The Clare People Archive

through the Freedom Of Information Act show that one of the options considered by the Elec-

toral Boundary Committee was to increase the Scarriff area to a five Seater.

This would have been achieved by adding the areas of Clareabbey, Doo- ra, Quin, Clooney, Spancilhil and Kiltraghtis from the Ennis area and transferring Killuran and Carrow- baun to the Killaloe electoral area.

Under this arrangement, Ennis and Ennistymon would have lost a seat

each and Killaloe would have gained VORorcoe Meelilanelee

However, the Committee opted to abolish the Scarriff area as its terms of reference ‘no longer permit three seater electoral areas save in very ex- ceptional circumstances’. It has now been merged into the Killaloe area with the Shannon electoral area also gaining a Seat.

Ennis has been divided into two

separate areas and increased the number of seats by two with Kilrush and Ennistymon losing out.

The committee decided that split- ting the town offered the best solu- tion as it “respects the reality that Ennis continues to be a strong focal point for its hinterland to the east and west”.

One of two Fianna Fail councillors in the Scariff area, Cllr Pat Hayes

said he didn’t wish to focus on the ‘what if?’ scenario and preferred to concentrate on the reality of Scarriff now being included in the Killaloe electoral area.

Confirming that he will be putting his name forward for the local elec- tions, he said it was important there was a high turnout in rural areas in order for local councillors to be re- NDA oLe

FINE Gael in Clare proposes to dou- ble its membership of the county’s two urban councils.

The party met on Friday night in Ennis and in Kilrush last night to nominate its candidates for the re- spective town councils in the up coming local election.

It has nominated four candidates for Ennis Town Council including the two outgoing councillors Mary Coote-Ryan and Johnny Flynn.

No stranger to local elections – Tony Mulqueen’s name will also be on the ballot paper, as will new kid on the block Rodger Fox.

Nominations for the selection proc- ess closed on September 19 at 6pm and on Friday night all four got the seal of approval at the convention meeting chaired by Limerick Coun- ty Councillor and former director of elections in Limerick East Leo Walsh.

Described as a woman of “integrity and honour” Mary Coote-Ryan was the first to be nominated by Michael

Carey and seconded by Suzanne Mangan.

In her acceptance speech the only woman to have served as mayor of Ennis maintained that her Fine Gael pedigree could be traced back to the blue shirts.

She told delegates that she was still passionate about politics and her door is always open to anyone who wishes to call.

The other three nominees were all part of the remaining proposing 1D KOLen Ice

Sitting councillor Johnny Flynn was proposed by Tony Mulqueen who described him as a family man with great knowledge on health is- sues. The former chief of the Limer- ick Fire Service had fire in his belly as he spoke of how he believes that public services should be audited externally and he had serious issues with how the town, county and coun- try has been run.

“T think the health services and (the political element of) the local authorities are not being managed properly,’ said Cllr Flynn.

His nomination was seconded by his other running mate Rodger Fox who he in turn nominated as a candi- date. Praising Mr Fox as an extraor- dinary administrator, Cllr Flynn said he also worked hard volunteering for different groups. Best known as the chairman of the Ennis Community Games last year, Rodger is a native of

Barrack Street Ennis and worked in two well known local businesses – Bredin’s and Shannahan’s. He was seconded by Earl Mulqueen, who explained that as Rodger had chil- dren in both primary and secondary school he was more than aware of the issue of class sizes and school ac- commodation in the town.

Accepting the nomination the new candidate said he was well aware of issues surrounding the elderly, edu- cation, water and the hospital.

Earl Mulqueen nominated his brother Tony as the fourth candidate. He told delegates that Tony lived in the town all his life and was aware of its difficulties.

Seconding the nomination Johnny Flynn described Tony as a man of “integrity and honour.” In accepting the nominee Tony outlined his ambi- tion for the town council.

‘“W hat we hope to achieve next year is to double the membership of the Fine Gael on Ennis Town Council.”

Fine Gael in Kilrush will be hop- ing to do the same as last night the party nominated outgoing councillor businesswoman Marian McMahon Jones and newcomer farmer Liam Williams.

All candidates will now have to be ratified by head office before going on the ballot paper on June next.

FINE Gael in Ennis has vowed to remove what it has described as the Fianna Fail and independent strong- hold over Ennis Town Council.

As the members begin the prepara- tion process for the 2009 local elec- tions, the fighting talk has already ererca sue e

“There is lot of negativity out there for the Government and I am con- vinced we can do well,’ Fine Gael TD Pat Breen told delegates at the Ennis Town Council convention.

