The Clare People Archive

SOME of Kilrush’s most prominent businessmen have questioned the procedure used by the two local au- thorities when they purchased a €1.4 million derelict site for their new civic offices.

Following the meeting of Kilrush Town Council, local developer Mark Reidy said it appeared that the elect-

ed members’ opinions did not seem to matter as “the decision was made at a higher level, without taking into account the rate-payers who are the backbone of this town”.

He said, “There is no reason why they couldn’t have purchased this on an option agreement, undertaken a feasibility study, applied for plan- ning permission and then have a de- layed closing.”

Businessman Joe Whelan, who at- tended the local authority meeting, said, “If I was to operate my business like that cuckoo operation carried out there this evening, I wouldn’t be here five minutes.”

Fellow businessman Paul Coady said the meeting clouded the issues around how the building would be paid for, rather than clearing up any questions they may have had.

“In fairness, we want development for the town and we accept there may be a need for civic offices,” he said.

Mr Coady who is chairman of the Kilrush Chamber of Commerce, said he was not speaking on behalf of the chamber, which would be issuing a full statement once it had obtained the information necessary to make an informed decision.

A special meeting of the chamber executive took place on Thursday morning last. “It 1s a project we cer- tainly have no grave objection to but we need the information on how it is going to be funded,’ said Mr Coady in his only reference to that meeting.

Meanwhile, Mr Reidy has ques- tioned the feasibility of the project. He said that he had offered the coun- cil 7,000 square foot of office space at the Quay Mill development, fully fin- ished, for €1.6 million and his offered was declined. He said that he also of- fered to rent the office space to Clare County Council and Kilrush Town Council for €14 per square foot.

The renovation of Inis Cathaigh is estimated to cost up to €5 million.

Mr Reidy denied he had a vested interest in objecting to the lack of a feasibility plan in place to buy and develop Inis Cathaigh. He said he has since sold the development, and has only a minor interest in the busi- ness now.

CLARE County Council and Ennis Town Council are prohibiting major new housing schemes in the town be- cause the public sewage works are in too poor a state to cope with further ESET Ken

The councils have refused planning for three big residential develop- ments in the last week including one at Gaurus which was to be the coun- ty’s largest ever housing scheme. De- velopments at Knockaderry on the Tulla Road and at Ballycorey on the Galway Road were also blocked.

Deficiencies in the sewage works and, in particular, at the main treat- ment plant at Clonroadmore, was the main reason given for the refusals.

“The capacity of this plant is now stretched to the extent that it would be inappropriate to approve any fur- ther significant developments which

would be dependent on it,” said Tom Tiernan, Ennis Town Engineer.

A €75 m replacement plant at Clareabbey, is not expected to be op- erational until 2012, raising the pros- pect that major developments will be constrained until then.

FEARS of an escalation of a violent Traveller feud in Ennis have moved the Bishop of Killaloe to plead for calm.

Dr Willie Walsh said last night he was prepared to engage in media- tion talks in an effort to put an end to long-running bitterness between two conflicting Traveller families.

He made the comment as a senior garda told a court last Friday that he was “very fearful of the outcome of this feud.”

Garda management confirmed they are keeping a close eye on the situa- tion, in the face of a recent flare-up.

Ennis Superintendent John Scanlan said yesterday that gardai “‘are con- tinuing to monitor the situation.”

“We hope that sense would prevail in the situation. A lot of it is mean- ingless,” he said.

The plea by Dr Walsh came in the wake of five members of three fami- lies appearing in court on charges

relating to incidents involving the families last week when they were all remanded in custody.

During the court hearing, gardai expressed concerns that ‘innocent’ members of the public may become embroiled in the feud and objected to bail for the accused.

Bishop Walsh said last night, “I have concerns about the various feuds between different families. I appeal to everybody to desist from anything that might deepen the dif- uo Come

“T have talked to some of the peo- ple involved and I believe there is good reason for concern,” he said.

“Continuation of these bad relation- ships is really destructive to every- body. It is a real loss to everybody,” he said.

“I know there was some efforts of mediation some time ago. I wasn’t involved. I’d certainly be prepared to try to arrange mediation. I’d be open to that. I will try and talk to some of the people,” said Dr Walsh.

THE Ennis Town Engineer admitted yesterday that is it very difficult to emerge “squeaky clean” when decid- ing what level of information to re- lease to the public.

Tom Tiernan was commenting after it emerged that the Environmental Protection Agency warned the coun- cil that there was a risk of an out- break of cryptosporidium a month before two children went down sick 20M eLom DD BS Lotss

The council decided not to make the EPA’s concerns public and Mr Tiernan said the council was liaising with the Health Service Executive and the EPA on a continuing basis and “wouldn’t have time to do any- thing else if we were telling the pub- lic about all our dealings with these bodies”.

