The Clare People Archive

THE three Kilrush County Council- lors who voted against the process to extinguish a right of way, gave submissions to the oral hearing in Doonbeg.

Forced to give his evidence in Eng- lish as he had not requested a trans- lator, Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) de- scribed the wall, which is part of the judicial review as “inappropriate” and the cause of provocation.

He told the hearing that all of the Kilrush area councillors had signed a document in Tubridy’s Bar in Coora- clare stating they would not consider the right of way until the judicial re- view had been dealt with.

Since the Tubridy’s Treaty, some members had changed their minds.

“If you removed that wall there probably would be a very satisfac- tory outcome,” he told the legal team representing Doonbeg Golf Club Limited.

“The currency of Doonbeg Golf Club Ltd has had been decreased in value by these right of ways.”

“IT am of the opinion that the pro- posal is a last ditch play incorporat- ing Doonbeg Golf Club to get its way despite the cost,” he added.

He told the hearings that he got phone calls from golfers at the club asking him to vote for the extin- guishment, with the understanding “retributions would be carried out if

we did not vote for it”.

The councillor’s submission was called “inflammatory” by the legal council for the golf club.

Mayor of Clare Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) was next into the hot seat.

She gave the hearing a history of the golf club in Doonbeg and re- minded those present that “people of limited means were forced to take a case to the highest court in the land” to secure their rights to access the beach for gravel, sand and seaweed, a right that dates back to the Vande- leur Estate.

She questioned the “illegal obstruc- tion” across a right of way, and asked that the law of the land be adminis-

tered fairly to all.

‘There is an inequality here that 1s reprehensible,’ she said. “The dic- tate is coming across the Atlantic and these misfortunes are here doing their bidding,” she added pointing to the legal team.

“Mr Long (developer) would do well to remember that were are in Ireland and we are a democracy.”

Referring to the golf club’s alterna- tive suggestion for beach access, she said “It is inferior to what is there.”

Clir PJ Kelly (FF) was the last to take the chair. He outlined to the hearing the many traditions associat- ed with access to the beach. He also said that any changes being proposed would mean a lengthy change to the

County Development Plan and the West Clare Area Plan.

Cllr Kelly said that a number of pro- cedures should have been adhered to before the oral hearing. With the le- gality of the right of way being ques- tioned by Doonbeg Golf Club Ltd, Cllr Kelly said, “I have right of ways over my property and I have never had to go to court to prove them.”

It was also suggested that a tunnel be built by the golf club to allow peo- ple access the beach.

“The amount of money put up to- day would have put up a lot of tun- nels,” he added.

He suggested the whole procedure should be taken back to the drawing board.

DOONBEG is well known for its plays and drama festivals but no one could have predicted the drama that would unfold in the long village community centre last week.

The community centre which was developed and extended on the suc- cess of a long drama tradition hosted its greatest epic yet, as neighbour took on neighbour, the might of the dollar was accused of unwanted in- fluence and those “lads” from Dub- lin who came down with their fancy ways were told they wouldn’t change the lives of the great west of Ireland people.

The scene was set for “Doon- beg R.O.W (right of way)’- if only O’Casey had been around to write it.

It would have been the third play in the trilogy made up firstly of the story of the might of the microscopic snail, then the wall that would not fall and finally the right of way that led to the ultimate row.

The stage had been set by legal teams and council executives.

Legal papers and public notices had been written and re written, some changes in the scripts were even de- tected by the more observant as the drama unfolded.

The Irish flag and Clare flag at full mast on stage, maps attached to the

wall and green throws draped over tables echoed Irish civil war funer- i

At the top table sat legal assist- ant Marina Keane, County solicitor John Shaw and the Inspector Marcus O’Connor – the new but influential character introduced to most charac- ters at the beginning of the play.

Stage left was the Doonbeg legal team and management and stage right council officials.

Drama typical of old Irish plays was presented as the small land hold- ers of the west of Ireland taking on the mighty power of the dollar and the “Dublin Jackeen”’.

The audience of 22 paid attention

to the proceedings, which at times could have done with some serious editing.

As Cllr Tom Prendeville sat at a ta- ble draped in the dark green he spoke of constitutional rights and fighting and dying for freedom.

Mayor Madeleine ‘Taylor-Quinn represented a new Ireland – a woman with a legal background that was clear and concise giving evidence to a senior council slow to challenge her.

