The Clare People Archive

ELEVATED levels of lead have been discovered in the water supply of three new areas of Ennis. The ar- eas identified by testing carried out by Clare County Council last week are in premises in Bank Place, St Michael’s Villas and Old Limerick Road (off the Clare Road, from Cap- tain Macs Cross to Daly’s garage). According to Clare County Council repeat samples will be taken in all of the above locations to verify results as well as at Patrick Street (Clarecas-

tle), Marian Avenue and Connolly Villas in Ennis.

It brings to eight the number of are- as identified as having problems with the water supply since discovery of elevated lead levels in parts of the County two weeks ago.

David Timlin, Director of Serv- ice with Clare County Council said, ‘Marian Avenue is a particular case in point because of its lead distribu- tion pipes, so residents there have been advised not to drink the water”.

According to Mr Timlin, “Clare County Council will continue to

follow EPA guidelines and will be carrying out surveys to identify loca- tions of concernso that an action plan for the county can be prepared”. He added, information updates will be issued as the current water results are verified by the testing programme. In a statement, the council said re- placement of lead mains has been ongoing over the past few years. The council said that replacing these will take a number of years and consider- able investment. The council also in- dicated that some home owners may have to foot the bill to replace lead

piping stating that ‘Pre-early 1960s premises will also need to investi- gate their own internal plumbing installation and consider replacing any lead services or fittings that are within their own property’.

The advice for homeowners re- mains to run a sink full from the cold water tap in the kitchen, particularly first thing in the morning or if the water has been unused in the pipes for longer than six hours. Consumers particularly at risk of any adverse ef- fects of lead in water include children under six, and pregnant women.

A RELIGIOUS order is bidding to add millions of euro to the value of its property outside Newmarket-on- Fergus by applying to Clare County Council to have 32.5 acres rezoned for housing.

The Sisters of Charity of the In- carnate Word are seeking to have a sizeable portion of their landbank at Carrigoran rezoned for residential use.

The order purchased Carrigoran from the Fitzgerald family in 1925 and since 1974 have operated a 116 bed retirement centre, including a 20

bed dementia unit.

The centre is run on a not-for-profit basis and receives no direct state funding. With the Newmarket-on- Fergus by-pass, the lands at Carrig- oran have been cut in two and the nuns are seeking a large proportion of their lands on the Newmarket side of their landbank to be rezoned.

The submission states that the nuns own 95 acres, including 22 acres of Lough Gash and are seeking that 32.5 acres be rezoned for housing and 40 acres for open space.

The order has employed well- known architects, Murray O’Laoire to lodge a comprehensive submis-

sion which claims that the 72 acres of land on the Newmarket side of the by-pass was zoned for community use without consulting the existing landowner.

The submission states that this was done “apparently at the behest of a third party who had no proprietary interest in the land but who had an interest in developing portion of the lands for community use”

The submission argues that the area zoned for community use is dispro- tortionate to the scale of Newmarket and way beyond planned or projected need. The zoning also places a gross- ly unfair burden on the owner to pro-

vide such a disproportionate area of land for the benefit of community.

Making the case for the rezoning, the submission states that if the land is zoned as residential and open space it will help Newmarket-on-Fergus at- tract the critical mass of population required within the gateway corridor and allow the town grow commer- cially, socially and within a sustain- able framework.”

It is now up to councillors to decide if the lands should be rezoned or not. However, in a blow to the nuns’ pros- pects, council planners have opted to retain the ‘community zoning’ in the draft plan presented to council.

A PLAN to manage and protect the quality of water in the Shannon and it’s lakes will have major effects on OCAVo) Co) o) eater LMU DOME Duct KMmIelUKOlUNNC MMH ETc waterways, mid-west representatives have been told.

Work on the plan has been on-go- ing for six years and a draft plan will be ready for December with a six- month public consultation period to follow.

But while initial details of the pro- posal will be available from then, concerns are mounting in the region

over a Separate proposal to drain wa- ter from the Shannon to help meet demand in Dublin.

A meeting of the Mid-West Re- gional Authority last week was told that “major changes” in relation to future development along the shores of the Shannon can be expected.

‘There could be no development in some areas,’ RPS consulting engi- neer, Alan G Barr told the meeting.

He added than an embargo on de- velopment in some areas will have to be addressed in terms of zoning by the Clare County Council and other local authorities involved.

Water purity testing has been car- ried out in the river by the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency since 2006 and this is one of the main parameters being used in formulat- ing the proposals for protecting the Shannon.

The plan is expected to recom- mend having protected areas along the banks of the river and the shores of lakes. Other recommendations are thought to include a ban on forestry, going as far as the removal of exist- ing trees and set-aside of agricultural land. Meanwhile, elected representa- tives in Clare have been expressing

varied views on the proposal to take water from the Shannon and deliver it to Dublin.

