Month: July 2007

THIRTEEN per cent of all houses in Shannon were unoccupied last year. While this figure is lower than the county average of 21 per cent, it is a significantly high figure for Shannon, which is not a haven for holiday home construction.

Shannon councillors last week re- ceived details of the county council’s housing strategy, between this year and 2011. The document points to- wards a projected house construction in the county of almost 11,000 new homes, between now and 2011.

Clare County Council senior execu- tive engineer (planning), John Brad- ley said that 3,457 houses in Shannon

were occupied, in the Census fig- ures for 2006. 522 were unoccupied, which represents 13 per cent of all TOU ehe

‘Where are these vacant houses and what is the reason? Are these second homes?” asked Mr Bradley.

He said that he was surprised by the high number of vacant houses and the number of replacement homes in Shannon.

‘This is not a holiday home venue. This area shouldn’t be holiday homes. While 522 unoccupied homes is low- er than the norm of 21] per cent for the whole of the county, it 1s of concern. Virtually any estate we have been through, there is a huge number of ‘for sale’ boards,” said Mr Bradley.

The mayor of Clare, Councillor Pa- tricia McCarthy (Independent) said the number of vacant houses in Clare was “frightening”.

“In the housing strategy, the area that isn’t covered is step down hous- ing, who are the elderly. They don’t want mortgages and they need some- thing to step down to. The social housing doesn’t cater for them. The affordable doesn’t cater for them,” she said.

Councillor Gerry Flynn (Independ- ent) noted that 21 per cent of houses in the county were vacant last year and asked, “Is that a failure in plan- bate

“Are we now seeing a failure show- ing up in the system that was always

anticipated?”’ he asked.

Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) said that the needs of single men with children Should be addressed, in terms of so- cial and affordable housing.

“They need to get some form of subsidy. We are way short,’ he said.

Newmarket-on-Fergus — Council- lor Pat McMahon said that housing shortages in his area, and Sixmileb- ridge, should be tackled.

“Newmarket and Sixmilebridge ex- perience great growth and will expe- rience more growth in the next five to 10 years,” he said.

He said the housing issue was like “adding another fence in the Grand National. It gets harder to win. It is a very Serious issue”.

A STUDY of every housing estate and road in Shannon will be carried out within the next week, with a view to putting signs in place during Sep- tember.

Clare County Council is undertak- ing the project in an effort to deter- mine the exact signage requirements and, as a result, will compile a list of individual signs. That list will be sent to the placename committee, to deter-

mine if the English to Irish translation is appropriate and also to check that the spelling of each estate is correct.

When this part of the project is com- pleted, an order will be placed for the new signs.

A list of 56 roads and estates has been compiled and this will be final- ised by the end of the month.

Where there are a number of estates served by a single collector road, each estate will be signed where the col- lector road meets a distributor road,

in addition to being signed at the en- trance of the estate.

Housing estates such as Cronan will also require additional signage, such as the replacement of signs fixed to the gable ends of houses.

Clare County Council Executive Engineer Michael Healy said he be- lieves that in excess of 100 signs will be required for the estates throughout Shannon, which are in charge of Clare County Council.

Earlier this year, 60 new street name

signs were erected in Shannon. The signs were ordered last October and a number of issues relating to their design resulted in a delay. However, they were eventually delivered and have put a nice touch on parts of the town, particularly as some areas were previously not easily identifiable. The decision to use the wording on the signs, as Gaeilge, was also welcomed by residents in the town, who are keen to cultivate an interest in the Irish lan- guage.

THE development of a multi-pur- pose arts centre should form the focal point of the redevelopment of Shannon Town Centre, according to the local musical society.

A team of architects has been ap- pointed and been requested to create a new ‘urban retail environment’ and a ‘living centre’, on a site across the road from SkyCourt.

Submissions from various groups in the town have been sought and many have been made, to the local authority.

In its submission, Shannon Musical Society said a multipurpose arts/civ- ic centre is needed, where opportuni- ties for cultural, social and commer-

cial events would be developed.

The society’s chairman, Derek Barrett, pointed out that the town is perceived as three things, “an inter- national airport, an industrial zone and a shopping mall”.

“Most people do not realise that there is a town and a community hidden within this triangle. We need to create a space and a centre that is both active and animated, not just during the 9am to 5.30pm shift. Shannon has all the traits of a sub- urb and few of a real town. That 1s our problem in a nutshell,’ said Mr By be KoA

“The town has a community spirit and that spirit has managed to sur- vive as community facilities and amenities have decayed over the

town’s short history,” he said.