The father of all councillors, Cllr PJ Kelly added some light entertain- ment while making his serious and researched remarks.

Then Kelly went looking for his old

nemesis Leonard Long of the golf club development company Kiawah Development.

He brought proceedings to a climax just short of pantomime, but no one shouted, ““He’s behind you” when the colourful councillor asked where he was as he looked around the room.

Water administered for the sport of play was administered by theatrical stalwart Murt McInerney, who also took to the stage for a cameo as well as helping out behind the scenes.

The drama ended with more ques- tions than answers and yet another piece likely to play out in either the county council chambers or even the ehtum@oian

INDEPENDENT councillor, Tom- my Brennan was to the forefront of moves to save local companies hav- ing millions of euro wiped from the value of their landbanks.

In a draft of the new Ennis Devel- opment Plan presented to councillors earlier this year, council planners had dezoned valuable land banks owned by Tom Hogan Motors Ltd, Michael Lynch Ltd and T Sheils Ltd.

The businesses scrambled to lobby

councillors to have the proposed de- Zonings reversed.

Only last year, Tom Hogan Motors paid over €10 million for an eight acre site which includes the One Mile Inn on the Lahinch Road.

The dezoning would have wiped millions off the value of the site as part of it would have been zoned ‘flood risk’.

The council also sought to dezone a site zoned ‘commercial’ owned by T Sheils on the Gort Road to part ‘oth- er settlement land’ with flood plain

designation, while the M Lynch Ltd owned site at St Flannan’s rounda- bout — where the company was re- fused planning for a ©50 million re- tail development – was to be dezoned from a strategic site to ‘other settle- ment land’ and ‘residential’. However, at a behind closed doors meeting in June of this year, all the planners’ moves were reversed with Cllr Brennan leading the way in hav- ing the valuable plots rezoned. Documents secured by The Clare People through the Freedom of In-

formation Act show that Cllr Bren- nan had the unanimous support of his colleagues from the Ennis elec- toral area in backing the rezonings of SoM M ON ReomS Kee

In relation to the M Lynch Ltd site, the minutes state that Cllr Brennan said the company had acquired ad- ditional properties and had an agree- ment with an anchor tenant for the development of a shopping centre. Any interference of the amenities of the surrounding residential prop- erties could be ameliorated by the

planning process.”

In relation to the T Sheils site on the Gort Road, Cllr Brennan proposed that the whole site be returned to ‘commercial’ purposes”.

In relation to the Tom Hogan site on the Lahinch Road,Cllr Pat Daly pro- posed that the site be returned to its ‘district centre’ rezoning.

All of the dezonings were reversed in time for the final development plan to go on display and a report on the submissions is expected to be pre- sented shortly to councillors.

EAST Clare county councillor John Crowe has defended the water supply in Sixmilebridge.

The Fine Gael councillor claims the water in the town and surround- ing areas is perfect, with the excep- tion of an isolated case.

He was reacting to an EPA report, which recorded the second highest lead content in Irish water from a house in the Sixmiulebridge.

The EPA recorded 157 micrograms per litre in the water in a house in Church View on September 30.

“*T think that the 1950s old lead con- nections coming from the mains that are the cause of this,” he said.

The councillor said that from the 1960s on, PVC piping replaced the majority of these pipes. Water from the reservoir at Castle Lake, which supplies Sixmilebridge and Shan- non, was perfect and safe.

Last night Clare County Council said that they along with other local authorities, had increased monitoring of water supplies for levels of lead in recent weeks.

David Timlin, County Council Director of Service said, the risk relates specifically to premises built before the early 1960s and have not been renovated since and continue to have lead services. If your home was built since the early 1960s, it is likely that there are no lead pipes in your property. People who stay or live in homes built before the early 1960s

and are concerned that their supply is from lead services are advised to flush their pipes as a precaution by running the cold water from the kitchen tap until the sink 1s filled, be-

fore consuming the water,” he said.

“This advice applies particularly first thing in the morning or if the water has been unused in the pipes for longer than six hours.”

“If adverse results are verified by the current programme of monitor- ing, further assessment will be car- ried out. Consumers particularly at risk include children under six, and

pregnant women.”

GORT’S water supply is being al- lowed to fall into a state of disrepair according to a local politician, who described Galway County Council as being “awash with fools”.

