The Clare People Archive

THE cost of the unprecedented run of storms which battered the Clare coast over the past five weeks has grown to a massive € 36.8 million according to new estimates published yesterday by Clare County Council.

This means that more than € 12 million worth of damage was inflicted on the county over the past two weeks – with the giant sea swell and high winds of the St Brigid’s Day storm causing the lion’s share of this new damage.

This, coupled with the € 24 million worth of damage cause during the storm in early January, has left Clare County County with the possibility of a large hole in its budget should central government fail to make sufficient money available.

It was also revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that the local authority has already spent € 750,000 of its own money on repairs and clean-up operations to date.

County Manager Tom Coughlan admitted yesterday that the local authority has no budget for this € 750,000, admitting that the council was spending money that it did not have.

The council’s Corporate Policy Group (CPG) met before yesterday’s main council meeting and compiled a letter for the Government which stated that the council couldn’t, in good conscience, continue to spend money on repairs without central government giving firm details of the funding that will be made available. The most expensive storm damage was recorded in Lahinch where the council estimates that € 6.064 million will be required to fix damage done to the promenade and surround areas. The cost of repairs at Cloughaninchy in Quilty is now estimated at € 4.716, with the bulk of this going towards the re-construction of more than two kilometres of sea armour. There was also significant damage at Kilbaha in West Clare (€ 3.498 million) and New Quay in north Clare (€ 3.449 million) where roads and sea walls have been destroyed. Other badly damaged areas include Carrowmore (€ 1.628 million), White Strand/Doonmore (€ 1.550 million), Clahane in Liscannor (€ 1.487 million), Kilcredaun Irish College (€ 1.226 million), Carrowdotia, Moneypoint (€ 1.115 million), Doolin (€ 1.025 million) and Liscannor itself (€ 1.011 million). Serious questions have also been raised as to what agency or agencies are responsible for coastal defenses. There are 14 different agencies which have some interest in coastal and river flood defenses. “Until there is some clarity as to who is responsible for these areas this is going to be a very difficult project. We are all talking about providing leadership, but we cannot lead unless we know where we are going,” said county manager Tom Coughlan. “There are a lot of agencies involved, but there is no clarity who is responsible. We need a co-ordinated approach and that has to be led by Government. This is something that is outside the scope of Clare County Council.”

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) say that it has introduced a new system of ongoing maintenance on the M18, since the tragic death of 26-year-old student Vicky Courtney on a stretch the of road near Ballyline.

Ms Courtney died when her car veered off the motorway while driving in poor weather on November 18, 2012.

Following her inquest, which took place last September, Clare coroner Isobel O’Dea wrote to the NRA requesting that “a pool of water should not be allowed” to develop on the motorway.

According to an NRA spokesper- son, the organisation only assumed responsibility for maintenance on the M18 last September.

“The National Roads Authority fully agrees with the objective of the coroner’s statement in this regard,” said a spokesperson.

“Since this time, routine maintenance works have been undertaken including road sweeping and cleaning of gullies, slot drains and outfalls in addition to other general maintenance activities which assist with rapid drainage of water from the road surface.

“The NRA monitors and assesses the network under its direct control with a view to carrying out any maintenance or remedial works which might be required to improve road drainage and maintain the de- sign capacity of the drainage system. However, the possibility of the occurrence of surface water due to extreme weather events or other causes cannot be fully eliminated.

“In relation to the specific location on the north-bound carriageway of the M18 at Ballyline, the NRA is ensuring that our service provider is following their maintenance works. The installation of replacement pipework may be undertaken if the ongoing monitoring referred to indicates that this is warranted.

Ms Courtney’s inquest heard that she died when her red Peugeot spun 360 degrees after driving through a 15-metre pool of water lying across the fast lane. The car crashed into a barrier before overturning on the road.

A CLARE woman who endured a four-year sentence in a € 300,000 ‘debt prison’ has secured a 70-day protection period from her creditors.

The woman, who lives in Shannon, has a mortgage of € 329,000 with a financial institution, the Personal Insolvency Court in Ennis heard on Friday.

The Circuit Court heard the 30year-old secretary took out the mortgage on an investment property with her then boyfriend.

The relationship has since ended and it is thought the man has left the jurisdiction.