He said that a streetscape, as 1s sug- gested in the plans, is necessary, to tie the existing shopping centre to the new town centre.

“It is very clear that we do not need another shopping centre.

“We need a link to the current shopping centre, with possible small scale retail, service and other com- mercial opportunities within that space,” he said.

The society points to a number of key components of the development – a focal point or monument for the town, such as a town clock; a rec- reational area, like a picnic area or skatepark.

“Do not let a commercial developer decide what our town becomes. This

has been our problem the last two times we had spurts of development in Shannon. Tax incentives have not helped the objectiveness of develop- SIS OComnsy- BCG

“In Shannon, community halls and similar centres have been allowed to decay and dilute to such a level that they have become useless. School halls, sports clubs, hotel function rooms and pubs have all been called upon to fill the gaps,” said Mr Bar- rett.

The musical society is suggesting that an arts centre would need to accommodate up to 400 people and would feature an orchestras pit, base- ment, foyer and venue, which would be “multi-functional” and could be TIMUR OM Aer AYA

MORE than one third of all road traf- fic cases which went to the district court in Clare last year were struck OMB Lm eRMoN Eee

4.896 cases went to court and 1,646 of those were struck out, according to figures published by the Courts Serv- ice on Friday.

Fines were imposed in 1,365 of the motoring offences, with jail or deten- tion sentences imposed in 69 cases. The Probation Act was applied in 137

of the cases. The total number of 4,896 cases represented 2,653 defendants.

A similar number of cases went to court the previous year, 2005 — 4685 — 1419 of which were struck out.

The figures show that 150 drugs cases went to the district court, which involved 123 defendants.

Twelve people were jailed, 26 were fined, while 32 people had their drugs cases struck out. The Probation Act was applied in the case of 27 defend- ants.

A total of 265 larceny cases (a drop

from 302 in 2005) went to court, which represented 168 people. 51 cases re- sulted in jail or detention sentences be- ing imposed. 92 cases were taken into consideration (with other charges), while fines were imposed in 28 cases. The Probation Act was applied in 31 cases, while 29 were struck out. Seven cases involving sexual offenc- es were heard in the district court, dur- ing 2006. One defendant was jailed or had detention imposed. Three were fined, two were struck out, while the other case was taken into considera-

ntOyeF

751 cases relating to assault or public order were heard in the district court last year. These involved 592 defend- evel AE

92 cases resulted in jail or detention sentences being imposed, while fines were imposed in 126 cases. The Pro- bation Act was applied in 79 cases, while 191 were struck out. Communi- ty service was handed out in 11 cases.

The Courts Service figures show that the average waiting time for criminal and civil trials in the Circuit Court in

ERE Meee som Oo Aol IMU elRoromr: Tale! six months. The waiting time for ap- peals was three months.

The waiting time for divorce cases in the family law court was three months, while those seeking judicial separation had an average wait of six months.

The average waiting times for crim1- nal cases in the district court in Ennis was one month, with no delay for civil cases. Family law cases in the dis- trict court had a waiting time of one month.

THE much-loved Lambert Puppet Theatre from Dublin will take cen- tre stage at Scariff GAA Park on Saturday, August 4. This is part of an amazing afternoon of family fun organised in conjunction with Scar- iff Harbour Festival. Renowned pup- peteer Conor Lambert will entertain young and old with two showings of his unique 45 minute adaptation of ‘Punch and Judy’.

“This is comedy improvisation and stand-up at its best,’ said Karena O’Brien one of the organisers of the Family Fun Day, a day of entertain- ment and games which starts at 12 noon and runs until 4pm on the Sat-

urday of the bank holiday weekend. “Puppetry is enjoyed by everyone, it captures the imagination but most of all it gives audience participation a whole new meaning,” she said.

To add further colour to the after- noon, Toons and Balloons, a Ballina, County Mayo-based company has promised to provide a breathless afternoon’s entertainment. Bouncy castles, giant slide, bungee rodeo bull, shoot-out football game, giant twister game, costumed characters, air-dancer clown, novelty races and a wheel of fortune are among the fun events expected.

According to Joan Crotty, also a member of the organising team, a fantastic line-up of events is prom-

ised. “Our own Brendan McNa- mara, former All-Ireland Hurling medal winner and Munster Poc Fada Champion will stand in goals for our hurling penalty shoot-out. For the older children and adults there’s a rodeo bull, jumping sausages and pillow bash,” she said.