He said that a balance had to be struck between advising the public of any elevated risk and causing panic amongst the population.

“There are enough people do- ing that and we try our best to keep councillors and the general public informed as best we can.

“When there is a change to the sta- tus quo or a deterioration in the water supply, we would notify the public in consultation with the HSE”.

GET rrebeitcameer Imm selomMN sc IKo mm BKO)DOMENOLe Ennis public water supply was “very safe to drink’, he said that with the

treatment capacity of the plant in- creased by 25 per cent, there had been significant improvement in the water quality but not on the scale that a permanent plant would provide.

He pointed out prior to June 2006 when the temporary treatment plant became operational, there was no fil- tration of the water for cryptosporid- ium.

“Since then, there has been a sub- stantial improvement in the qual- ity and reliability of the water and a significant reduction in the risk of cryptosporidium.”’

“We are working towards compli- ance and we are taking this very se- riously. I would expect the council would be compliant over the next number of days as we are tweaking and optimising the additional capac- LANs

Mr Tiernan said that the council had to increase the number of filters in the plant for eight to ten in March due to extra demand on the system over the past 12 months and had faced technical issues in trying to maximise the treatment of the water for cryptosporidium.

“A number of the filtration units required servicing as the demands placed on the system over the winter took its toll and the issue is further complicated by the construction of the permanent plant because there are a number of parts that are inter- linked,” he said.

CLARE County Council and the Health Service Executive started a process of damage limitation at the weekend ahead of revelations that both agencies failed to inform the public of increased risk of contract- ing cryptosporidium from the Ennis public water supply.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Environmental Protection Agency warned in January of an another possible outbreak of Crypt- Osporidium one month before the most recent outbreak where two chil- Cleon lmnEe

The agencies never informed the public of the increased risk and an RTE Prime Time Investigates pro- gramme quizzed top officials last week on their role in the failure to inform the public.

The programme is not going to be broadcast until September and is focusing on the outbreak of crypt- osporidium in Ennis and Galway.

Both the council and the HSE re- leased statements last Friday and in an apparent move to shift the blame to the council, the HSE told all GPs, pharmacists and dentists in Clare that “the HSE advised that consum- ers should be regularly updated by the council of developments affect- ing the Ennis water supply”’.

The council posted a statement on its own website which for the first time acknowledged problems – ob- liquely – with the temporary Ennis

water treatment plant.

It does not refer to the damning January EPA audit but says only the capacity of the plant has been in- creased by 25 per cent “in response to increased demands on the system and the requirement of the EPA that full filtration be applied to all drink- ing water going out to consumers”.

The statement also admits for the first time that not all water go- ing through the plant is treated for Cryptosporidium.

In a careful understatement of the ongoing situation over the past number of months, the council states that because of technical require- ments associated with the construc- tion of the new Ennis Water Treat- ment Plant and servicing of the interim plant, “it has not been pos-

sible to provide fully filtered water to date.”

The statement once more re-iter- ates the precautionary boil notice in place for vulnerable groups, includ- ing patients who are immunocom- promised, infants, pre-school chil- dren and visitors.

The statement goes on, “These groups are advised to continue to boil tap water before consumption. Institutions serving vulnerable peo- ple should also continue to boil tap water or use alternative supplies. This includes hospitals, nursing homes, créches, pre-schools and day CF eee tne

THE Michael Cotter Memorial Cup begins this week. Hosted by Kilmi- hil GAA club, the Under 14 football tournament is in it’s third year and has proved a very popular event on the underage footballing calendar. Only two rules deviate from the of- ficial code with only one hop and one solo allowed and there must to be a winner on the day.

Running over a ten day period, the

Oy OLSeN brome Dee loMs e-MEaRO LUO MAM Lis mele Shannon Gaels/Killimer v Doonbeg this Thursday. On Friday evening, Kilrush play Kilkee in group B, fol- lowed by the group C Clash of Co- oraclare and Lissycasey on Saturday and the hosts Kilmihil against Clon- degad on Sunday.

The semi-finals then take place on the following Tuesday and Wednes- day with the showcase final fixed for Sunday, May 25 at St Michael’s Park, KGiiecntente

IT WAS a historic weekend for Clare underage camogie as the Under-18s claimed their fourth Munster title.

There was plenty to be gained from Sunday’s win as history stood in the favour of Cork but Clare are learning to rewrite history books in the cam- ogie world.

