The Clare People Archive

AMONG the holiday heroes who keep the county on track are the boys and girls in blue.

In Clare, gardaí worked round the clock for the entire period, with more than 30 gardaí manning the station in Ennis at any one time and three times that many covering the entire 24 hours of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

In Killaloe, there were between 15 and 20 dedicated members on duty for the entire festive period and other stations had similar rotas. And the need for Gardaí to give up their holiday days in pursuit of keeping the peace was proved when the activity for the period between Christmas Eve and Sunday was reviewed.

The members manned 26 checkpoints across the county, made a total of 63 arrests, dealt with four missing persons – who were all thankfully found – and were called to deal with a number of sudden deaths, none of which are now being treated as suspicious.

They also attended road traffic accidents and mounted checks for speeding and dangerous driving as well as drink driving. They made a total of ten arrests on suspicion of drink driving and of the 34 arrests made in Ennis, 17 were under the Public Order Act.

According the Gardaí nationally, drink driving arrests are down so far and drivers are becoming more compliant with staying within the limits when they intend to get behind the wheel.

CLARE will have to create its own luck and its own jobs in 2011 according to the incoming President of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

‘The most patriotic thing anyone can do for the county or the country is to create a job,” John Dillane told The Clare People .

John is calling for a special meeting to set up a group which will “involve all the stakeholders in the county. The council, the development agencies, the business people – everyone. And this group should have as its aim job creation to get this county back on its feet. We need to get off our backsides and do it for ourselves and every single person in the country needs to get involved in that.”

Mr Dillane said that according to PLATO, the organisation which supports small businesses, there are 800,000 people working in 270,000 SME’s across the counntry.

‘I’m calling on any companies that have some money in their pockets to come together and be part of this organisation for Clare. We can make a difference, we can employ more people and we have to wake up and cop on to ourselves. There’s no reason why we can’t start a movement in Clare that will turn things around for this county.”

Mr Dillane, who is proprietor of Banner Motors, says that in the coming year the “red carpet should be rolled out for anyone who is employing people”.

In his own capacity as the new President of the Chamber, Mr Dillane says he hopes to motivate people in the county to get more people back in the workforce and to persuade consumers to support their own and spend their money in the Banner.

He said there also needs to be greater recognition of what is being done by Banner county employees.

“There are business people in this county employing people and not paying themselves any wages because they don’t want to have to let staff go. That is a fact.”

“If you create one job, that creates .6 of another job. So a small company employing two people makes it possible for one other person to be in employment.

Mr Dillane is appealing to business owners and other groups in Clare to “put all our differences aside, Yes, people in business have competitors but this is about the survival and growth of business and employment in the county. If you have people at work, you have people spending money and that’s good for everybody. It’s just common sense and if anyone wants to put their money where their mouth is and make recovery a reality in Clare, I’m asking them to contact me through the Chamber of Commerce.”

MAINTAINING essential services and protecting the county boundary are among the key issues facing Clare in 2011.

That is according to the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) who also believes that local authorities must become more accessible and accountable to the people they serve.

Commenting in light of recent problems caused to the county’s water supply and road network, Cllr Curtin said,

“I think we need to have a look at the whole thing, at how we provide these services and how we respond in crisis situations. We must learn. These are priority services, where people are concerned, particularly water.”

He added, “I also want to see the county left intact, the integrity of the county protected fully as a far as the boundary is concerned. I’d like to see no extension of the Limerick boundary and the boundaries as they are should be left intact.

The Miltown Malbay native, who is serving his first ever term as Mayor, says that Clare County Council should also work more closely with the volountary sector.

He explained, “I’d like to see the infrastructure of the county improved but the constraints on public finances are going to make that difficult. We have to perform up to the par for the people in the county particularly in relation to the delivery of services. That’s an important thing and that we are seen to be relevant to people. I’d like to see every opportunity tapped to try and increase employment in the county and it is encouraged in every way. I’d like to see a greater involvement and partnership in place between volountary bodies and statutory bodies. It was never more relevant, especially with limited finances, that we tap into whatever strengths we have and we work together to have a better county as a result.”