The Family Fun Day is sponsored by Supermacs.

Other festival events on the day include a Street Arts and Craft Fair, horse-drawn harbour tours and open- air traditional music session on the fair green throughout the afternoon with Doug Gibson on mandola, Ged Foley on fiddle, Paul Smith on flute and Clare Carey on mandolin.

Later in the evening, there will be

a Gaelic Football exhibition match when the Ballymacnab Round Tow- ers Football team from Armagh will take on west Clare. Traditional mummers from Co Fermanagh will take to the streets around 9pm while Rock Band Alter Ego and Mysteri- ous Ways, a well-known U2 Tribute Band will perform on the Fairgreen.

Launched in 2003, the annual Scariff Harbour Festival is an open- air, Street-based event showcasing the many attractions and amenities accessible from Scariff. Its aim 1s to promote the leisure and pleasure potential of Lough Derg, the inland waterways and the east Clare coun- tryside both among local people and visitors from further afield.

THE RAILWAY Bridge at Cratloe is a “ticking timebomb” it was claimed WT Lore) ©

But the cost of straightening out the treacherous bends on the ap- proach to the bridge and doing other works to make it safe would be in the order of one million euro, local councillors were told.

Cllr Cathal Crowe raised the mat- ter at a local area meeting of the council.

‘There is a 90 degree bend and a series of turns on the approach to this bridge that make it one of the

worst in the country. If ever there was a ticking time bomb, then this is one,” he said.

Cllr Crowe pointed out that there had already been an accident at the bridge, when a truck detoured be- cause of President Bill Clinton’s visit and became wedged under the bridge, demolishing part of it.

Senior Council Engineer, Sean Lenihan, said that the cost of rea- ligning the road and working on the bridge itself could be as much as one million euro.

“As far as Irish Rail are concerned, the bridge is operating perfectly well as a railway bridge so they will

not be putting any of their money into this. But what they have agreed to do is to get their designers to put the work in on the bridge aspect and if we get our designers to come up with a road plan, then we can look at where funding might come from.”

But the senior engineer warned that any solution to the problem will also depend on whether there may be other obstacles, such as whether the land is suitable for a road rea- lignment.

‘The engineers of days gone by had reasons for the way they did things and there may be reasons why the bridge and the approach is designed

the way it is. There may be obstacles or restraints we don’t know about and we won’t know until we look into it.”

In the meantime, the engineers agreed that they will see what meas- ures can be taken by way of signage or speed restrictions to warn drivers of the hazards.

Cllr Crowe recommended _ that there be “some sign which indicates to drivers to be prepared to stop. Lo- cal people are aware of the hazards if they meet another car but anyone who doesn’t know the area won’t be aware of that and there could be a dreadful accident”.

A DETERMINED crew of 16 young- sters from Scariff and surround- ing areas took off last Thursday on a mission of mercy to help rebuild lives shattered by a natural disaster.

Fishbowl America is the name the group of young people and adults choose for their mission to work in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area MOD RML UDO Sb Seles m

The group from east Clare and south east Galway are all members of the highly active Fishbowl Youth

Club in Scariff.

The club has a history of interna- tional work and have previously been involved in or hosted eight interna- tional projects.

This however is their most ambi- tious to date. The 16 volunteers will spend two weeks helping to rebuild one of the worst affected areas in the Gulf Coast.

They will concentrate their efforts in the town of Bay, St Louis situated on the coast of Mississippi.

Prior to Katrina the town had up- wards of 8,000 residents but the

buildings in the area were completely decimated by the hurricane and even now, two years on from the disaster, only a handful of residents have been able to return to the area.

The group have spent the last year organising the trip and carrying out a number of different fund raising events around the county to help pay SDMA AYA

The youngsters have done every- thing from baby-sitting to busking and even as late as Wednesday, they were on the streets of Ennis, playing guitar, singing their hearts out and

collecting.

“Its been a long year but we’ve put everything we had into raising mon- ey to go,” said group member, Fiacra aah

“Some of our ideas worked out better than others but we got there in the end and we’re really looking forward to getting there and getting stuck in.”

CALLS have been made to name and shame people who abuse recycling facilities by leaving their empty bags and boxes or just dumping the cans and bottles in front of the bins.

Clir Pascal Fitzgerald made the call ata meeting of the Killaloe area com- mittee of the council.

