water charges and domestic rates were needed to fund local government.

“Which library are we going to close? How are we going to salt roads?” asked Cllr Meaney.

He added, “These are very real services that have to be paid for.”

The meeting also heard pleas for greater promotion of Shannon Airport.

Pat McCarthy of Pat McCarthy Shoes described Shannon as the “nucleus” of the economy in the midwest.

Addressing the candidates, Mr McCarthy said, “Please, please, please go to the Shannon Airport Authority and get Shannon moving the way it was when I came to Clare.”

Brian O’Neill, Managing Director of the Rowan Tree Hostel and Restaurant, called for a dedicated marketing strategy for Shannon and for the “ridiculous” travel tax to be abolished.

THOUSANDS of jobs could be created in the renewable energy sector in Clare over the next decade following the news that a number of private and public sector companies are preparing to invest more than € 2 billion in different projects in the county.

According to Pat Stephens of the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, a number of multinational utility companies are currently seeking to invest in excess of € 2 billion in a series of wind, wave, tidal and biomass projects in Clare.

This investment could see Clare transformed into one of the leading areas for renewable energy, not just in Ireland but in the world.

This news comes after the launch of a new Integrated Strategy on Energy and Climate Change by the Clare County Development Board (CDB) last week.

“Clare has world class renewable energy resources in the areas of wind, wave, tidal, and biomass energy. These resources will be harnessed to create clean energy and great wealth for the county and the country,” said Mr Stephens, who is also the chairman of the steering committee that delivered the new integrated strategy.

“The strategy will focus on ensuring that Clare maximises the benefits from the development of its natural renewable energy resources, and the establishment of a Low Carbon County.”

While no specific targets for local job creation were outlined in the strategy, it is believed that an investment in the region of € 2 billion could lead to hundreds or perhaps thousands of high skilled jobs being created in the county.

“This comes at a time when the country is searching for solutions to many social and economic issues. Ireland’s economy is suffering badly in the global recession and County Clare has been affected,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG), chairperson of the County Clare Development Board.

“The county has also felt the finan- cial effects of climate change during severe flooding and freezing weather last winter. Despite having abundant renewable energy resources the county and country are also heavily dependent upon imported fossil fuels to support our society and economy.”

According to the director of the Clare County Development Board, Ger Dollard, developing a low carbon economy is a central policy issue for all developed countries.

“The Low Carbon Society and Economy is defined by its use of local renewable energy resources. As such the economic activity is underpinned by secure clean energy,” said Mr Dollard.

A KILRUSH widower has told how his late wife received a “confidential” letter from Breastcheck last week, inviting her for screening, ten years to the day after her sudden death.

Nora Ann Comerford died in her sleep on February 17, 2001.

On February 17, 2011 a letter arrived addressed to the deceased mother and wife marked “Strictly Private and Confidential, Strictly Addressee Only”.

Her husband Brian said he was shocked to see any post arrive for his late wife, especially on her tenth anniversary.

“Naturally, I assumed, it was one of the Spanish Lottery Scams. I open it and it reads: “Dear Ms Comerford, I would like to welcome you to BreastCheck,” he said.

The letter was informing Ms Comerford that her appointment for breast cancer screening would arrive in the post.

It also explained that the national cancer screening service could have got her name, address and date of birth from several Government agencies and health insurance records including the Department of Social and Family Affairs (now called the Department of Social Protection), the General Medical Services and private health insurance companies.

“While we make every effort to en- sure that the Breastcheck population register is accurate, there are rare instances where errors may occur,” the letter said.

Mr Comerford, who once worked for the Department of Social Welfare, said that he found it amazing that his wife was still on any register at this time, as he had removed her name from the register of electors, had registered her death and a bereavement grant had been paid out on her death.

“If they can get this wrong after ten years there has to be a lot more,” he said.

A spokesperson from BreastCheck said she could appreciate how distressing this would be for any fam- ily, but added such occurrences are extremely rare.

She said as there is no national database of births and deaths, BreastCheck relies on data from other agencies.

“Unfortunately we can only confirm accuracy by sending a letter,” she said.

