Month: January 2008

THE Roslevan-based Homeless Help service has already helped find ac- commodation for four homeless neo

Help was set up two weeks ago by local women Josephine O’Brien and Ann Quinn to provide support to the homeless. So far the service has helped two Polish men and two members of the Travelling commu- nity find accommodation.

Help co-coordinator Josephine O’Brien said a number of people have made contact with the service since it opened.

“We have been able to get some people into temporary accommoda- tion. Two of the lads we helped find a house in Cahercalla and the other two we helped get a place in a bed and breakfast. That’s four people off the street at the moment. The system at the moment is crazy – people don’t know where to go if they can’t get accommodation. They sort of slip through the cracks.”

The service is located at Fahy Hall, Roslevan and operates every Wednesday night at 7pm. Volunteers and a qualified teacher offer practi- cal help in sorting through social welfare applications and assistance finding accommodation.

Josephine said the service had re-

ceived several enquiries from foreign UETBCODeE Dice

“Some of them find it very difficult and have problems and end up squat- ting in abandoned houses.”

The group behind Help have sought assistance from Clare County Coun- cil and hope that in the future it will tie in with other adult education pro- grammes currently being run in the county. Despite objections from local residents, An Bord Pleannala earlier this year upheld a decision by Ennis Town Council to grant planning per- mission for the homeless hostel.

The €2.1 million transitional hous- ing unit on the Clare Road will pro- vide temporary accommodation for 13 people.

The centre will be run by the St Vincent de Paul, working in conjunc- tion with Clare County Council and the Health Services Executive.

The centre will provide temporary accommodation for people who have found it difficult to acquire rented af- fordable housing. Outreach workers will work alongside community wel- fare officers to ensure the maximum help is given when people are stay- ing at the centre. Staff will maintain contact with residents once they leave centre and will provide assistance in finding permanent housing.

Referrals will be made by the homeless unit of the council.

THE rise in stock of St Caimin’s this year has made everyone sit up and take notice. With the restructuring of the Harty Cup in recent years and the reduction in the number of boarding schools, the traditional superpow- ers of the Harty have given way to a new wave of schools eager to take advantage of the changing face of the feyeel ole sisleyee

St Caimin’s demonstrated this new found confidence early in the group stages with victory over perennial Clare representatives St Flannan’s and as the group played out, it be- came apparent that neither Flannan’s nor St Colman’s were going to qual- ify for the latter stages. Confidence is soaring in the Shannon school at the moment as they look forward to Wednesday’s quarter-final against last year’s champions De La Salle and manager Alan Cunningham is the first to compliment his players progression over the last year.

“Things are going great for us at the moment. Last year we lost all our games, some of them not by a whole lot but we lost them and again the whole idea is about progression. The young fellas that we have in the school are getting better by playing Harty hurling. It would have been

much easier option for us to play B hurling, we could have played the B and maybe get to the final every second year. But in terms of the Harty, it’s the premier competition, the standard is way higher and its about preparing lads for the future. We have done extremely well and the lads have been fantastic. At this point we have nothing to lose.” Considering that Caimin’s lost all their games last year, this year’s tunraround has been something of a surprise to followers of the competi- tion but Clare selector Cunningham admits that most of last year’s team are there again this year and that ex-

perience has helped them immense- ly. However, by coming second in the group, it meant that they were always going to draw one of the big guns and unfortunately for the Shannon school, they drew last year’s Harty and Croke Cup champions De La Salle of Waterford who have already added a prestigious Dean Ryan Cup to their trophy cabinet this year.

“ld say we have drawn probably the best team in it but it’s a challenge, a test, an experience and it should bring our lads on. We won’t be found wanting but now is the time to meet the big guns I suppose because if we can’t beat them, we are as well out of

it. But we will give it a cut and see what happens.