The court heard the woman has monthly repayments of € 1,600 and a credit card debt of € 3,600.

She is now living in rented accommodation. Judge Patrick Meaghan was told the investment property cost € 345,000 in 2007 but is now worth € 170,000.

The court heard the property is in poor condition with repair costs estimated at between € 20,000 and € 25,000. Judge Meaghan said he was satisfied to grant the protection certificate, meaning the woman now has 70 days to strike a deal with creditors.

The woman was not in court for the brief hearing, but was represented by Ennis based Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) John Hogan.

Mr Hogan said the court’s decision would come as a relief to his client.

He said, “For 70 days she doesn’t have to worry about court appearances or things like that and just the level of hope that an arrangement can be reached”

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Mr Hogan said the emotional toll of struggling with debt had been “huge” on his client.

“She has put down four years of virtual trauma from her point of view. She obviously suffered the effect of the break-up of a relationship and then as a consequence of that, to be left holding the proverbial baby with regards the mortgage”.

He said the volountary surrender of the property would have been ideal for the woman but she would have been left with the balance of the mortgage – € 200,000

Mr Hogan added, “It really is a life sentence. Most traumas that people suffer heal in time, but when it comes to finance, you’re getting that letter every week, that phone call.

“There are statements coming in. It never leaves. It’s like a continuous sense of trauma.”

“She really has and people like her have suffered virtually a three year prison sentence”.

Mr Hogan said people he believes the personal insolvency process offers hope to debtors and banks.

“The real hope for people is that they are not expected just to exist. They are expected to be able to live and be socially included.

“What’s actaully happening is that people are trying to pay as much as they conceivably can to satisfy their creditors at the expense of food, light and heat..

“This process actually turns the tables a little bit”

MAGOWNA House in Inch is the latest Clare hotel to go under the hammer at an Allsop Space Auction with a reserve price of € 350,000.

Last year at the auction, Ashford Court Hotel in Ennis was sold to Clarecastle businessman and farmer JJ McCabe for € 305,000.

The millionaire also bought the Kilkee Bay Hotel that failed to sell at the same auction in a private deal afterwards.

Now the sellers of the 10-bed Magowna House are hoping for similar success.

Three two-bedroom cottages and an 18-hole pitch and putt course are also part of the sale.

The hotel is not the only property for sale at the February 25 auction however.

16.67 acres of land in Doonbeg, as well as an apartment at Town Court, Shannon and 22 acres of land at Ard- nacrusha are also to be sold off.

The “irregular-shaped plot of land” at Doonbeg is being offered with a reserve of € 75,000.

The 60-square-metre apartment in Shannon will sell for no less than € 20,000.

The two-bedroom property is on the first floor and includes off street parking.

Meanwhile a parcel of land in Ardnacrusha extending to approximately 8.963 hectares (22.13 acres) will go on sale with a reserve of € 75,000.

This irregular-shaped plot of land is subject to a tenancy expiring in March 2015 at a current rent of € 450 per annum.

The Clare properties and land are just five of 190 properties to go under the hammer in the RDS, Dublin, on February 25 starting at 9am.

Allsop Space director of auctions Robert Hoban maintained that no repossessed family homes would be sold at any of the company’s auctions.

A NIGERIAN born information technology consultant has confirmed his intention to run as a candidate in the 2104 local elections.

George Atijohn (47) intends to seek election in Ennis. The married father of two has lived with his family in the county capital for over 14 years. He has worked as a management and IT consultant. He currently volunteers as computer instructor in Ennis for the Clare/Limerick Education Training Board (ETB).

This is Mr Atijohn’s first time entering the political arena.

He says he wants to help achieve the “unprecedented transformation of County Clare through viable and sustainable economic structures”.

“Economic regeneration at the local level will ultimately improve the economy of the country,” he explained.

He wants to see Shannon Airport as a catalyst for job creation.

Mr Atijohn explained, “There is a new law in aviation (fifth freedom rights) which enables an airline to fly from its home country to a second country for example like Shannon in Ireland, picks up passengers there and fly to a third country for example New York in the USA. Most flights originating from West Africa pass through the European airspace enroute to the USA. Deals can be made with these airlines to make a stopover in Shannon for their passengers to undergo pre-clearance”.