‘“We’ve been working for years for this and over those years we have had some great battles with Cork,” said manager Fintan McNamara. “There is a healthy rivalry brewing there and to win today is great for the girls. This group had never over come the Cork challenge before today so this just shows how hard they are will- ing to work. Progress is being made at all levels in the county, we will be hoping that this group will now be in the challenging stages for the All-Ireland and for the future Clare will be recognised as a force to be reckoned with.”

McNamara also drew attention to the belief that exists within the

squad. “The team spirit is just fantas- tic and the whole panel are working together. But best of all they know they all have to work hard for their place yet each girl is supportive of all the others. That’s so important in to- day’s game where to win campaigns and games all the panel is required.”

Afterwards, Carina Roseingrave said the win represented a new be- ginning for Clare camogie and thanked her teammates for the work and dedication they have put in over the last number of months.

Clare now have a Munster title to their credit and two wins from two in the All-Ireland series. This will put them not only in with a serious chance of qualifying for a semi-fi- nal spot but also in contention to top their group. That’ the focus of the management as the girls will take their short break for exams.

Underlining the seriousness with which the council viewed the results internally, council official, Maura McNulty emailed County Engineer, Tom Carey; Town Engineer, Tom Tiernan and the HSE’s Acting Direc- tor for Public Health, Tessa Greally to say the results should have been phoned directly by the council’s con- sultants.

The records also show that the fax transmitting the hard-hitting EPA audit report to County Engineer,

Tom Carey was marked “urgent” but was never made public.

During the course of the audit, the council admitted that 17 per cent of the water entering the public water supply was bypassing the membrane toe

The EPA audit concluded that the proportion of inadequately treated water entering the Ennis public water supply was likely to increase when the raw quality was poor.

“The highest proportion of inad- equately treated water enters the dis- tribution network at a time when the risk of contamination of the supply with Cryptosporidium is at its high- ae

“The Drumcliffe water treatment plant is operating under conditions of high risk of contamination of crypt- osporidium.

“The agency is concerned that the practice of bypassing the membrane filtration plant, particularly when raw water conditions are poor, effectively removes the treatment barrier in the Ennis public water supply” the EPA stated.

Responding to the revelations, Dep- uty Joe Carey said it was “one story after another with the water supply in Ennis and the bottom line was that people were not drinking the water.

“The town engineer’s remarks that the council informs the public when they feel it appropriate, is little con- solation to those who fell il] during the most recent outbreak of crypt- osporidium.

‘Had the council been upfront with the EPA findings, and ensured that public safety dominated any other concerns, then that situation may not have arisen.

“Indeed, the fact that the council is nowhere near being in a position to comply with directives, means the public will continue to have Iht- tle confidence in their ability to pro- vide safe, clean drinking water’’,he declared.

NO ILLNESS has ever been con- nected analytically with the public water supply in Ennis.

That was the view expressed by town engineer, Tom Tiernan in a sub- mission to the Environmental Pro- tection Agency (EPA) on their audit

of the council’s temporary treatment plant last January.

Mr Tiernan also stated the council had written to farmers in the catch- ment area of the Drumcliffe tempo- rary water treatment plant to advise them of their responsibilities under guidelines on good farming.

In a letter to the EPA, Mr Tiernan

said regular inspections would be made throughout the vulnerable parts of the catchment area “particularly following significant rainfall events, with a view to ensuring that no ag- ricultural activities are taking place during such sensitive periods which would have the potential to exacer- bate risk to the public water supply”.

He admitted the temporary treat- ment plant was a “reasonable stop gap measure, but didn’t provide the required levels of defence and com- fort against possible contamination which the new plant will do”.

Mr Tiernan admitted in the letter 25 to 30 per cent” of water was not being treated for cryptosporidium.

In the letter to the EPA last Febru- ary and now released to

IT continues to get better and better for the ladies of Ennis. This week- end they travelled home with more silverware in their boot when they retained their Munster title having beaten Douglas in the final at the Monkstown Golf Club.

It was a case of living on the edge as Pamela Murphy sank the win- ning putt for the Clare club on the 19th hole under serious pressure. She showed her mettle when the ball dropped in the hold though and En- nis were celebrating.

The nerves of steel show a team who can not only play fantastic golf, but one that can also dig out a victory in the face of adversity.

That win follows their Senior Cup success of last year when they de- feated Royal Portrush in the year’s

final in Miltown Golf Club and the remainder of this season promises to hold more silverware for Ennis as they strive to dominate ladies golf.

“Ennis have proven themselves to be a fantastic team,’ said Ann Brad- shaw, ILGU President. “They’re go- ing from strength to strength and it goes to show hoe healthy the game 1s in Clare at present.”