“To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about them really, but likewise for them, they wouldn’t know much about us. Now we have met twice in three years in the Dean Ryan so both schools would be familiar to each other but in terms of the group sys- tem, they weren’t down watching our matches and we weren’t down watch- ing theirs. I do know that they are a serious outfit and the investment they are putting in is phenomenal. They are on a different level to what most other schools are. I mean they are not long back from Newcastle, they went there on a training weekend. You know I’m trying to get a dozen shothars and they are going to New- castle for the weekend. But that’s the level they are at and fair play to them and that’s Waterford hurling trying to come good as well. But again they are red hot favourites and we have nothing to lose. If we win it will be a huge result for us and if we don’t win, it won’t be the end of the world because we have progressed and lads have had a fantastic experience.”

The new nature of the competi- tion means that instead of dwelling on such daunting opposition, Cun- ningham prefers to take the positives out of the situation and sees De La Salle’s success last year as something of an inspiration to his side as that

was their first Harty Cup success in the school’s history.

“We are very fortunate in Caimin’s that we are backboned by the Bridge, Newmarket, Cratloe and Wolfe Tones. In Caimin’s now, we are get- ting young fellas who have been extremely well looked after, well prepared and coached so our job has been made easier and easier. That would have been the difference be- tween ourselves and Flannans this year. If you take the county minor championship, really we would have had the stronger clubs on our side. A couple of years down the road with the Ballyea under 14’s and Crush- een under 14’s, things are going to change but at the moment, outside of Clonlara in the minor, we had the next best three with Newmarket, the Bridge and Cratloe so it’s really not rocket science.”

THE beautiful Vale of Belvoir nes- tles into the countryside between Kilkishen and Sixmilebridge. Its beauty inspired local Bard Martin Kennedy from Violet Hill Broadford to write about this tranquil place of peace and serenity. On Sunday, Feb- ruary 17, people will get a chance to retrace the Bard’s footsteps as they will be led on a ramble through the Vale.

It is all for a good cause. Emer Cleary, a young girl from Ennis, will be taking on the challenge to climb the great mountains of Kiliminjaro on the Kenyan border at the end of February. The ramble through the Vale will help Emer to raise funds for the charity Bothair who do tre- mendous work in helping people in third world countries to help them- So Aone

Over the years, Bothair has sent breeding animals such as _ heifer calves and goats to farmers in third

world countries to help them stock their lands.

By climbing Kiliminjaro, Emer will help in keeping this dream alive.

By rambling through the Vale of Belvoir, you will be able to help out in keeping the dream alive as well. Base camp is Kilkishen National School where registration takes place at 12.30pm with the ramble leaving for the Vale at lpm sharp.

There will be a short five minute history lecture on the poetry of Mar- tin Kennedy and on the vale before the ramble leaves. Local traditional singer Sean Mc Mahon from Kil- murry will give a rendering of the poet’s creation on the vale at the old forge in Belvoir while the walkers are having a short break.

The ramble is 10 kms and people are asked to bring suitable walk- ing gear as well as a little food and drinks.

Sponsorship cards are available by contacting Eoin on 086 2572792 or people can contribute on the day.

THE Green Party in Clare will be supporting both a yes and no vote in the EU reform Treaty later this year.

The Clare branch of the Green Par- ty reflected the national consensus at the special convention this week, as the majority of the eight Clare del- egates voted in favour of the treaty.

Clare’s most senior Green Party member, Cllr Brian Meaney, said that he would be supporting the yes campaign.

“TI believe that some of the argu- ments made by the no side are ri- diculous and don’t relate to anything proposed in the treaty.”

The Clare County Councillor now fears that many people will vote against the treaty for the wrong rea- sons, such as dissatisfaction with the government. He admitted that the treaty 1s complicated and putting it through a referendum isn’t necessar- ily making it more accessible.

At the last meeting of the Clare branch of the Green Party just one

person said that they were not in fa- vour of the treaty.

This weekend the Green Party leadership, including its two cabinet ministers proposed a yes vote for the referendum, but they failed to secure the 66 per cent support to allow the party commit to the yes vote.

As aresult the party cannot take an official position on the treaty.