Cllr Curtin said that it was also important that negative perceptions of the council are challenged.

“I still think people have respect for the council but to readily identify with it, is a difficult thing sometimes. Bureaucracy can be cumbersome and it makes it very difficult for people to access it. Accessibility must be increased at all times at all stages and at all levels”

Cllr Curtin added, “Some of it is out of our hands but some of it we can do ourselves. We must always endeavor to achieve maximum efficiency, through work practices etc… We have to get full value for money and we have to be seen to enhance our position with the volountary sector. The council has to be fully accessible and there has to be full accountability. I want people to be able to associate with the council.”

2010 was very much a year of transition for new Clare senior hurling manager Ger O’Loughlin and his management team as a combination of high profile retirements, injuries and emigrations forced his hand to introduce a new wave of young talent into the squad.

Having worked with those players over the year and assessed the standard required at inter-county level, ‘the Sparrow’ now has a clearer vision of how much rebuilding work is required and despite the large workload involved, he is very much looking forward to the challenge.

“We are hoping that this year we do get out of Division 2. We are putting an emphasis on the league in trying to get off to a good start and our goal is to gain promotion this year. We got to the final of Division 2 last year with everybody fairly new to the set-up but we have a better handle on who’s who this year. I would be hoping that we’ll give this year a very good run in the league and get ready for the championship.

“The winners of Cork and Tipperary in the championship isn’t an easy hurdle but at the same time they are the sort of games we should be looking forward to.

“Cork proved last season that they are going to have to rebuild as well and we are probably ahead of them on that side of things. “Tipp are the team to beat in the country and they probably wouldn’t focus as much on Munster now as they would be on the All-Ireland so I would see this as an opportunity for us to give either of those two counties a very good game and if possible get to a Munster final.” However, with the county side very much a work in progress at the moment, Clarecastle clubman O’Loughlin is hoping that supporters will be patient and get behind these young players in the pursuit of those goals.

“That goes without saying. No matter what way you go about it, we have to be realistic and say that the present management have inherited a very young squad and even in the last couple of months, we’ve seen the comings and goings of some guys.

“That’s the way it’s going to be until we get what you’d call a settled 25 people who have what it takes. That doesn’t happen overnight and sometimes even successful counties like Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny go through the rebuilding structure that we are going through at the moment.

“I’m really looking forward to the year though because I just think that we can come on from 2010. I’d hope that fellas have matured a bit better and that when you are playing the likes of Wexford in a league final with Division 1 status on the line, that we would be more clinical because basically if we don’t grasp those opportunities with both hands, we will remain where we are.

“So there’s an awful lot of work to be done on the mental strength side of it as well. As I say we have it all to do but I’m looking forward to working with them in the coming season and hopefully make good progress.”

EARLIER this year a group of north Clare people made the trip to the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan with one objective in mind – to come up with a range of ideas which would allow the people of the Burren to take control of their own destiny.

Central to this grassroots movement was Mary Hawkes-Greene, co-founder of the Burren College of Art and a person who is deeply committed to the future of her adopted home.

For Mary, along with all the difficulties that the current financial climate presents, it also created an opportunity for great change and for the people of Clare to take control of their own destinies.

“I believe that as a nation we have all got what we deserve. Our political system has been based on parishpump politics which requires leaders to do special favours for people which leads to corruption on a larger scale. We need people to be more honest and for our political system to be completely overhauled so we can get rid of the culture of everybody scratching everyone else’s back,” said Mary.

“For Clare and for local communities in Clare I think that now is a great opportunity for natural leaders to emerge within communities. For a long time we have relied on huge grants to be handed out to people from the EU and people haven’t had to be creative. One of the most successful things in my community, in Ballyvaughan, last year was getting people together and looking at taking control of our own destiny and deciding for ourselves how we wanted our own community to be.