The south Galway town was last week named by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of 23 areas which exceeded the safe limits for lead in drinking water.

The town has been waiting a major development in it’s drinking water system for more than a decade with €15 million allocated for this in the last County Development Plan.

“There really is no water system

in Gort. It’s a joke. We were allo- cated €15 million for the creation of a system but when the time came to roll that out, we were told to see how the farm nitrates issue panned out before action was taken.We are still waiting,” said Adrian Feeney, of the Gort Chamber of Commerce and Independent candidate in next year’s local election.

“Gort is not represented in the council and that is the main problem here. It is very easy for towns on the edge of the county just to be ignored because they don’t have someone in their corner. At the moment, from what I can see the council is awash with fools.

“The reality is that the pipes in Gort were put in place way back in 1927 and almost without exception have not been changed since then. It’s not really a surprise that there is lead in the water.”

According to Mr Feeney, the state of the town’s water is seriously ham- pering the future development of the area.

“We cannot develop our town be- cause we don’t have the water, either the quantity of the quality. If you run a bath in Gort the bath will turn out brown, if you fill a glass of water it will be yellow, that 1s no condi- tion to have in a modern first world country,’ he said.

A €5 million Clare county council ‘affordable housing’ scheme over- looking the Atlantic is facing local opposition in Kilkee.

Earlier this year, the Council lodged plans for the scheme on the Miltown Malbay road outside Kilkee as part of an initiative to reduce its waiting list for affordable homes, which now numbers more than 500.

One of those opposed to the scheme located in a ‘visually vulnerable area’ in the Clare County Development Plan is former councillor, Sean Mar- rinan who maintains that the plan 1s

committed to protect visual ameni- ties and must be upheld even where the local authority is involved.

The objection states that the afford- able housing scheme with the conse- quent concentration of first time buy- ers “would lead to the concentration of noise and light levels particularly at the nearby entrance.

In a separate objection, John Cos- erove claimed the proposed site would have a considerable impact on a visually vulnerable landscape and severely impact the amenity and pri- vacy of local residents.

In a third objection, Danny Mc- Donnell said the public water supply

in the area is deficient and the prob- lem will be increased not only in the Summer months, but all year round by the new houses.

“We have a problem with sewer- age and this will be also increased. There will be a problem of traffic as itis a very busy road in the Summer months and is a route to many scenic drives and Doonbeg golf course.

Unlike applications made by in- dividuals and companies, in ap- plications made by Clare County Council, objectors have no recourse to An Bord Pleanala and the local authority’sdecision on its own appli- cation 1s final.

FOLLOWING on from Frank Lo- han’s decision to retire from inter- county hurling, tributes were paid to the Wolfe Tones native at last week’s County Board Meeting. Ruan del- egate Ger Lyons, Wolfe Tones’ Joe Kelly and current senior manager Mike McNamara all spoke at length on Lohan’s contribution to Clare hurling and football throughout his distinguished career.

Wolfe Tones delegate Joe Kelly re- flected on Lohan’s career from his early days winning Féile titles with Wolfe Tones to his county senior

career which spanned 14 years from 1995 to 2008. Kelly also promoted Lohan as the perfect example for young players to follow and outlined that his biggest attribute was his ea- gerness to keep improving.

Clare manager Mike McNamara was then asked by County Chairman Michael O’Neill to say a few words about Lohan and along with echoing Kelly’s glowing tribute, the Scariff publican spoke of his admiration for a player who made huge sacrifices to play for his county and had won eve- rything in the game.

McNamara also agreed that Lohan had everything required to be a top

player. “Frank had steel, determina- tion, pride and desire, four great at- tributes that made him great and he is one player you would always want in your corner.”

SWilowrberVepuseler-Uelmevan sso pale Ireland winning side, Lohan won two All-Ireland titles and three Mun- ster medals in his county career and even had the distinction of playing in a Munster football final in 1997, becoming the first Clare player since Tull Considine in 1927 to play in a Munster senior football and hurling final in the same year.

SCR NINO Bch (oer Ti aU GIO E-D mr RUE DKe! in 1999.