Meanwhile, the head of the Irish Drivers Association, Clareman John Lernihan, will meet with Galway millionaire, Declan Ganley, in the

next two weeks to finalise details for a national coalition against the Euro- pean Reform Treaty.

Ganley is heading up a coalition of interested groups who are campaign- ing for a no vote on the treaty.

Mr Lernihan also met with Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna last week who has also committed her support to the no campaign.

‘This is a very serious situation and people don’t realise it. This treaty will lead to a European army in no time and soon our children could be

conscripted into a European army. And we wont have a Say over it any- more,’ said Mr Lernihan.

“We are holding off until we meet with Mr Ganley over the next few week and then we will decide what strategy we are to take. The green party have done a total u-turn on this. Once you make anyone a min- ister they automatically go back on what they have said.”

The Irish Drivers Association are campaigning for an end to Vehicle Registration Tax.

THE fight for the continuation of sustainable farming in the Burren is being taken to the streets of Dub- lin today as the BurrenLIFE Project Stages its first awareness day in the Cree

OW atom hirse-Nusdslotmer hymnal omelets pemRy alae] the official launch of the first ever conference on sustainable farm- ing ever hosted in Ireland, which will take place in Ennistymon next peareyeleee

Attending the official launch will be the chairperson of Teagasc and the Heritage Office, Dr Tom O’Dwyer; Senior Conservation Scientist of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Michael Berkery; Chief Executive Officer of the IFA and Clare TD, Tony Killeen.

“It is critical to get a focus on this in Dublin. We have learned from other projects like this all across Eu- rope that it is critical to get the infor- mation out there. It 1s important both to get the information out there but also to get political support for the project,’ said Ruairi O Conchuir of the BurrenLIFE organisation.

“It is critical that the politician, the media and the general public all buy in to this project. At the end of the day, it is EU taxpayers’ money that is being used to support this project.

It’s Irish taxpayers’ money that is be- ing used to support this project.

“It’s very important for us to let people know what this conference is about and more importantly to let them know what the project as a whole is about.”

Following the formal launch of the BurrenLIFE’s ‘Farming for Conser- vation’ conference, the organisation will then visit four Dublin schools and host presentations and work- shops designed to explain the work of the Burren farmers to the Dublin school teachers.

This will be followed by a formal evening lecture and illustrated talk and wine reception hosted by Dr Brendan Dunford, Dr Sharon Parr, Ruairi O Conchuir and Dr James Moran of the BurrenLIFE Project.

The three-day international *Farm- ing for Conservation’ conference will take place in the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon from February 24 to 27.

The conference will include speak- ers from Ireland, the UK and a number of other European countries. It will also mark the first official en- gagement of a Green Party minister in the county as the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Green Party leader, John Gormley will attend along with the newly appointed director of Tea- gasc, Professor Gerry Boyle.

CLARE County Council has turned down planning permission for a tour- ist hostel and 29 homes in the village of Fanore. The Council made the ruling on a submission from Tom Considine af- ter the Council’s Conservation Offic- er, Risteard UaCronin strongly rec- ommended that planning be refused. Mr UaCronin said that the proposal had the potential to do irreparable damage to the archaeological land- scape and visual amenity and the potential to set an unwelcome prec- edent for development in the vicinity of recorded monuments.

He said that the site was located be- tween various archaeological monu- ments including Kilonoghan Church, a graveyard and an archaeological complex containing no less than 25 monuments on the Record of Monu- ments for county Clare.

“The complex is one of the most im- portant collections of archaeological monuments in the country, most of which date from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period. The provision of a housing development in this area would seriously impact on the monu- ments both visually and archaeolog!- cally, would be unsympathetic to the setting of these groups of recorded monuments and contravene the

county development plan.”

“The proposed development is situ- ated on the Burren Coastline over- looking the Aran Islands and on one of the most scenic and popular visi- tor routes in Clare.”

The Council also refused planning because of the lack of a centralised waste-water treatment plant to serve the proposal and ruled that the plan would represent a piecemeal ap- proach to development and would be contrary to proper planning and sustainable development.