Cllr Colm Wiley said at a meeting of the county council that the author- ity could “take any compensation money and use it to drain farm land which is flooded for most of the year in Clare”’.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said that the reality for Dublin is that there are just two options “one is distillation which is too costly and the other is to take water from the Shannon. This will significantly affect the levels of water in the Shannon”.

BRENDAN Smith record as Minis- ter for Agriculture has been placed under the spotlight in the fall out from last week early budget. With the farming organisations in agree- ment that farmers took the hardest hit of all sectors in the budget, Fine Gael have labelled Minister Smith as ‘the weakest link’ around the cabinet table.

Speaking in the aftermath of Tues- day’s budget, the minister pointed to the €3.2 billion that would be spent on supporting the farming, food, fisheries and forestry next year.

This will be cold comfort to many farmers with overall spending down by 2.6 per cent and payments to dis-

advantaged areas and the suckler cow schemes facing reductions while no new applications would be accepted for the Early Retirement and Young Farmer Installation Schemes.

More worringly, the IFA now be- lieve that there will be a shortfall of €400 million in farm schemes next year.

IFA leader Padraig Walshe said the budget was particularly damaging to the drystock sector and disadvan- taged areas.

Meanwhile, ICSA president Mal- colm Thompson said that there was a sense of shock and horror that farmers were being made to bear the brunt of cutbacks in the Department of Agriculture.

“Minister Smith gave us the im-

pression from his statement that the priority was spending on the produc- tive capacity of the agri-food sector,’ said Mr Thompson. “The reality is that those at the cold face of pro- ductivity, the farmers, were the ones feeling the pain.”

Despite the general negative senti- ment, Clare TD and Minster of State in the Department of Agriculture, Tony Killeen, pointed to a number of positives.

“While there are reductions in the budgets of the Marine Institute, BIM and the SFPA, the seafood process- ing sector, which is recognised by Dr Noel Cawley in his “Steering A New Course Report” as a growth area, has doubled its budget,” he said.

“A further €1.46 million has been

set aside specifically to support com- pliance of fisheries and aquaculture with respect to activities in Natura 2000 sites.

In addition to this €5 million has been made available for aquacul- ture development while funding has been provided to enable the success- ful completion of the current De- commissioning of Fishing Vessels Scheme.

“I welcomed the prospect of the synergies and opportunities that will result from the integration of seafood marketing and promotion with the State’s food marketing body, Bord Bia, while BIM will retain the over- all role in driving the Cawley Report on the development of the Irish sea- food industry,” he said.

YOUNG Clare farmers will have plenty to talk about as they make their way to the Macra National Ral- ly which takes place in Galway this weekend.

Last week, chairman of Macra na Feirme’s Agricultural Affairs com- mittee, Eddie O’Donnell described the decision to suspend the Young Farmer Installation Aid scheme as a move “beyond belief” for young Veto ne

“Suspending a scheme that is 42 per cent EU co-funded and agreed under Social Partnership to run from 2007 to 2013 at a total budget of 68 million is totally contrary to the Government’s policy of supporting

young farmers starting out in agri- culture,” he said.

“The Government is supporting Start up business in this budget with tax breaks, yet the Government is taking away supports for start up businesses in the one industry that is the backbone of the rural economy.”

According to O’Donnell there are many young farmers who are in the process of taking over farms or start- ing up in their own right and were making preparations to apply to the No slot alen

Meanwhile, National President, Catherine Buckley, welcomed the re- newal of Stamp Duty and Stock Re- lief in last weeks budget which she said will continue to be of benefit to young farmers.

“The extension of Stamp Duty re- lief up to 2013 is a crucial incentive in encouraging the early transfer of land to committed and progressive young trained farmers,’ she said.

‘The exemption is worth nearly 20 million per annum to young farmers and will be worth million over the lifetime of the renewal.”

Young Clare farmers will travel in force to the Macra na Feirme annual conference, or ‘Rally’ as it 1s more fondly known, which takes place in Salthill this weekend.

The conference will be officially launched by Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, on Friday evening while a major highlight will be the Bord Bia Beef and Sheep Stock judg- ing Finals, which are being held in

Mountbellew Agriculture College.

Mid Clare Macra club will rep- resent County Clare in The Farm- ers Journal Know Your Agriculture Quiz Final, followed by a black and white theme night.

A host of activities will take place all weekend with a number of Clare clubs taking part.

Brendan Collins from The Bur- ren Macra club is in the final 12 for the Best New Member Competition while Mid Clare Macra Club will represent County Clare in The Na- tional Finals of Ladies and Gents Football which will be held on Sun- day in NUI, Galway.

