The Clare People Archive

TWO farmers found themselves be- fore a court after an animal that had not been tested for tuberculosis was passed on from one farm to another.

Henry Keane, of Kilfearagh, Kilkee and Eugene Baker, of Clountabon- nive, Connolly, pleaded guilty to one charge each arising out of movement of a seven-year-old animal.

Counsel for the Department of Ag- riculture Lorcan Connolly, BL, told Kilrush District Court that an ani- mal was moved from Baker’s hold- ing to Keane’s holding despite not having been tested for tuberculosis in the previous 12 months.

He said that Baker allowed it to be moved, while Keane received it into his holding.

Solicitor Michael Ryan, for Keane, said his client does not have any pre- vious convictions. The court heard that Baker was convicted in Febru- ary 2008 of charges of a similar na- meter

Mr Ryan said Keane has bought

and sold thousands of cattle over the years and there had never been a problem before. He said that Baker was recommended to him by a long- standing business associate and he said he had bought cattle in good faith.

‘He is bewildered that he is here in court because of this. He didn’t check that particular record. Subsequently the animal for this card passed the test,’ he said.

Baker was represented by solicitor Eugene O’Kelly, who said his client is living in the back of his jeep as his house went to his wife as part of a separation.

Mr O’Kelly said the test certificate was out by 14 days and it was an oversight on his client’s part. “There was no difficulty with the animal. When the test was done, it passed,” he added.

A six-month jail term was imposed on Baker and a bond was fixed in the event of an appeal. Keane was fined €300 and ordered to pay witnesses expenses of €250.

A WEST CLARE man who has failed to comply with court recom- mendations relating to his farm looks upon his animals as his children.

That was the view of the man’s so- licitor in the wake of a court hearing that the accused has not complied with three of four court recommen- dations made over a year ago.

In September 2008, Patrick Shan- non (56), of Carrownacalla South, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to four charges of cruelly ill-treating ani-

mals. On that occasion, the court heard concerns about the welfare of animals on the farm.

A veterinary inspector told the court that animals on the farm were thin and hungry and were confined by an electric fence. On that occa- sion, Shannon undertook to rec- tify the matter and the case was ad- Selubence MUM ERM iso .@

Superintendent Michael Comyns told the court last Wednesday that four recommendations were to be complied with, but all have not been. All animals were to be tested and

this was done. However, the other recommendations — cattle were to be divided into sections, strip grazing was to be stopped and the cattle were to be sold — were not complied with.

Defending solicitor Michael Ryan said it was a very difficult case. He said the court would benefit if there was to be an assessment by the pro- bation service.

“Mr Shannon is farming for many years. His family are farming in that area for 100 years. He has a great love for the animals. He regards WaCe OO MEZISM OUISIO ODE (GNK=IO MAIN SlomNy-nTOn

Mr Ryan said he did not believe there was a “willful” disregard of the court’s order. “He has very strong views on strip grazing. He feels if he sells, prices are horrendous at the moment. There is a certain common sense in that. He’s not refusing to sell them. He’s refusing to sell them en masse,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan said, “Pro- bation report or not, he will have to tidy up his act. We are talking about severe penalties if he doesn’t get his act together.’ The judge asked the defendant was he undertaking to

take down the electric fencing on the farm. He replied, “I block graze and I give them silage.” Asked would he undertake to comply with court or- ders, he said. “There is flooding there at the moment.”

The judge then told the solicitor, ‘He is looking at a prison sentence.” Shannon then said, “I’m not a person who does bad things. I have no bru- cellosis. I have no TB.”

The judge replied, “You are doing a bad thing now” and adjourned the case for two months for preparation of a probation report.

A PROPERTY agent charged in con- nection with the misappropriation of almost €80,000 in rents has been re- turned for trial to the circuit court.

Fiona Lillis (36), of Lisduff, New- market-on-Fergus, is facing 61 charg- es, arising out of a lengthy Garda investigation into missing rents on properties in Shannon and Quin.

She is accused of 49 theft charges and 12 charges of deception, in rela- tion to €76,540, between December 17, 2007, and September 30, 2008.

The charges relate to the owners of six properties. She is facing 45 theft charges and four charges of deception in relation to one property owner, Richard Dineen, totalling €59,570, relating to rent and rental deposits for accommodation at Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Another six charges – three theft charges and three deception charges – relate to Adrian Kelly, in relation to a property at Dun na Manach, Quin. The other six charges relate to Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

The book of evidence was served on the accused at Shannon District Court on Thursday and she was sent forward for trial to Ennis Circuit Court, which will sit in February AUTO

LIBRARY staff in Ennis are still as- sessing the level of damage caused by flooding at one of the county’s premier research centres.