“It’s not about looking for the next grant or the next EU directive, it’s about getting together and deciding what are our values as a community and what do we stand for. These things are not all economic and are not all financially driven. We found that one important thing for us, for example, was a community which had room for both old people and young people to come together and be involved in each other lives. That is something which has nothing to do with money or the economy but could have a great impact in the quality of life that everyone in the community has.”

While reorganising the political and economic society which we all live in is an important step in 2011, according to Mary, it is not nearly as important as looking at the types of lives we all lead in our community.

“I think we need to look at everything that is valuable. It’s not just money, living in a beautiful place and what that does to a person’s health and well being is a valuable thing. People need to put some value on things which are not economic, things which make us happy which have nothing to do with money. There is a great opportunity for communities to look at their core being and discover what really is important to them. From there maybe people can figure what economic steps need to be taken to allow them to live the life that they want to do. I think it is time for a radical reforms and a radical and for people to take control of their own destinies.”

As the co-founder of one of the biggest innovations on the Clare arts scene in recent decades, Mary also sees the importance of art in the development of Clare and Ireland in 2011. “The importance of the arts cannot be overstated. The arts should be seen as essential and as crucial to our well-being as fresh air or health care. The arts are essential to our development,” continues Mary.

“They give us another dimension of life which is beyond economics and what we need. What we need is more music in schools and in the community. People can be transformed and lifted to a different place by the arts – it uplifts spirits and shows people what they can achieve what some people might think of as being unachievable. That is something that can transfer to every area of people’s lives.”

MORE THAN most, north Clare filmmaker Alan Cooke has spent a lot of time pondering what needs to be done to secure Ireland’s future in 2011.

The Emmy award-winning filmmaker has spent much of the last two years researching the post-Celtic Tiger fate of his country and asking both what went wrong and what needs to be done to put things right for the future.

For Alan this is not a question of banks and budgets, but more a question of rediscovering out spirit and identity.

“In these times, we question the fabric of what we are. We wonder if there is a future in our country. We look at forces bigger than us trying to rip away the fabric of our values and decency. But I resolve as I hope others will that this decade we will find our way back to something ancient and old,” says Alan.

“I hope we will find that our communities turn to each other and grow stronger. I wish in 2011 that we realise there is something that they can never take from us. Our spirit is ancient. We are of royal blood from Celtic kings. We are not fools or filled with shame.

“I hope we can create a resolution that we can fight to bring Ireland to what it can be. We can resolve in 2011 that we can shed all of the hurt from the last decade, we can rise above the corruption and scandal in the Church, the government and the banks.

“I am going to go out and make a film about this country – to capture its beauty, its majesty, its power and the strength of our people. In 2011 I hope we can show the world how we are loved in our culture and our words and art.

“It is my job in this decade as it is the job of other Irish artists that we must lead and shine a light that the whole planet will turn to see. When I travel this land I see the incredible joy in people in the original nature. I see their dancing. I see their music and their words and stories.

“In my epic new film I hope to create something that represents the best in all of us. I resolve this and make a solemn oath that what is good in us will rise. All of the hurt of the last few years will be wiped away forever. Bless us all in 2011 and for the future we can take to be ours and make this country great again.”

To learn more about Alan’s new film or to make a donation to help fund the production visit www.thespiritofirelandfilm.com.

TOURISM is a global industry. If the Irish tourism sector is to play its part in the recovery of the Irish economy in 2011, a number of factors beyond the control of Irish business, the Irish public and even Irish politics will have to be counted before the much hoped for return of the international tourist can take place.

Despite the global nature of tourism, there are a number of resolution which, according to Michael Vaughan, head of the Clare branch of the Irish Hotel Federation, could help the local tourism sector in the year to come.