“It is a different situation to four years ago. 2009 will be a very differ- ent election and fought very different by the different parties. It is 1mpor- tant for all concerned to get out there

and knock on doors,” he added.

‘People will use this as a mid-term review of the Government and vote against the Government,” said the Clare TD.

Ennis Town Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) also believed that the Fianna Fail and independent strong hold needed to be changed. “Local government should be the opposite to central govern-

ment to force central government to work more effectively,” he said.

Fine Gael member Earl Mulqueen said, “Next year the people of Ennis will get the first chance in five years to say how Ennis town has been run and how it will be run. We need to elect a councillor that will shout stop if the council proposes something that is to the detriment of the town

and the people of the town.”

The consensus of many at the top table was that four seats were not be- yond possibility following the party’s success two years ago.

Chairman Limerick County Coun- cillor Leo Walsh (FG) said he be- lieved that Fine Gael had a “great chance” of securing four of the nine seats in next year’s local election.

local election.

Last week the Soldiers of Destiny elected Gerry Reidy to secretary of the Comhairle Dail Cheantar, re- placing Martin O’Loughlin who now works for newly elected TD Timmy Dooley.

Patrick Maloney was elected chair-

man and in his absence Michael McTigue got the unenviable task of PRO.

While the officals are firmly in place, speculation is mounting as to who is going forward to one of the hardest elections facing the party.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce CEO Rita McInerney is one of the new faces being suggested for Ennis Town Council. In a chamber that cur- rently has just one woman, the Doon- beg native could double the female gender if elected.

Other names likely to contest the

Ennis Town Council for Fianna Fail include sitting councillors Peter Con- sidine and Tom Glynn and contend- ers John Guerin and Sean Malone.

Cllr Joe Reidy had expressed an in- terest in contesting Ennis East in the county council elections along side Cllrs Pat Daly and Bernard Hanra- ete

In the second new constituency of Ennis West Cllr Considine is to be joined by Gareth Green son of former councillor Raymond Green. Green was proposed by the Kilna- mona Cumann, which 1s now part of

SHAVeVESMA A Koni

With Cllr Flan Garvey likely to stand down in the reduced constitu- ency of Ennistymon, it is unlikely that any Inagh candidate will be put forward with Kilnamona gone to En- Oh

Instead former councillor Michael Hillary is proposed to run in Ennisty- mon, as the boundary change brings in more of what would be considered his traditional area around Miltown Malbay. Former Chairperson of the Ennistymon Comhairle Cheantair Mary Crawford is also being pro-

posed for the Ennistymon area.

With the Kilrush electoral area, like Ennistymon losing a seat all sitting councillors are likely to be proposed for Fianna Fail.

In Shannon, the town has yet to propose a candidate. Meanwhile Sixmilebridge has nominated former council candidate PJ Ryan and new candidate Pascal Lenihan to contest the newly expanded electoral area.

Sitting Fianna Fail County Coun- cillor Pat McMahon and Robert Frost have been nominated by Newmarket- on-Fergus.

RESIDENTS who were holding a round-the-clock protest outside a house which was bought by the local authority have moved their marquee.

The protest is continuing at the side of the house in Cullinagh estate on the Ballina side of Lough Derg and it is thought that the marquee may have been moved on foot of a request from Gardai as it had previously been on the street in front of the house.

But the protest is still continuing, sources close to the row have re- vealed.

Residents have been protesting since Tipperary County Council bought the private home to accom- modate a family of ten Travellers at a cost of €465,000.

The protesters have claimed the council is acting outside it’s own pol- icy for housing Travellers by spend- ing such a large sum on an unfinished house and they recently went to court in a bid to stop the council signing a tenancy agreement on the property with the O’Reully family.

High Court Judge Mr Peter Justice Charleton ruled against the residents application for a judicial review on the grounds that members of the

Travelling community have the same rights to be housed as anyone else and as much as he himself had. He also rejected the resident’s applica- tion to prevent the council signing a tenancy agreement before a decision in the review could be made by the High Court.

The residents have been taking fur- ther legal advice and are thought to be considering an appeal but asso- ciation chairman, Paddy Collins said they are not in a position to comment on any developments at the mom- ment. ““We will be guided by our le- gal advice and that is all we can say at present,’ he said.

The O’Reilly family, who are at the centre of the row have been living in the lakeside town for nine years in a number of caravans, a short distance from the property in dispute.

Last night, Tony O’Malley, solicitor for the family also declined to com- ment at present.