He told how staff at the council’s new offices in Westbury are “obliged to go out and clean up after people who leave a mess at the recycling fa- cility – it’s not our job. We have CCTV cameras so why is it that we are not

catching people dumping?”

The Labour councillor told officials and fellow councillors that some peo- ple who arrive at the bottle bank “are so lazy that they just dump boxes full of bottles at the foot of the bins – they don’t even put them in the recycling bins. We need to prosecute people who are doing this and expose their names in the media”.

Cio OM Coe Domne Ne One han said that there have been 19 pros- ecutions on foot of such behaviour.

“But people can be very creative about how they park their cars so that we can’t identify them,” he said.

He added that the council’s litter warden is “very active’ in pursuit of offenders “but he has to have some- thing to go on – acar reg or a name”.

He added that the problem is not one which only applied to east Clare but consideration had been given to putting a refuse bin at the re-cycling Station in the new Westbury Centre.

“That was discounted because where ever we put in refuse bins they are abused by people dumping their household rubbish.”

Cllr Tony O’Brien said that the “real problem is the mentality of people who do that. What we have to do is

ring the warden when we see this hap- pening – take car registration numbers so the offenders can be tracked down – it doesn’t matter if its your neighbour. It’s the only way we’ll stop this and find out who is doing this so we can prosecute them.”

OOo) (oe y Cn det lam some Ker AWE Bho that there would be a pub opening for business in the centre shortly and asked whether a barrier might be erected to keep people out of the cen- tre at night after pub hours.

He was told this wouldn’t be possible as the centre is not in council owner- ship or control.

A YOUNG man who demanded €20 from another man, in a threaten- ing way, has been sentenced to six months’ detention.

Patrick McCarthy (19), of Pearse Avenue, Ennis, was convicted of two offences, arising out of separate inci- dents in Ennis last year.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Ennis District Court that Brian Custy was having a cigarette, outside his place of work, the Queen’s Hotel, on Janu- Za ar URAC elon

He was approached by the accused, who demanded €20.

‘He told Mr Custy he would break his neck if he didn’t give it to him,” said Inspector Kennedy.

On another occasion, October 29, 2006, the accused was seen running down a Street and rugby tackling an “innocent” person to the ground.

No complaint was _ forthcoming from the injured party and the ac-

cused was charged under the Public Order Act, arising from that inci- elem

Defending solicitor William Cahir said his client was familiar with Mr Custy and did ask him for €20.

‘He didn’t intend it to be 1n a threat- ening, menacing way,” he said.

The solicitor said he accepted his chent’s behaviour was “out of order” on the night of October 29.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a six month detention sentence for the incident outside the Queen’s and two months for the other offence, both sentences to run concurrently.

He refused an application to back- date the sentence to July 6, when the accused went into custody.

Mr Cahir asked for an explanation for the refusal and the judge replied, “If I had contemplated backdating it, I’d probably have imposed a longer term.”

He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

A CONVICTED sex offender from west Clare is due to be extradited to Ireland within the next week, after he fled to the UK two years ago.

Graham Haugh (21), of Drumina, Dysart, Ennis, was found guilty by a jury, in March 2004, of buggering and sexual assaulting a young boy in Kilrush, in 2001. The verdict fol- lowed a 10-day trial.

Haugh fled the country in 2005 and joined the army in the UK under a false name.

At an extradition hearing in London last week, the City of Westminster Magistrates court heard Haugh had fled to Britain because he believed his life was in danger.

“I was attacked by a few people. I was getting called “paedophile, sick bastard’, I felt a glass smashed into the back of my head and I was kicked on the ground,” he said.

He breached his probation condi- tions and went on the run to London in 2005. He argued last week that extradition would breach his human rights.

Haugh alleged his parents’ car had acid thrown on it and there were at- tempts to poison the family cat and dog. Haugh asked the court not to send him back to Ireland where he fears he could be killed.

“Every time I walked the streets I got abuse — | felt my life was in dan- ger every time I was outside the door. It felt like house arrest,” he said.

He said the vigilante campaign forced the family to move to Ennis, but the harassment followed him Wee uer

Judge Anthony Evans said the risks to Haugh’s safety did not meet the high criteria.

The judge, approving the extradi- tion, said he had received reassur- ance from the DPP that Haugh would be protected in a special wing for vulnerable prisoners.

At Dublin District Court in 2005, Judge Yvonne Murphy noted that Haugh’s life had been very difficult and dysfunctional. His role in bug- gering the victim had been to hold him down with another’s help, while a much older third man committed the actual act.