The proposal would contravene the development plan objective of providing for the sustainable growth of Fanore and retaining the village’s

unique and distinctive character.

In the planning application, devel- oper Tom Considine, who is a native of the area, claimed that the proposal was designed to create a village feel with a suitable range of uses at the appropriate scale and density with effective and useable links into adja- cent lands to facilitate future devel- opment in the village”.

He maintained that the develop- ment was consistent with the provi- sion of the North Clare Local Area Plan and would encourage “further appropriate development in Fanore”’.

Mr Considine now has the option of appealing the council decision to An Bord Pleanala.

PLANS have been lodged with Clare County Council for a €5 million tourism development in Bunratty.

The plan has been lodged on behalf of Kieran Flanagan who is seeking planning permission for two blocks that include commercial units and a café restaurant.

The site has been zoned for the pur- poses of providing tourism/leisure facilities and is located within walk- ing distance of Bunratty Castle — the main attraction in the area.

According to planning documents lodged with the council, “the modest

size of the individual units ensures that the development remains at a scale appropriate to the surrounding village context. The design of the de- velopment successfully reflects tra- ditional design character in a mod- ern idiom and is thereby in keeping with the established character of BLUbevestAATy

“The proposed development will consolidate the tourist retail presence within Bunratty and provide sup- porting facilities for existing tour- ist attractions and accommodation in the area. It will serve to increase and expand the tourist retail offer of Bunratty and in turn increase the

attractiveness and vibrancy of Bun- ratty as a tourist attraction.”

‘The site is one of the limited sites within Bunratty which has been zoned for the purposes of tourism AN OCO MD (sR UN Kon

“The development is compatible with the zoning objectives for the area which is to reserve lands for tourism related purposes,’ the plan- ning application states.

‘The urban design strategy for the development is to consolidate the village streetscape of Bunratty. This is achieved by the proposed design form and layout, which presents a streetscape to the main road through

Bunratty and also the access road to the development.

“The target market for this devel- opment is the substantial number of tourists who visit Bunratty each year as well as the local population. It is envisioned that the units will provide outlets for small, specialised stores, selling high order comparison goods suitable for the tourism market, such as crafts, gifts or clothing

“The development will serve to increase and expand the tourist re- tail offer of Bunratty and in turn in- crease the attractiveness of Bunratty as a tourist destination”, the planning application concludes.

has learned.

According to new figures made available for the first time last week, the average price paid for farm land in Clare, Donegal and the counties of Connacht was just €15,293 per acre in 2007.

While this represents an increase of €1,206 on the 2006 average, it is still well below the national average per acre for farm land of €20,367.

This is according to the national

agricultural land price survey, which is carried out each year by the Irish office of Knight Frank.

On a national level, the price of farmland stabilised this year despite the difficulties experiences in many sections of the property market.

The national average price per acre was down €415 or 1.9 per cent on av- erage compared to 2006.

Despite the drop, indicators sug- gest that 2008 could see a return to increasing prices for farm land.

‘There was a welcome rise in farm incomes in 2007 and those farmers who sold land for development, road building in recent years will continue

to be keen to buy other land to farm in its place,” said Knight Frank part- ner and Head of Ireland Residential, Robert Ganly.

“If the volume of land sales in- crease with a moderation of demand, then land prices are likely to stabilise or decrease by just a single digit per- centage overall in the coming year.

“Looking ahead, farmland prices through 2008 and beyond will be in- fluenced by a wide range of interna- tional and domestic factors and will perhaps only partly reflect trends in the general Irish property market.”

The survey also found that the amount of farmland sold nationally

last year dropped, following on from 2006 which saw no increase in the number of farmland sales on the pre- vious year.

In total there were 154 reported sales in 2007, representing a 41 per cent decrease from the previous year’s 261.

The total area of land sold in 2007 was 9,933 acres, a decrease of 30 per cent on the previous year.