He said previously that the O’Reilly’s are “very upset. They have been under a lot of pressure because of this. They are a family which has lived here peacefully for many years. They have helped with community events, their children are going to school in the area.”

According to information obtained from the Free Legal Aid Centres (FLAC) in Ennis and Shannon, the numbers of Clare people with em- ployment related queries has sky- rocketed in the last six months, since the recession took hold. In that time period, the level of employment re- lated queries has almost doubled, from 10 per cent of total queries at

the beginning of the year to just un- der 20 per cent now.

According to the Director General of FLAC Noeline Blackwell, these increases indicate that employees are being asked to adopt new work prac- tices and many are examining their rights in the event of forced redun- dancies.

‘In Clare we can see that employ- ment law queries are up quite a bit. We are seeing this in our centres in Ennis, Shannon and indeed all over the country, but also from our phone Service,’ she said.

“The kind of questions that we are hearing are about people being asked to adjust their working hours and

people who are being asked to ad- just their salaries. You get the feeling that people are being asked to be a lot more flexible by employees and a lot of the time to work for less money.

‘People are also being asked to go into new positions, most probably because companies are trying to combine two sections of a company into one. This is anecdotal informa- tion but the numbers increasing at the centres 1s not, we have dates to back up that.”

Since the Free Legal Aid Centres were set up, family law has always been the most popular subject. How- ever, the figures so far this year in- dicate that this trend will be bucked

in 2008, with employment law taking the top spot.

“What most people don’t realise is that while there are some general rights for employees, these right must be applied to their own contracts,” continued Ms Blackwell.

“They are entitled to know the terms of their employment, they are entitled not to be unfairly dismissed and they are entitled to be paid for their work. But beyond that you must look at your own contract of employ- jee lin

The Free Legal Aid Centres in En- nis and Shannon can be contacted 065 6841221 and 061 364704 respec- TON

A WEST Clare man lost his life in an accident, just seconds after he and his partner kissed, while she was driving a car, an inquest has heard.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard that 54-year-old James Whelan, of Mount Rivers, Doonbeg, died after the car in which he was a front seat passen- ger hit a bridge at Carrowbrough, Ballala, Doonbeg, in the early hours of Sunday, July 10, 2006.

At Ennis Circuit Court last March, his partner Pamela Moore (43), of St Gerard’s, Ballard, Doonbeg, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Whelan and also to

drink driving.

She was disqualified from driving for 12 years and handed a three-year jail term, suspended for three years.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard last week that Ms Moore was not avail- able to attend the inquest, due to medical reasons.

Her deposition was read out to the inquest. In it, she said she and James had been socialising at the Ocean Cove hotel in Kilkee on Sunday, July 9, 2006. They then left in a car driven by her.

Whilst driving, he held her hand. “He leaned to kiss me. I leaned over to kiss him. There was a loud bang and glass flying. I didn’t know what

was happening,” she stated.

She said she knew James was in difficulty and she tried to resuscitate him. She screamed for help and was later cut out of the car and put into an Nee leleer-telerer

She did not remember the journey to hospital, but did remember being in hospital.

Garda Charlie Killeen recalled at- tending the scene of the accident at around 5am on July 10 of that year. The said the vehicle involved in the crash was in the middle of the road, facing towards Kilkee.

He said that there were two people in the car and Mr Whelan was un- responsive. Garda Denis O’ Herlihy

also attended the scene of the crash.

He said that Mr Whelan has sus- tained a gash to the forehead and was not conscious.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor.

Pathologist Dr Stephanie Curran performed an autopsy on Mr Whe- lan’s body at Limerick Regional Hospital on July 11.

She concluded that the cause of death was shock and hemorrhage, due to multiple chest and abdominal injuries, consistent with having been involved in an accident.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea recommend- ed that a verdict of accidental death be brought in and the jury agreed.

TUBBER based artist, Eileen Healy, is calling on farmers from each cor- ner of the county to get involved with a innovative new art project involv- ing farm photographs.

Visual Stuttering is a new project commissioned by the Clare Arts Of- fice that will explore aspects of farm- ing in Clare through the use of aerial photography.

Eileen would like to hear from any farmers who have aerial photograph of their farm, either from recent years or years in the past.

This new project has emerged from a research project co-funded by

Clare Arts Office and Burren Con- nect which identified the need for a community-based art project which engaged directly with farmers.

Eileen has focuses primarily on ru- ral issues and she was commissioned to create this project following on from her recent solo exhibition at the X-PO community space in Kilnaboy. There she showed three aerial pho- tographs of the her home farm on the Tyrone/Donegal border entitled “Visual Stuttering — 1970, 1985 and 1996”.