Clare County Library’s Local Stud- ies Centre was hit by heavy flooding last Thursday along with the nearby De Valera Library in Ennis.

The centre houses a comprehen- sive collection of historic books and documents relating to the history of Clare and Irish society.

Speaking yesterday, County Li- brarian Helen Walsh said that one floor of the Local Studies Centre was damaged by flooding, along with the exhibition space in the De Valera L1- brary.

Ms Walsh said a clean-up operation FTES BUDMMENTO(oJ mc Niar-TemoLe lH emo LENE CeDneTess and that it was too early to determine the extent of the damage.

She added, “We’ve definitely had flooding and it appears extensive. We’d just been concentrating on get- ting out what we could. It’s hard to say what has been damaged.”

The centre aims to collect all pub- lished books relating to Clare, all books by Clare-born authors and any general publications containing Clare material. This Clare collec- tion contains approximately 2,000 titles dealing primarily with the his- tory, archaeology and topography of the county. Directories, almanacs, topographical dictionaries and un- published works such as theses and

projects are also part of the collec- tion. The Irish collection comprises approximately 8,000 works on all facets of Irish society.

The Local Studies Centre is a refer- ence library and research centre ded- icated to the collection of material on any aspect of County Clare.

The centre also houses a collec- tion of Irish interest material. Much of the material in the Local Studies Centre has been digitised and pub- lished online by the library’s Infor- mation Services Department, based in Library Headquarters.

The centre also contains a com- prehensive collection of Irish jour- nal titles including all major Irish historical and geographical publica- tions. Journals of specific relevance to Clare include The North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Dal gCais, The Other Clare, Molua, The Clare Asso- ciation Yearbook and Sliabh Aughty.

THE appointment of Micheal Mc- Dermott as new Clare senior football manager might just be a rallying call for an upsurge in the fortunes of the flagship football team in the county — that was the message delivered to the county board meeting on Tuesday by chairman Michael O’Neill as he con- firmed that the Cavan man has been given a one-year term in the post.

“It’s an indication of the interest we had in the post that there were four in the running,’ said O’Neill “and it went right down to the wire. We made a mighty trawl. We had Aidan Moloney, Michael Lillis, Micheal McDermott and Ger Lawlor. Aidan informed me last Friday he was pull- ing out of the contest. Micheal Mc- Dermott will manage the team with Liam McHale and James Foran, while one other person will be added to the team.

“T would appeal to football people. Every effort was made with this ap- pointment and we want anyone who has any ambitions to wear the coun- ty jersey to come forward,” added O’Neill.

Meanwhile, Munster Council del- egate PJ McGuane, who was part of

the committee that selected the new manager, said Clare must aim high in 2010. “The carrot is there,’ said McGuane, “because we are in Divi- sion 4 with Waterford and Limerick, while we play Waterford in the first round of the championship and if we beat them we have Limerick in the semi-final.

“The league will be a great barom- eter of our progress. Our first game

is against Wicklow. That will be a barometer. I would ask everyone to throw their weight behind the team for the next year.

“We are a Small county with a small pick but there’s an old saying that if you don’t aim high, you won’t strike high,’ added McGuane.

AS the close of the Clare camogie season comes in, Clare Camogie Board in conjunction with the Clare Camogie Suporters Club are hosting an awards night this Satur- day, November 21, at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis.

Medals will be presented to the Munster U16 Camogie Champions on the night, along with the U14 In- ter-County Blitz winners from the Galway Blitz.

As this is the 75th Year of Clare Camogie, the board have intro- duced the inaugural Club Star Awards. “These are a small to- ken of the appreciation which the board has for those who work so hard at club level but may never reach county teams, but without whom clubs would not survive,’ explained a spokesperson.

The medal and award recipients have been asked to be in the Au- burn Lodge for 7.30pm for a photo call, and presentation to begin at 8pm with buffet and disco after- SE K6 he

A CLARE businessman, who along with his partners is paying ©20,000 in interest on a planned retail park in Shannon, has made a last ditch at- tempt to save the development.

Last month, Clare County Council refused planning permission to Sean Halpin and Greenband Investments for the neighbourood component of a €60m retail park planned for Smith- stown in Shannon.

Mr Halpin confirmed that he and his business partners purchased the 17.5 acre site zoned for commercial development for €8 million in 2005 and have since paid ©2 million in interest.

Confirming that interest payments are costing ©20,000 per month, Mr Halpin said, “The interest is some- where north of €2 million. This is not some cosy arrangement with the bank where we have interest rolled up.”

In all, Mr Halpin estimates that the exposure to date is €10.5m.

Now, in a last ditch bid to save the development, they have lodged an ap- peal with An Bord Pleanala against the council’s decision to refuse plan- ning to the neighbourhood compo- nent of the scheme.