Mr Atijohn said he wants to see greater focus on drugs awareness programmes in Ennis.

He also believes greater encouragement of multiculturalism can boost the local economy in Clare.

“Harnessing human capital resources of the other ethnic nationalities can improve the economic wellbeing of the town/county,” he added.

Mr Atijohn says he supports affordable housing initiatives through the Public Private Partnership approach. He hopes all candidates will be afforded the opportunity to discuss issues at a public debate.

AN ATTENDANCE is excess of 10,000 is expected in Cusack Park this Sunday as Clare’s senior hurlers kick off their 2014 Division 1A National Hurling League campaign against Brian Cody’s Kilkenny.

The ground is expected to be able to host the fixture despite the inclement weather forecast for the week, with up to 12mms of rain possible on Friday. Clare come into the game on the back of a fourteen point loss to Tipperary in the Waterford Crystal Final under lights in the Gaelic Gounds on Friday night.

That game highlighted the gap between the All-Ireland champions and the other top hurling counties in terms of preparations according to Banner boss Davy Fitzgerald:

“We are way behind all the other teams in terms of work done. This time last year, going into the league we were eight weeks ahead of where we are this year.

“That’s the price of winning an AllIreland and we’re happy to pay it. It just means we might struggle in the early rounds of the league because we have an awful lot of work to do on catching up with the other teams. But we’ll knuckle down and we’ll get it done,” he told The Clare People this week.

Clare’s team won’t be finalised until closer to the weekend although it is expected to contain a couple of changes from the fifteen that started the All-Ireland final.

Cathal ‘Tots’ O’Connell and Seadna Morey are just two players expected to be pushing for starting places, while Peter Duggan, Shane Golden and Donal Tuohy are also in the reckoning.

Brian Cody is bringing a strong panel to Ennis, with Henry Shefflin expected to start the match. The Cats will be providing a guard of honour for Clare before the game starts.

CARRIGAHOLT Postmaster Patrick Gavin’s house has been cut off from the mainland for the last five weeks due to the storms that have been battering the West Clare coast.

With road access is so poor, Patrick has been cut off from much human contact, especially that of his daughter, who he has not been able to see for the last fortnight.

As a sufferer of epilepsy, it’s too dangerous for her to visit in case she becomes ill and cannot access the medical attention she needs.

“It’s starting to take effect you know.

It’s starting to get to me now,” Mr Gavin said.

The Carrigaholt Post Office flooded last weekend for the second time in a month.

“The whole place is destroyed,” he added.

Mr Gavin says that the worst part of the most recent flood damage for the local residents is the lack of action from the Government.

Referring to a visit from Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Brian Hayes, Mr Gavin said the focus of politicians and repair work should be on people affected by the floods, not public amenities:

“He should have come to meet the people, you know and give them some heart.

“The minister should have told them we have it under control, we’ll work at getting funding and getting the place fixed up”.

Mr Gavin claims that more attention should be paid to local residents affected by the storm before attending to public areas such as the promenade in Lahinch.

“I think the six residents up where I live might be a little more important than the prom in Lahinch or the unfortunate people in Quilty that are being flooded out of their houses,” he said.

He also added that plans for coastal erosion should be given priority over proposals for other council and public projects.

Despite the disconnect that Patrick Galvin sees between politics and people the Carrigaholt postmaster was adamant that young people should still get involved in local politics but change their emphasis;

“What we need is people who want to wear the jersey, who want to do it for people, not for themselves,” he added.

The devastation in Carrigaholt and neighbouring areas has seen many homes cut off for the second time in recent weeks as the weekend floods and high tides undid much of the progress that had been made with repairs over the past month from Storm Christine.

QUEEN Elizabeth II’s only son-inlaw visited the county last week unbeknownst even to the Clare people he met.

The lesser known of the British Royal Family, Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence was part of the RNLI Coastal Review Group that visited the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter Head Quarters in Shannon, the RNLI station in Lough Derg and the Kilrush RNLI Life Boat.

The husband of Princess Ann identified himself as Tim Laurence and ingratiated himself by his laid back attitude and his interest in all things nautical.

Pauline Dunleavy from the Kilrush RNLI said the crew found him to be a “really lovely gentleman” and it was only days after he left and with the help of google they worked out his royal connections.