The survey also showed that the av- erage plot size was down last year to 64.50 acres from 54 acres in 2006. This was a continuation of a previous trend, as plot size was also down in 2006 from the previous year.

FARMERS are being left out in the cold and excluded from offering val- uable assistance in the area of pro- ducing energy. According to the IFA National Environment Committee Chairman Tom Dunne, Irish farmers could have had a very positive input into the publication of the All-Island Grid Study, which was published last week.

“This study has failed to recognise the extent to which farmers can play a pivotal role in carbon emission reduction while providing a secure energy supply through renewable electricity, heat and transport fuel initiatives,’ he said.

“As far back as the year 2000,

the European Climate Change Pro- eramme clearly identified that the agricultural sector could contribute significantly to fulfilling the reduc- tion objective for Kyoto. Many of these objectives can be achieved through renewable energy produc- nto)

Early last week, Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan, published this ground- breaking report which for the first time examined a range of generation portfolios for Ireland, the ability of our power system to handle various amounts of electricity from renew- able sources, the investment levels required, and the climate change and security of supply benefits that would accrue.

‘Farmers are prepared to invest

in renewable energy production and can provide carbon-neutral energy. However for farmers to maximise their participation in renewable ener- gy production, the Government must provide a realistic feed-in tariff, sim- plified access to the grid network and the priority use of renewable en- ergy, continued Dunne.

“Wind only represents one of many renewable energy options. The im- plementation of the measures out- lined has resulted in a 16% increase in renewable energy production in Crasere teh vae

In July 2005 the Governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland jointly issued a preliminary consultation pa- per on an all-island ‘2020 Vision’ for renewable energy.

The paper sought views on the development of a joint strategy for the provision of renewable energy sourced electricity within the All- island Energy Market leading up to 2020 and beyond, so that consumers, north and south, continue to benefit from access to sustainable energy supplies provided at a competitive ON A

It is within the context of the All- island Energy Market Development Framework agreed by ministers in November 2004 and the undertaking to develop a Single Electricity Mar- ket that views were sought on how the electricity infrastructure on the island might best develop to allow the maximum penetration of renew- able energy.

A TWO and half year project cost- ing €27 million will come to fruition at New Road, Ennis this Wednesday when Clare County Council’s new Corporate Headquarters opens for LUI BALeASE ;

To facilitate the relocation to Aras Contae an Chlair, all county council offices in Ennis will remain closed to

he public today and tomorrow.

The completed facility will provide accommodation for 300 staff, as well as meeting rooms, a staff canteen, laboratory, mayor’s office and coun- cil chamber and three party rooms for the elected members. 320 car parking spaces are provided at the rear of the building.

The Corporate Headquarters build- ing incorporates a number of envi-

ronmentally-friendly measures and will operate as a naturally ventilated building. Some solar panels and a wood chip heating system have been installed. Following a tender proc- ess, Clare Wood Chip of Flagmount has been selected to supply the wood chip for the building.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy, Mayor of Clare welcomed the opening of the new offices and referred to the ease of

access to the various council services that will now be available at the new location. Mr Alec Fleming, Clare County Manager, added, “I would like to pay tribute to the council staff for their patience and co-operation in relocating from the old offices and the move back to Aras Contae an Chlair this week. I now look forward to the council providing a service of the highest standard from Aras Con- tae an Chlair.”

Mr Michael McNamara, Director of Services, explained that the building had been designed in a user-friendly manner.

He said, “The council was very conscious of the need to put in place the highest standards of accessibility to all parts of the building and serv- ice within. We have been working with the National Disability Author- ity with a view to attaining accredi- tation under the Excellence through Accessibility Scheme.”

Sections of the council were relo- cated to several sites around Ennis when the old offices on the New Road site were vacated in mid-2005. Following a tender process that gen- erated a lot of interest from many of the country’s larger developers, the firm of Michael McNamara & Co Building Contractors was chosen as the preferred option to design, build and finance the provision of the new building. The contractors com- menced work in January 2006.