For more information on Clare Macra, please contact Rose on 086 3169785. www.macra.ie

CLARE County Council has claimed that it had no option but to apply for the committal of a Crusheen pen- sioner, when he continued to deny it access to his land for necessary works.

In a statement the local authority said that at all times it “endeavoured to reach agreement” with Oliver Clune on the purchase price of land it was to acquire under a compulsive purchase order.

It said it “commenced the arbitra- tion process to resolve this issue which will result in an independent assessment of the property value.

The access issue is now within the control of the Court.”

The council came into contact with the Crusheen farmer as part of its proposal to provide a road link be- tween the Gort Road and the Tulla Road in Ennis.

The purpose of this road is to 1m- prove significantly traffic flows in the Northern area of the town and also provide “safe and proper access to the Shannon Development Informa- tion Age Park” located at the Gort Neyer

To carry out this project that council said it had to acquire approximately 1.7 acres of land from Mr Clune.

“Negotiations took place with Mr.

Clune regarding purchase price and other matters. Unfortunately, agree- ment could not be reached on the purchase price. In addition to the disagreement on purchase price Mr Clune also disagreed in principle with the provision of his land as detailed for the purpose of Phase I of the road network,’ the council spokesperson said.

The council then moved to Com- pulsory Purchase powers to acquire the necessary lands from the land- owner in June 2005.

The Compulsory Purchase Order was confirmed on August 26, 2005.

The council was still seeking to agree a purchase price with Mr

Clune.

The council requested that the mat- ter be referred to arbitration and the arbitration process in relation to the purchase price is still underway as far as Clare County Council is con- Ou iere

“In pursuance of the councils statu- tory duty as Road Authority the council decided to enter on the lands in December 2007 for the purpose of measurement and survey. Council employees were prevented from car- rying out the work by the landown- er,’ said the spokesperson.

The council tried to enter the land in January this year and again in March.

‘As this was resulting in consider- able time delay and unnecessary ex- penditure of public funds the council had no option but to seek a Court Order preventing Mr Clune, his serv- ants or agents from interfering with the legitimate work of the council. This order was duly granted by the Circuit Court on April 24, 2008,” said the local authority.

The council again sought to en- ter the lands in May 2008 but were again prevented from doing so.

“At this point the council, and in ac- cordance with due legal process had no option but to apply to the Circuit Court for an Order of Committal for Mr Clune,’ the council said.

AN ENNIS chet is flying the flag for Clare at an international foodie gath- CHureea rele vA

Clare Slow Food movement rep- resentative, Sean O’Connor of Bia na Dia in Ennis, will be setting out plans for Clare to be one of just a few centres nationally to get involved in a pilot project aimed at turning teens from a diet of fast-food.

Sean is this week attending the four-day Terra Madre conference in Turin, the bi-annual gathering of the Slow Food movement which is attended by 10,000 delegates from every continent.

The Slow Food movement has grown apace in Clare in recent years and with Brigette Curtin of the Bur- ren Smokehouse chairing the Clare contingent, now has more than two

dozen members.

Brigette is discussing a Slow Food pilot project with a local secondary school. “The emphasis in this year’s conference is educating teenagers about the joys of real food and I will be attending workshops to hear what various country’s are going to do”, said Sean.

Sean explained that Clare will be one of just a few centres in Ireland to take up the challenge.

“It’s a bit like the Jamie Oliver school dinners campaign. The de- tails are being worked out at the mo- ment and I will be bringing informa- tion back from the conference about it’, said Sean.

The conference will be a chance for Sean, a firm supporter in his restau- rant of the Slow Food ethos, to show- case Irish produce and to see what is going on with producers worldwide.

“Tt will be a very busy and very en- joyable few days and I’m delighted to be able to go and represent Clare”, said Sean. “We have such excellent producers in this county but by their nature, organic and artisan producers tend to be small and it can be hard to get any time off to attend events like Wee

One event the producers will be out in force at will be the Slow Food weekend planned for Lisdoonvarna from May 15 to 17 next.

“Tt will be a fabulous weekend with a market and lots of stalls where people can sample produce. We have such variety in Clare. There’s one woman who grows 20 varieties of native spuds and varieties of native apples. We have cheese producers and the Burren Smokehouse has won a huge number of awards. And it’s erowing al the time.”

SHANNON Development has de- fended its record in developing in- dustry on the northern bank of the Nerve mece rae

The body was responding to com- ments made at a special meeting of Kilrush Town Council and the Kilrush members of Clare County SSE EK ics

During the course of the meeting, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said Shannon De- velopment had continued to promote

and sell the southern half of the estu- ary by “sterilising the north side”.

“They were aided and abetted by the Shannon Ports Authority whose only interest was to collect contribu- tions at Moneypoint,’ he said.

“It is industry in the south and birds in the north,” he told the meeting.