“We need the British people to rediscover the value and confidence to travel to Ireland again because we have lost as much as 25 per cent of that market. As well as lending us their money they could do better still and come over here and spend some of their money with us again. That would be a huge boost to us. Germany and America in 2010 seems to be good prospects – America really seems to be bouncing back and while it’s hard to know for sure there seems to be an increase of as much as 10 per cent on last year so far which is a good sign. Germany also has a renewed buoyancy so if we work to make sure that the product is right and the price is right they we could see a bounce in the German visitors for next year,” said Michael.

“In terms of what the government could do they could always spend more money promoting the country. Every euro that is spent promoting tourism brings € 4 back into the economy which is a good return. I’d like to see a better regime when it comes to local authority charges when it comes to businesses. That is a big ask I know, because local authorities are strapped for cash at the moment.

“I think a good summer weatherwise would be a big boost for the tourist sector. I know that is asking the God above to do us a favour but that would be a real boost for us. A good summer always makes a big impact for us, at least you can guarantee a few good weeks of trade.

“What could happen and what we would very much like to see is that people who have money might come out and spend that money. There are people in the country who have money. We would hope that these people would come out in the national interest and spend a bit of money in whatever way they see fit – whether they would be buying a bowl of soup or sandwiches in a cafe or whatever. There is a lot of money out there but people are thinking that they shouldn’t be spending money because there is a recession. But it’s a strange situation, spending money is exactly what we need them to do.”

As well on a national level and international, there are things within the county of Clare itself which could bring about a boost for the local tourist trade in 2011.

“The town of Ennis is critical to us and we’d like to see a big festival in the town. There has been a lot of talk about getting the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann back to the town but either way we’d like to see more activity. I’d like to see more going on at Glór especially if it could be expanded to let it take conferences.

“That would be a huge boost to the county for us to be able to take conferences of about 500 people in the county. If we could also see the coming together of tourism interests to help each other out,” continued Michael.

“I’d like to see that proposed bridge down in Kilkee being built. Loop Head and west Clare generally is such an undiscovered part of the county and it would be great to have an iconic tourism project located down there. The people who have brought Loop Head to the forefront in recent deserve their just rewards and they deserve to continue on and to see the benefit of their labours in the months and years ahead.”

THEY may have been St Flannan’s College old boys and senior ministers in the Fianna Fáil government, but past-pupil and party fraternity didn’t stop Sylvester Barrett and Michael O’Kennedy from having a stand-off at the cabinet table and a major disagreement on the direction and financial needs of housing policy in 1980.

As Minister for Finance, O’Kennedy had control of the purse strings, but Minister for the Environment Barrett felt his department needed more money to offset what he forecast would be a huge shortage of social housing as the 1980s progressed.

Minister Barrett took his concerns and demands for an extra £30m over his budgetary allocation for social housing to the Department of Finance, warning his ministerial colleague that unless money was forthcoming new house building levels wouldn’t be able to cater for the growing demand.

Minister Barrett pointed out that “demand was so high that new house prices had virtually doubled between 1977 and 1979”, while he also warned of unrest over the housing shortage.

“The number of houses to be completed in 1982 and 1983 will be lower than in any year since 1972,” warned Minister Barrett in making his case for extra funds for the sector. “There will be growing unemployment in the building and associated industries and widespread unrest among persons who have arranged to purchase or improve houses with the aid of grants and with loans under the local authorities house purchase and improvement loan schemes.”

However, the Minister for Finance was unmoved and wasted no time in hammering home the point to his ministerial colleague that “all government departments had been warned that the scope for additional allocations this year was practically nil”.

“Despite this, the policy of the Minister for the Environment appears to be to challenge all of the main budgetary allocations within his de- partment’s ambit,” added Minister O’Kennedy as the stand-off between the two government departments escalated.

Meanwhile, the Department of the Taoiseach was keeping a watching brief on the two rowing departments before delivering another hammer blow to Minister Barrett’s housing policy in response to figures that showed the number of home improvement grants had jumped from 11,000 in 1977 to 30,000 in 1979, while the cost of administering the scheme had risen from £7m to £35m in the same period.