The former British Navy Lieutenant Commander was particularly impressed with the condition of the three-year-old Kilrush lifeboat and the work of mechanic Martin Brew.

Kilrush RNLI were so delighted at getting the green light from the coastal review team to continue work along the West Clare coast, they did not notice the royal visitor.

Tim, the second husband of the queen’s only daughter, was born the son of a London salesman and joined the British Royal Navy as a young man.

He was quickly promoted through the ranks eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1986, he was appointed as Equerry to Queen Elizabeth, a post he would occupy for three years.

Equerries to the Queen are most commonly high-ranking military officers who attend to her during public appearances and royal events.

It was during this time he met his future wife, Princess Anne.

WAITING times are down in all the University Limerick Hospitals, including Ennis and Limerick, but people are still waiting months for routine procedures.

That was the message from the first public meeting of the new hospitals group board, who also heard that while the hospital group had once again run millions of euros over budget, the over run was significantly lower than previous years.

Chief Executive of UL Hospitals Ann Doherty told the meeting that the hospital group had met govern- ment targets in 2013 and was now aiming to be ranked in the top three Irish hospitals by 2018.

According to the figures presented the longest any patient had to wait for a routine out-patient appointment was one year, a figure acceptable to Government targets.

No patient was waiting more than eight months for scheduled in-patient or day case procedures and no child was waiting more than eight months for a scheduled in-patient of day case procedure. According to the figures released all routine and urgent colonoscopy targets were also met.

Waiting times in the regions only 24-hour emergency department re- mains an issue however.

In December 58.4 per cent of patients were seen in under six hours. However 25 per cent of patients still hadn’t been treated within nine hours of arrival at A&E.

The group had however a financial over run of € 10.119 million which is 4.1 per cent of its annual budget allocation.

Ms Doherty said that the over run, or what she described as a financial challenge, at the beginning of 2013 was € 21.7 million or 9.1 per cent.

“The sizeable improvement in financial performance is noteworthy and is attributed to a number of factors such as additional budget alloca- tion, generation of additional income and the formation of sub committees to monitor, approve and provide visibility and accountability at every organisational level over all areas of spend.”

Launching its three-year strategic plan for the hospital group, Ms Doherty also outlined the plans for this year.

A ten-bed Intensive Care Unit is to be completed as well as an eight-bed High Dependency Unit.

She said that plans are also in place to maximise the use of bed capacity across the hospitals in Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, and to recruit additional neonatal and obstet- ric consultants.

Plans for 2014 amongst others include more beds for the main hospital in Dooradoyle, Limerick, the opening of a temporary interim paediatric emergency department and continued capital investment.

The new Parkinson’s, stroke, breast and dermatology building, which is being developed with the voluntary sector is ear marked for 2015.

Other works including the new much needed Emergency Department for Limerick is expected to be completed in 2016.

A key objective for the board is to secure capital for a new maternity unit on the Dooradoyle campus.

A COASTAL Management Report dating back to 1989 made recommendations for reinforcement works and protection works along the coast of Clare, that still have not been implemented 25 years on.

Three members of Clare County Council – Cllr Oliver Garry, Cllr Christy Curtin and Cllr Johnny Flynn – are to attend next week’s meeting of Clare County Council armed with the document hoping to make the case that the people of West Clare cannot wait another 25 years for such work.

As the council re-count the cost of coastal damage following the storm on St Bridget’s Day, February 1, the council members are to call for emergency funding to be released by Central Government immediately.

The people of the west coast have also lost patience with central Government and are demanding immediate action, as well as a long-term strategy.

Publican and Community Activist in Doonbeg Tommy Commerford told The Clare People , “Emergency flooding must mean emergency flooding. We don’t need any more ministers running around telling us we have a problem.”

The people living along the west coast and the Shannon estuary are well aware of the problems they are facing following another weekend of high winds and high tides.

“The emergency funding must be released straight away especially for vulnerable areas,” said Mr Commer- ford.

“There should be no consultants required. This is a job that common sense can repair.”

Agreeing with Mr Commerford, Ailish Connolly from Kilbaha said a plan must then be made to address coastal erosion.

“There needs to be a coastal strategy at national level. Now is a time for action,” she said.