A spokesperson for Shannon De- velopment said that the Shannon Free Zone is close to the estuary on the Clare side and the company was also responsible for the Kilrush Creek Marina and its development.

On the southern half of the estuary the semi-state body inherited a large parcel of land in Ballylongford from the IDA.

“This was a strategic natural site with deep waters,’ said the spokes- ea Ree

Half of that site is now part of a three-year building project to con- struct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal.

Once the €400 million project in Tarbert and Ballylongford is up and running the natural gas will

be pumped from tankers to storage tanks, then converted to natural gas before being piped to end users.

The terminal will include a ma- rine berth, jetty and secure mooring, LNG offloading facilities, storage tanks, and vaporisers to turn LNG from a liquid back into a gas.

The gas will then be connected up to the national gas grid.

The terminal will be built on 281 of the 600-acre land bank owned by the state for large-scale maritime related industry.

Shannon Development also owns approximately 200 acres in Askea- ton on the road to Foynes but again like the majority of land it is respon- sible for on the northern side this is also land-locked.

“We would be keen to support any development in west Clare. We helped with the development of La- basheeda and Kildysert Piers n the 1990s and the moorings in Carri- gaholt although that was about ten years ago,’ the Shannon Develop- ment spokesperson said.

WEST Clare councillors have vowed to change what has been described as a bias towards the southern half of the Shannon estuary in terms of commercial development.

At a special meeting of the two elected bodies responsible for the west of the county, councillors agreed that the northern half of the estuary was under-developed com- pared to the southern half.

Shannon Foynes Port Authority apologised that they could not attend the meeting which was held at the re- quest of Kilrush Fianna Fail council- lor Tom Prendeville.

Clir Prendeville told the meeting that to his knowledge, there hadn’t been a metre of quay development since the Foynes Port Authority opened.

“We have all been peeved that millions go up stream every year to Shannon Port Authority and some of it never comes back,” he told his fel- low councillors.

He said some of this money was used to fund court cases and to set- tle internal disputes – which was not value for money.

‘“Moneypoimt would never have been here but for the deep water. If we can convince Shannon Port Au- thority that if there is development on the northern half of the bank then

there will be knock-on benefits for all,’ he suggested.

“We have lost out on the northern bank on infrastructure and then lose out on all auxiliary development on Were h ne

Cllr Prendeville said he believed that Moneypoint had not reached its

JUD oxeKonerle

“Tt is inherently wrong that that state would invest €1 billion in a development and it not be used to capacity. We feel there is a great natural resourse out there for devel- opment.”

Mayor

of Kilrush Cllr Liam

O’Looney (FF) said that many of the problems facing the development on the Clare half of the peninsula is of the councils’ own making, as they did not “talk up”’.

“We are isolated. We have potential and we should put forward our case to the minister,’ said Kilrush Town

Councillor Collie Sweeney (Ind).

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) told the meeting that there are two points on the Clare side of the estuary with deep waters – an area close to Cahercon and at La- basheeda – that could accommodate more tonnage than Foynes.

He said he is aware of a foreign in- vestor who was interested in develop- ing part of the estuary, but planning issues deterred him from doing so.

Cllr O’Looney said businesses in Kilrush were now having heavy raw material delivered by sea to Wick- low and taken across the country by road, as Cappa could not cope with the quantity.

Cllr Oliver Garry (FG) said, “Eve- ry time you hear of development in the estuary you hear of Ballylong- ford and businesses going to the land zoned. I agree we have to have the land on the north zoned and ready for a developer to see.”

Cllr Prendeville proposed _ that Clare County Council and Kilrush Town Council call on the Minister and the Port Authority to address infrastructural deficiencies on the northern bank of the estuary and this motion was passed.

When contacted by

THE key focus of the national Renewable En- ergy Heating conference in Bunratty last Fri- day was the promotion of quality assurance within the renewable energy heating industry.

National and international experts explored the importance and benefits of design, supply and installation of renewable energy heating technologies both in Ireland and abroad.

Dick Whelan of Renewable Energy Skills Skillnet CRESS) explained that the provision of quality products and services was crucial to the continued success of any industry.

“There have been some major developments in the renewable energy sector, including the introduction of installer accreditation and

minimum quality performance standards for products. At present, however, this is only ap- plicable in the case of installations that are grant aided. The phased introduction of build- ing energy ratings for housing and commercial buildings is another positive initiative’.

Fergus Blake of Clare-based Shamrock Solar Energies Ltd, a founding member of the RESS network said the conference offered a unique opportunity to all stakeholders in Ireland’s building energy sector to

exchange ideas on technology trends and what is happening in Europe.

Meanwhile, the Renewable Energy Skills Skillnet confirmed that it has had a record year to date as regards training numbers while its membership base has grown considerably.