The Clare People Archive

EARLY intervention for mainte- nance or repairs, ensuring the up keep of council properties and sup- porting local authority tenants 1s the reasoning behind Kilrush Town Greer MCB ilea Wane labour

The local authority will kick off a pilot house inspection programme in February as part of its proactive ap-

proach to tenancy management.

Staff of Kilrush Town Council will be making inspections of a small number of tenanted houses every Veto

The random inspections will be ongoing and the council propose to visit all properties and tenants, over time, annually.

The inspection will involve a checklist assessment of the general

maintenance and upkeep of houses and gardens by tenants.

Fiona Mooney, Town Clerk, said, “We are conscious that most of our tenants comply with all the require- ments in regard to upkeep and this will give an opportunity to acknowl- edge that positive responsibility 1on the part of the majority of our ten- ants.

“Equally, the idea is to pick up on

maintenance and upkeep problems and get these sorted as early as pos- sible for everyone’s sake. So the idea is also to operate as a preventative approach to tenancy management.” Mayor Tom Clyne welcomed the pilot approach adding that a regu- lar routine of checking houses and gardens could have a positive part to play in supporting tenants. Inspections will begin in February.

SURFS up in Miltown Malbay for hundreds of international surfers as the seaside town has become on of the newest and coolest places in Eu- rope for surfers.

So good are the waves at Spanish Point that Ennisman and long time surfer Pat Keane along with his wife Orshlaith (sic) have moved there to live and open a surf shop.

The owner of “White-water Surf Company” lays the popularity of the area with the quality of the waves and the fact “it is less hectic than La- hinch”’.

The high price of property in Lahi- nch is also benefiting Miltown Mal- bay as keen surfers are buying homes

and moving there instead.

The town is also lively throughout winter making it attractive for those keen on the sport that is at its peek during the cold windy months.

“IT know a number of people who have opted for Miltown because of the price of houses,” said Pat.

Surfers traditionally ride the waves around the reef near the Armada Hotel. This area remains popular as it has middle and outside reef and a very good point break.

“If the swell is from the north, coming from Iceland, it bypasses La- hinch to Spanish Point. So you could have a flat day in Lahinch and good waves here,” explained Pat.

While the reef remains popular a number of other “obscure waves”

have become popular with top surf- ers especially at White Strand Point and have featured on the cover of a number of English magazines.

There is a budding body board scene also in Spanish Point.

“There are plenty of waves around Spanish Point that would rate with the most challenging,” said the keen Uae

As all the well known waves have become crowded surfers who com- pete at a higher level, and are not content with regular waves seek deleyenmelelm

The top surfers will challenge themselves on these waves but will not go past their own ability and risk their lives, according to Pat.

“It 1s extremely rare to see a surf-

er in difficulty, I don’t think I ever have.”

While September, October and November are popular because the waves are high and the water reason- ably warm there are a group of surf- ers that will surf all year around.

Surfers in the area also avail of Doughmore in Doonbeg, and it be- comes a haven of long boards in the summer.

‘In the summer when the rest is flat you would get small waves there. It picks up waves when other places don’t,” said the surf shop owner.

THE blueprint outlining the devel- opment of Kilrush during the next six years will come before Kilrush Town Council next month for its seal of approval.

The public consultation process for the Kilrush Development Plan 2008 to 2014 closed on January 4.

Five submissions were received from members of the public regard- ing the plan.

Concerns have been expressed however that the 2006 Census may hamper development in the town and the development plan must counter- act this and encourage development.

“There are those of us who dis- pute the Census 2006 figures which

show a slight three per cent decrease in population from the census 2002 figures,’ said Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF).

“The inaccuracy of that Census 2006 short-changed our town in terms of investment in that it pre- sented a false account on the state of economic planning and develop- ment of Kilrush. Yet we note in the Kilrush Town Development Plan a projected population increase of 11 per cent over the next six years and a 25 per cent population increase to 3,245 by 2020.

“It 1s interesting to note the projec- tions of the last Clare County Coun- cil Housing Strategy 2007-2012, which predicted that Kilrush would only need an additional 274 housing

units in 2020. Present figures availa- ble from planning applications would appear to refute that assertion.”

The Kilrush councillor said the pro- posal for a multi million-euro water- front development at the marina adds confidence to the town, but the town plan must set an overall strategy for proper planning, sustainable devel- opment and gainful employment.