The council stated that the centre would have an adverse impact on the vitality and viability of Shannon town and contravene Department of the Environment retail guidelines

relating to the location of neighbour- hood centres.

The Greenband development was due to create 250 direct jobs, 200 in- direct jobs and 180 jobs during the construction phase.

In their appeal, the developers “se- riously contest the reason for refusal of the neighbourhood centre of the proposed scheme.

‘The proposed development would in fact not detract from the town cen- tre but serve the remainder of the proposed development and immedi- ate surrounding areas.

“The reasons for refusal cited by the council do not accord with the retail planning guidelines, which specifically recognises the local role

neighbourhood centre’s play in the retail hierarchy.”

However, the plan faces outright rejection, with the McAllen family lodging an appeal against the coun- cil decision to grant planning to any aspect of the development.

The local family state that their health and safety is of paramount importance and “any detrimental environmental impacts in the area, that put our health and safety under threat, will be subject to full legal ac- tion on our behalf.”

‘There 1s an over-intensification of commercial use on the site; loss of privacy and the design is of poor ar- chitectural quality.”

A decision is due in 2010.

TOP energy experts at the TOP Ideal Home Show in the RDS in Dublin proved that going green re- ally doesn’t cost the earth for Clare households by highlighting the mas- sive savings to be made by becoming more energy efficient in the home.

Detached properties, the most frequent home type across County Clare, have the potential to be much more energy efficient and owners of this housing category could knock more than €1,000 of their home heating bills. With over 22,000 such property types in the county, Clare households could be missing out on substantial savings.

While detached properties offer the greatest saving potential, ‘greener’ energy behaviour can also offer sig- nificant reward for other home types,

such as one or two bed apartment cir- ca 750 sq foot – €742; 2 bedroom ter- raced house circa 950 sq foot – €898; 3 bedroom semi detached house cir- ca 1,250 sq foot – £1,070

TOP Tips reflecting the company’s mantra, ‘going green doesn’t cost the earth’ were given to visitors at the TOP Ideal Home Show this year and expert staff were on hand at the TOP Biodome to suggest specific recom- mendations on how people can make some small inexpensive changes and save up to €1,180 per year, depend- ing on their house type. TOP is high- lighting to the people of Clare that they are literally burning money by not making their homes more energy efficient, as well as the environmen- tal implications.

TOP is Ireland’s leading fuel im- porter and distributor and this is the second year the company has been

the title sponsor of the Ideal Home Show.

Speaking at the opening of the TOP Ideal Home Exhibition, Gener- al Manager of TOP, Gerard Boylan, said, “Changing people’s attitude to going green is hard but the environ- mental experts at the TOP biodome will be making it clear in financial terms, that being environmentally Savvy is a sensible choice.”

Mr. Boylan continued, “Unfortu- nately, having a home that is energy efficient has always been viewed as the expensive option but we’re trying to educate people that the opposite is true by showing the actual savings they could be making. We’re trying to put the savings in perspective for people – going green in 2010 could be the difference between going on holiday and not. It’s that simple,’ he concluded.

RETAIL Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the retail sector, has called on all local authorities to cut commercial rates when voting on the matter later this month.

Retail Ireland has written to the Chairperson of every local author- ity as well as all City and County Managers to ask for a reduction of 20 per cent. In addition, the group has written to An Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD, Enda Kenny TD, Leader of Fine Gael, and to Eamon Gilmore TD, Leader of the Labour Party, to request that their councillors support such a move.

Retail Ireland Director Torlach Denihan, said, “Over the last year 30,000 retail jobs have been lost and the sector is struggling to avoid fur- ther redundancies over the coming months. Local authorities must play their part in the retail sector’s efforts to regain lost competitiveness and safeguard employment. As can be seen from the Consumer Price Index released last Thursday, retailers have cut prices aggressively over the last year.

“Over the last decade local authori- ties have been able to fund many projects through development levies and commercial rates paid by the re- tail sector. They now need to act re- sponsibly and help the sector retain

employment in view of the threat posed by the collapse in sales, aggra- vated by cross- border shopping.

‘Since 2000 the annual rate on valuation has increased by a cumu- lative 57 per cent nationally. Last year some local authorities took the incredible decision to increase the annual rate on valuation (Clare 3.8 per cent, South Dublin 3.63 per cent, Fingal 3.5 per cent, Wexford 3.5 per cent and Dublin City 3.35 per cent) despite the fact that the retail sector was in crisis. We are particularly dis- turbed that a revaluation exercise in South Dublin and Fingal is further aggravating the problem, resulting in some retailers facing increases of up to 50 per cent.”