TULLA had a big day out in Galway on Friday as the card included the semi-finals of the local Community School’s Al 525. Carhugar Bobsie, own by the Clare Connection Syn- dicate got home in the first heat in Oe

History was also made on the night when the first race to be run over the maxi marathon trip of 1010 yards was held. The event was the Tarmon National School Buster Stake and it saw the Conor Flanagan of En- nistymon owned Flandy (T1) run out a most authoritive winner by nine ited debe eelo Roe

Proceedings commenced with an N3 graded 525 yard contest in which trap one was vacant but it was the outside drawn runners that occupied the first three places as the Francis Browne of Quin-owned Mine Cash (Velvet Cash-Jumeirah Jess) came home three lengths clear.

Race number three was an S5 graded sprint over the extended trip

of 350 yards and the Mrs Mary and Michael Liddane of Kilrush-owned Gowerhass Hill took the spoils by three-parts of a length in 19.49.

Race eight at the Galway venue on Saturday night was an A3 525 yard contest and once again the Bridget Hehir owned and Michael Malone trained Friskey Whiskey(Crash- Knockdine Lady) from Miltown Malbay led his rivals a merry dance home in 29.05.

Race number three was an A5 grad- ed contest won by the Mary Callinan owned Blue Loof in 29.70.

The sixth contest at the College Road venue on Thursday night was an A6 affair in which the James & Frank Casey of Newmarket-on-Fer- gus owned Stonehall Mist held off the late challenge of Rathorpe Jim (T1) up the straight to win by a neck in 29.98.

Race seven was an A5 graded con- test went to Master Jack – the Luke Browne of Ballyea owned runner stayed on well for a two and a quarter length win from Whatwasilike (T4)

hel OR OSE

The opening contest on an extreme- ly cold evening was an A& graded 525 in which the Paddy Madigan of Killimer owned Clune Honcho (T1) broke her maiden tag at the eighth attempt in winning by four lengths from Moving Up (T3) in 29.88.

In the A7 graded fourth contest over 525 yards the Anne Carey of Cooraclare owned Buffalo Bash gained ample compensation for an unlucky debut effort when he came home eight lengths clear of Fast Fit Bertie (T6) in 29.59.

CLARE handball had a mixed week- end — defeat was the county’s lot at adult level, but there was glory for the underage brigade at under 12/13 and under 14/15 level.

Declan Frawley (Clarecastle) was defeated in the All-Ireland Junior Singles semi-final by the experienced Ollie Conway of Galway. After tak- ing the first game 21-19, Frawley, Clare’s last hope of big alley silver- ware this year, went down 6-21 and 9-21.

However, there was success on the double for Clare’s juvenile hand- ballers on Saturday at Tuamgraney as they claimed both the under 12/13 and under 14/15 ‘team-of-six’ Mun- ster titles against Tipperary opposi- nova

The under 12/13 squad consisted of Patrick Fitzgerald (Tuamgraney) Niall Bolton Colin Corbett (Tulla), Cian Crimmins (Newmarket), Fergal Coughlan (Clooney), Colin Crehan

and Padraig McNamara (both Kil- kishen). Despite a strong fight from Tipp, who won the first two games, the Clare lads powered back to take eto AUER

The under 14/15 team had a slightly more straight forward route to vic- tory and seemed to always be in control of the overall match with a team including Killian McNamara, Christopher Philpott (both Kilkish- en), Ciaran Malone (Tuamgraney), Evan Corbett (Tulla), Barry McMa- hon (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Peter Duggan (Clooney). Both sets of Mun- ster Champions now face All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend at venues that have yet to be confirmed.

The Clare under 16/17’s will aim to make it a hat-trick of Munster team titles when they play their Munster final against Waterford this week.

Also this weekend, Clooney pair Paula Loughnane and Shaunagh O’Brien play their All-Ireland Girls Under 15 Doubles Final against Kilkenny’s Marie Walsh and Demi

Donovan. The final is fixed for this Saturday in Crinkle, Offaly.

The Girls Under 13-17 Inter-pro- vincial Championships were held in Roscommon on Saturday. Played on a ‘team-of-ten’ aggregate basis, Munster were eventually defeated by the Connacht team in the final. Representing Clare on the Munster team were Lisa Loughnane, Paula Loughnane, Shaunagh O’Brien and Alana O’Brien (all Clooney).

NOTE: The AGM of Clare County Handball Board takes place Monday October 13, at John Minogue’s, Tul- la, at 8.30pm sharp.

A WOMAN had her kneecap broken when she was struck with a four foot piece of timber by a man who was under the impression that he was be- IN OVSMM EWU