Cllr Liam Looney (FF) said, “I do hope we get a lot more support from national organisations and agencies than we have been. We haven’t got a lot of support from the IDA or other bodies,” he said.

Acting Senior Planner, John Brad- ley reassured the council that there were sufficient zoned lands in the new plan to provide for the needs

of the town. He said the plan seeks to improve services and attractions within the town so as to maintain the town’s vibrance and curb urban drift to the adjoining countryside.

The senior planner also said the plan could stimulate the competi- tiveness of the local economy, pro- vide upgraded services, promote ur- ban renewal and the regeneration of brown field sites, complete the regen- eration of John Paul Estate, optimise the benefits of the MANS Broadband service, and facilitate and promote the development of the marina.

“If the above objectives can be achieved during the lifetime of the new Development Plan, Kilrush town will face a very positive fu- ture,’ he said.

THE need for more staff and equip- ment dedicated to maintaining the Killaloe and Westbury areas of east Clare has prompted two council- lors to take the matter to the local authority.

Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald wants to see a road sweeper dedicated to keeping the roads of east Clare clean while Councillor Tony O’Brien wants council road workers who were let go before Christmas put back on the payroll.

Cllr O’Brien said that there is cur- rently a shortage of staff in the gen- eral operative section “and it shows in the state of the roads in Killaloe, Kilbane and Broadford. We cur- rently only have about half our full complement of operatives”.

At today’s meeting of the Killaloe Area Committee of the council, Cllr O’Brien will be calling for the num- bers to be brought back up.

“We let part time workers go at the end of November. They should be taken on again immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald will be raising the matter of clean- ing and sweeping at the same meet- ibahee

Currently, he said, a road-sweep- ing machine visits the Westbury es- tate about once a week.

“This is not nearly enough. The population of this area has grown so much in the last few years with Westbury, Shannon Banks and Ar- dnacrusha that we really need a dedicated sweeper that will be kept in east Clare and can come several times a week to each area that needs

it,’ the councillor said.

He pointed out that just over the bridge in the Limerick City Council controlled area “sweeping is done four times a week”’.

Cllr Fitzgerald is also raising the matter of the need for lights on the road between Ardnacrusha Post Of- fice and Barry’s Cross.

‘This is a very dark stretch of road but there are a lot of people walking and driving on it. It’s another area where the population 1s growing and we need lights from a safety point of view,’ Councillor Fitzgerald said.

CONCERNS for the safety of chil- dren going to school in Parteen have prompted a local councillor to call for agreement from lorry drivers to change traffic movements.

Councillor Cathal Crowe learned for himself what peril children are in going to and from school when he joined Parteen National School as a teacher this year.

“This is the only place in Parteen

where there’s no footpath and it’s a road that is used by trucks serving several companies in Parteen. We talk all the time about childhood obesity and encouraging children to walk and take exercise but it’s just not safe for them to walk on this road,” the councillor said.

Apart from the immediate danger to children. Cars meeting trucks find they have no room to pass each other and at school drop off and collection times, this brings other problems and

Cro ue

“Parents are entitled to get their children to school in safety. And at school times, there can be hold ups anywhere on this road between the school and Larkin’s Cross. The long- term solution is to widen the road but in the meantime, there are things that can be done to make the road safer.”

At a meeting of the Killaloe Area Committee of the council today, Cllr Crow plans to ask the director of services to put a traffic management

plan in place to limit the movement of heavy goods vehicles in both di- rections and to get agreement with all concerned to finance passing bays so that trucks and cars can safely pass each other.

“When the quarries were given planning permission, it was a condi- tion that they put passing bays on the roads. That is what is needed here in the short term, along with restric- tions on two-way traffic,’ Cllr Crowe said.

THE JESUIT COMMUNITY has been saddened by the passing of a much loved Ennis colleague.

Phillip O’Keefe spent most of his life as an SJ in Africa and came home just weeks before his recent olor hdee

He worked with his community in Mazabuca in South Africa, returning to Ennis to see his family every three to four years.

He was a student in Clongowes Wood before entering the Society in

1963 at the age of 17.

He studied Philosophy and Theol- ogy in Milltown Park, and was or- dained in 1975. Though Fr Phillip entered the Irish Jesuits, he subse- quently transferred to the Zambian province.