The home improvement grants scheme was abolished on January 21, 1980, with a final cut-off date for grant applications under the scheme being February 1 – ten days that brought the system to its knees as some 45,000 applications flooded in.

FORMER US president Ronald Reagan famously toasted his Irish roots when drinking a glass of stout in Ballyporeen in 1984 during his controversial state visit to Ireland, but four years previously it was to Clare and not Tipperary that the then White House aspirant looked to when embracing his Irishness for the first time.

Early in his campaign for the presidency, Reagan had shown little interest in tracing his Irish roots, but the State Papers from 1980 reveal that all changed when the Republican Party candidate discovered that his connections with Ireland descended back to Killaloe and the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru.

Reagan revealed his interest in his relationship to the most famous Clareman of all-time in a phone-call to Morgan Llywelyn, the acclaimed author of Lion of Ireland that was published earlier in 1980.

Details of Reagan’s phone-call to Llywelyn that occurred a matter of weeks before he was inaugurated as president came to the notice of the state after the American-born writer gave a detailed account of the conversation to Ireland’s ambassador in Washingthon, Clareman Con Howard.

“At 1.30pm on Christmas Eve I was working in my study when the telephone rang,” wrote Ms Llywelyn. “This is Ronald Reagan. When I picked myself up off the floor, the President elect told me he had called to say how impressed he was with the Lion of Ireland . ‘I just wanted you to know that you are interfering with the transition process dreadfully because I sneak away every chance I get to read your book’, Reagan said.

“He had obviously read the book thoroughly and with high retention, for he can quote chunks of it. He was warm and friendly, easy to talk with. He told me he has found much that is thought-provoking and analogous to current situations in Lion, and that he was grateful to have knowledge of that distant ancestor of his. He indicated that some of Brian’s strategies and philosophies had impressed him deeply.

“He is interested in learning more about Ireland and the Irish. He wants to know the positive things; like so many others, he had heard for too long only the negative.

“The incoming president is half Irish and glad of it, according to his own words. With so many other ma jor and immediate problems vying for his attention, he has taken the time to express a sincere and personal interest in Ireland,” concluded Llywelyn in her letter to the Dysart-born Irish ambassador, who was associated with another famous literary figure in Clare history – Brian Merriman, in whose honour he founded the Merriman Summer School in 1967.

ROGUE developers and unfinished estates might be more associated with the present economic crisis that Ireland finds itself in since the collapse of the Celtic Tiger, but State Papers released this week under the 30-year rule show that the Fianna Fáil government of 1980 was confronted by similar problems, with grassroots members of the party leading the charged all the way to the Taoiseach’s office

It meant that the problem was passed over to Clare’s Minister for the Environment of the time, Deputy Sylvester Barrett, for consideration by Taoiseach Charles Haughey after a slew of complaints about unfinished estates landed at the cabinet table.

Fianna Fáil members complained directly to Mr Haughey about developers – many of whom were party backers – after they had left many new housing estates unfinished and then abandoned them. Confidential files contained in the 1980 State Papers reveal that a memo was issued to Minister Barrett about the scourge of private developments that were left unfinished around the country. The memo, that was also circulated to other members of cabinet made specific mention of Fianna Fáil’s promise during the 1979 Local Elections campaign that “developers will have to foot the cost of completing estates one way or the other”.

At the time there were 120 unfinished estates across, many of which had serious safety concerns attached to them. “Frequently housing estates are left unfinished by builders, many of whom are known Fianna Fáil supporters,” one letter passed on to Minister Barrett by Haughey claimed.

In response to grassroots anger about unfinished developments, Mr Haughey deflected criticism of his government by saying it was ultimately the responsibility of the local authorities involved to police developers

However, Mr Haughey also pledged some government action as those concerned had been forwarded to Deputy Barrett, who in his capacity as Minister for the Environment also had responsibility for all matters local government.