‘These images, spanning three dec- ades, clearly document the changes in farming architecture and methods, while also highlighting the relation-

ship between man, animal and land- scape,’ she said.

“This sub-genre of rural documen- tary photography resulted in most farm houses having a photograph of their farm above their fireplace — an image which clearly aestheticizes the time-based nature of farming in a very striking way.”

During the X-PO exhibition the photographs generated a lot of inter- est and discussion from locals, with people immediately identifying with the images. As a result of this inter- est she decided to engage directly with local farm-owners and identify similar photographs with a view to presenting a public exhibition and

publication in March of next year.

“The Clare Arts Office is com- mitted to process-based works such as Visual Stuttering, as a means of establishing contact with farming communities in Clare, involving them as co-creators of and audience for process based public art,” said Fiona Woods, the Regional Arts Co- ordinator for north Clare.

“This project will document aspects of the changing face of farming both from above and below, but more than this, it furthers critical art practice in response to a rural context.”

Anyone interested can _ contact Eileen on aerialfarmphotographs@g mail.com or by phone 0877922618.

THE farming organisations has wel- comed what they described as a “bal- anced” stance taken by Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, at last week Council of EU Agriculture Ministers in Brussels.

Minister Smith spoke at the meet- ing about the need to measure the steps taken to combat climate change with the current needs and challeng- es of the agriculture and agri-food sector in Ireland

“This is a clear recognition by Ag- riculture Ministers of the importance of ensuring that the EU’s policy ob- jectives for the agriculture and food sector are upheld in the Climate Change negotiations,” he said

“While climate change actions are vitally important it 1s equally impor-

tant that any proposed actions are considered from an agriculture and food production perspective leading to greater coherence in the pursuit of EU policy objectives in both areas.”

Minister Smith said that Ireland fully supported the goals agreed by the Heads of State and Government at the 2007 Spring European Council for reduction in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“Tam, however, concerned that the implementation of the reduction pro- posals should not result in unintend- ed impacts in terms of Ireland’s and the EU’s role in global food supplies and global greenhouse gas levels,” he Se AOR

“Given the relative size of the ag- riculture sector in Ireland’s economy and the high proportion of green- house gas emissions coming from

our largely animal-based production, the EU target posed particular dif- ficulties for us including the pros- pect of having to reduce our bovine ate) xe ad

The Minister referred to the fact that Ireland is one of the countries facing the highest target of 20 per cent under the effort-sharing pro- posal of the European Commission’s Climate Change strategy.

World demand for food is growing with the possibility of a doubling of meat and dairy consumption globally by 2050.

“It 1s important then to encourage our agriculture and food sectors to respond to these developments in the interests both of global food security and of the pursuit of important mar- ket opportunities,” he said.

“IT am anxious to ensure that Ire-

land continues to play a full role in the efficient production of food maximising its strengths in livestock husbandry that is heavily reliant on forage based on grass.

“We can do this only if a much greater level of flexibility 1s provided for in the Commission’s proposals and Ireland has put forward a number of ideas in this area including secur- ing recognition for carbon sequestra- tion from forest and other sinks.”

can reveal this

in the wake of a serious aggravated

burglary in Sixmilebridge overnight last Wednesday.

Attempts were also made to steal

several cars in the Ballycullen area

of Sixmilebridge the same night. One car was stolen, while another car was crashed and burnt out in the same area that night. Gardai are trying to establish details about that car which has not been reported as stolen.

Some hours later, between 5am and 6am, the post office and shop premis- es in Cratloe was broken into. Three people entered the premises and at- tempted to steal a safe, but failed to do so after the alarm was activated and made way without any items of value.

Gardai believe that a car and van were involved in this attempted raid

and CCTV footage has been acquired by those investigating it.

Last week’s incidents follow bur- glaries in those areas over the past number of months, prompting anxi- ety among local residents.

While gardai say that the post of- fice incident was not connected to the Sixmilebridge attack, the inci- dents have prompted local concerns in relation to Limerick criminals tar- geting Clare.

Superintendent John Scanlan, who is leading the investigation in last week’s incidents, said gardai have grave concerns about crime in the

Ssixmulebridge area.

“We are concerned about the number of burglaries. We are con- cerned about the level of crime in Sixmilebridge. There has been an in- creased level of crime in that area,’ he said.

“We would ask for people to be vigilant. We are conscious of what is going on. We are putting in place po- licing patrols in that area, to prevent criminals coming out. People are go- ing to see a lot more of this activity,” added Superintendent Scanlan.