He worked at Maamba Catholic Church, Maamba and also St. Mary’s Parish, Monze.

His most recent appointment was as Superior and parish priest of Na- kambala Catholic Church, Parish of St Paul, Mazabuka, Zambia.

He was a keen golfer and wrote

little religious instructional books for the African children he worked wel80

At his funeral, Mass in Milltown Park, ex Jesuit Provincial, Fr Colm Brophy, paid tribute to Fr Phillip and his faith. He said that Fr Phillip, normally a shy man who didn’t like the limelight, “is awe-struck today, lying here listening to us, with what- ever ears death has, to find himself the root and centre of an enormous number of conversations of people who knew him. People in Zambia who admired and respected him,

people in Zambia who loved him.

Friends who are no longer in Zam- bia, many who are here. His cher- ished Jesuit family and his treasured own flesh and blood”.

He added that Fr Phillip was “very honest with himself” and had a “wry sense of humour which didn’t desert him, even at the end.

Fr Philip passed away peacefull in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin aged 62.

He is survived by his brothers, Dan Rory, William and David and his twin sister, Molly.

GREATER representation will be given to skateboarding and rugby on the re-structured Ennis sports facili- ties committee.

The committee, established in 2003 to facilitate communication and dis- cussion on the development of sport- ing facilities in Ennis, is to be ex- tended from nine to 11 members.

This comes after concerns were raised about the effectiveness of the committee.

Currently the committee is com- prised of three elected representa- tives from Ennis Town Council, three elected members of Clare County Council and a representative from the GAA, athletics and soccer.

However with the development of a new skate park and the increased use of Lees Road by underage and

senior sections of Ennis rugby club, the Council is seeking greater input from both groups.

A report prepared by Ennis Town Council proposed that ‘the number of sporting bodies representatives be increased and that each body be asked to confirm their existing rep- resentative or to nominate a repre- sentative to the Committee’.

A vacancy, created when a repre- sentative from Clare County Council was elected to the Dail in 2005, will also be filled.

A proposal to create an extra po- sition for schoolboy’s/girls soccer on the committee was rejected at the January meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Speaking at that meeting Fianna Fail councillor Joe Reidy said greater commitment was needed from sport- ing bodies.

He said, “It’s not up to us its up to individual sporting bodies. The peo- ple that are chosen have to speak up for themselves. The sports we are looking to hear from are skateboard- ing and rugby”.

Mayor of Ennis Tommy Brennan said previous committee meetings had been poorly attended.

Committee chairman and _ inde- pendent councillor Frankie Neylon said, “I would suggest five represent- atives from five different sports. We already have one from soccer, GAA and athletics. We have a particular problem with communication on the committee. We need to hear from the people, like those in rugby and soc- cer, who are frequent users of Lees Road. Its better to have people like that, rather than six councillors sit- ting around a table”.

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn

expressed concern that an en-larged committee could prove less effec- tive.

He said, “I would have some con- cerns. Do we need to extend com- mittee? What you find sometimes with large committees is that it can take longer to get things done. Would it make the whole process more un- wieldy?”’

According to the report “The com- mittee has an important promotional role to play in highlighting the nature of the facilities available amongst sporting clubs and associations. The committee can further promote ad- ditional facilities as these become available for use’.

TAKING inspiration from the worlds of classical and jazz music, the Jazzi- cal Quartet plays Danlann an Chlair on Thursday.

This is the second outing on stage for the recently formed four piece who also performed in the Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral during Christ- Tete

The band is comprised of Michael Hennessy on piano, drummer Danny Byrte, Deridre Frost on bass and flut- ist Tanja Fritschi.

They will be performing work by

renowned French jazz pianist Claude sXe)iunetee

A fusion of two apparently con- trasting styles of music Jazzical utilises motifs from classical piano repertoire as subjects for jazz inter- pretations for solo piano, chamber ensemble or jazz combo, and orches- tra. A true marriage of classical and jazz, it is designed to bridge the gap between classical and jazz music and its audiences while remaining true to both forms.

Michael Hennessy explained the kind of show audiences in the Dan- lann are in for.

He said “It is a classical jazz cross- over So the very music on the night will be all instrumental, very light, very easy listening. We have played together once before, 1n the cathedral on December 8, but we have been doing a lot of rehearsals”.