A national register of deaths was created in 2004, six years after Ms Comerford’s death.

BreastCheck finally began routinly screening women for breast cancer from September 27 last year, 12 years after it was first set up.

The National Cancer Screening Service provides women aged 50 to 64 with free mammograms.

CLARE’S most important hidden architectural gem will soon be destroyed as a result of rising sea waters. A 700-year-old medieval fishing weir, located on Boarland Rock the estuary of the River Fergus, will be completely destroyed in just 10 years.

According to Dr Aidan O’Sullivan of the School of Archaeology at UCD, the weir is one of the best preserved medieval fishing sites in Europe.

The weir was protected for centu- ries by a large bank of mud at Fergus estuary but changes in the flow of the river in recent years has exposed the structure to the tidal water.

Dr O’Sullivan has been forced to abandon a programme of scientific research on the weir, conducted by a team of UCD experts and a number of local fishermen, because of recent funding cuts to the Irish Heritage Council.

“There is little we can do to preserve the medieval fishing structures because they are totally exposed to the forces of nature on the mudflats, after being buried for centuries be- neath the mud,” he said.

“They are likely to be entirely destroyed within the next ten years. We had hoped that by working with the local community we could record this significant archaeological site before it is destroyed.”

The structure itself is located almost two kilometres from dry land in the very middle of a large network of mudbanks and water channels. The site can only be accessed by boat for a few weeks each year when the water level on the Fergus is at its lowest.

“We can see wooden ropes with knots tying together the structure and most remarkably, we have even found woven, conical baskets intact in the clays at the ends of the weirs. It is almost as if someone had walked off and left these baskets there last year,” continued Dr O’Sullivan.

The team from UCD has been assisted in his research of the weir by local fishermen in the Clarecastle, including Flann Considine.

“Flann knows the Fergus like the back of his hand. He is very knowledgeable about the tides, the currents, submerged rocks and the likely impact of changing weather condi- tions on the boat,” said archaeologist Conor McDermott.

“It’s simple. We wouldn’t be able to investigate and record these archaeological sites without his help and that of his colleagues.”

Dr O’Sullivan will speak at the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis on Tuesday, March 1, at 8.30pm.

Dr O’Sullivan has close family connections with Clare. His father John O’Sullivan (1938-2006) played hurling with Killaloe Smith O’Briens. He captained the Clare minor team in the 1950s and played senior hurling with Clare in 1957.

A MEMBER of the Clare Travelling community may soon be granted a guaranteed seat on Clare County Council, thanks to a new proposal from the chairperson of Clare County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Committee, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

At Friday’s Clare Active Citizenship Network debate for Clare’s General Election candidates, Cllr Meaney put forward the proposal that one seat should be temporally ring-fenced for a member of the Travelling community.

Speaking to The Clare People after the meeting, Cllr Meaney admitted that the Clare’s multi-million strategy for the Travelling community was a failure.

“We are in a situation now where the Traveller way of life seems to be at odds with the rest of the community. The policies of the past have not worked and we can’t keep employing those policies and expect that they will work. One way that we can resolve this is to include the minority group in local government – this is done with the Inuit people in parts of Canada and the Maori people in New Zealand,” he said.

“Traveller-specific accommodation has not worked – that is saying something considering all the millions that have been spent on it – and I am not in the business of making mistakes. We have to make this work – there are responsibilities to make this work.

“This is something that is practiced in a lot of democracies to provide a seat in a local assembly for a minor- ity. This is not something that would be popular in local government, it wouldn’t be popular among elected people and I’m not sure that this would be a popular in the Green Party, this is something that I am putting forward.”

According to Cllr Meaney, his proposal should allow for member of the Travelling community to be elected without assistance in future local elections in Clare.

“This is something that would be introduced as a temporary measure during a period of transition – after that I would expect that people from the Travelling community could be elected on their own bat. This would be a temporary measure – maybe for the lifetime of one or two local elections in Clare,” he said. “It is necessary that we begin to approach the Traveller situation in a new way. We need to move away from a dependency situation – where Travelling people are treated as dependents – we need to ensure that all the people can participate in our entire society. This will require a change of attitudes from all sections of our society.”