After the Ennis concert, the band hit the road for a show in Cork at the newly completed Cork School of Music. The school is the fist pur- pose building of its kind consists of specialist tuitional areas, rehearsal areas, live recording studios and lec- ture rooms.

A teacher in Colaiste Muire, Ennis

for over 25 years and vice principal there for six, Michael is currently pursuing a Master in Music from University College Cork.

He said “I took a year off to do the Masters down in Cork so it will be good to get the opportunity to down and play there.

The award winning Colaiste Muire Choir, led by Carmel Griffin, will provide support at Thursday’s con- cert in Ennis.

The band takes to the stage at 8pm with tickets €10 and €3 for students. The Jazzical Quartet plays the Cork School of Music on January 19.

TWO young Shannon men will defy medical advice in undertaking a nov- el challenge which will see them run no less than 12 marathons this year, in aid of charity.

Darren O’Connell (32) and Alan Mullin (30) from Tullyglass ran their first ever marathon a year-and-a-half ago and were so enthused by it that they decide to take up marathon run- ning on a large scale.

The two are now hoping to under-

take the multi-marathon challenge and stand to enter the record books, if successful.

The two friends ran the Dublin marathon in 2006, in memory of their friend Earl Duff (21), who died from Cystic Fibrosis 10 years earlier.

They then decided to set them- selves a challenge and run one mara- thon every month this year, in aid of Cystic Fibrosis.

They rang in 2008, running their first marathon of the challenge in Zurich on New Year’s Eve, with a time of four hours, 19 minutes. They are now in training for the next run in Valencia, Spain on February 17. They will also run marathons in Rome, Switzerland, Berlin and New York, along with five runs in Ireland. The challenge will wind up with the final run in Milan on December 2.

The two have been keen sports enthusiasts over the years, but mar- athon running is quite a new phe- nomenon. They are looking forward to the tough challenge that will lie ahead this year.

“We said we would do something to generate money. We have always been into sport,’ said Darren, who is a secondary teacher.

“The medical advice is we shouldn’t do more than two or three marathons a year. We have carried out research, which shows that it has been done before, in the UK and the States. We are not allowed to break any records. If we stay injury free, it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Darren, who has played hurling for Wolfe Tones for many years.

“It is not about the times. It is about getting through them. The trick is not to burn yourself out and do just light training in between the mara- thons,’ he added.

Both Darren and Alan – who works in Dublin – had just three marathons under their belts prior to taking up this challenge, but are confident they will get through it.

The two are hoping to raise €20,000 from the challenge and are due to set up their own website www.l2marathons.com within the next few weeks, on which they will invite sponsorship.

THE tragic Whitegate man whose body was found in the Shannon after a 32-day search was laid to rest on Sunday.

Teams of experts and volunteers had combed the area around Lough Derg, Killaloe and Ballina when James Burke from Ballinruan disap- peared after a night out with friends.

He was last seen near the bridge in Killaloe on Sunday, December 9, just after 10pm. He was heading for The Anchor Bar after an evening’s socialising in the town with friends, but never showed up in the bar.

Last Friday, a local man walking his dog spotted the body in the water north of the bridge in Killaloe a little after 9.30am.

A garda spokesman said the dis- covery was made at the rear of the li- brary, on the Scariff side of the town. The spot is not far from where James was last seen.

Gardai called in the local coast guard unit to help recover the re- mains which were taken from the lake to the Mid-West Regional Hos- pital in Limerick where a post-mor- tem and official identification were carried out.

Silom DENese Maye ame:Bicre Ma J eles pMmE-De eto didn’t show up for work or contact his parents.

Before Christmas, his mother, Peggy, made an appeal for help with finding her son.

“James was a very keen angler and he would have known not to go near the water when it was so high. He was a very happy lad with not a worry in the world. He phoned me earlier that night to say he would be home shortly.”

A widescale search of land and wa- ter was launched, including dives of the main River Shannon when the Ardnacrusha Power Station turbines were turned off.

The building site where the 23- year-old worked closed down and his workmates from Muggivan’s build- ers joined in the search.

A spokesman for the gardai said that they do not suspect any foul play. It’s thought James may have slipped and fallen into the water.

At one stage, neighbours called on the help of a psychic to try to locate AF Weatene

It’s not clear whether the body was obscured and missed in the initial searches or whether extremely high, fast-moving water in the area made it difficult to see.