Month: November 2009

A BUILDER who demolished a house without planning permission has been told he has “blatant disre- gard for court orders”.

The comment from a judge was made in the case of Patrick Costello, who has been convicted of failing to comply with an enforcement notice.

In court last July, Mr Costello, of Shannon Road, Sixmiulebridge, said he was in debt to the tune of more than ©3.6 million.

Last December, Mr Costello was fined €1,500 and ordered to pay €1,800 in expenses for an offence under the Planning and Develop- ment Act, after a court heard he de- molished a house without planning

permission at Main Street, Sixmile- bridge, in 2006.

Ann Colleran, an enforcement officer in Clare County Council’s planning section, told Ennis District Court on Friday that Mr Costello was convicted of failing to comply with an enforcement notice, in De- cember 2008.

“There has been non-compliance with that order,’ she said.

She said that the council had re- quested Mr Costello to reconstruct the house he had demolished with- out planning permission.

Ms Colleran said that an inspec- tion was carried out on February 19 last and the works had not been car- ried out on that occasion.

She explained that when the house

was demolished, damage had been caused to the adjacent house.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgib- bon said she was not calling any witnesses. Judge Leo Malone said the matter was proven.

Rachel Dobson, solicitor for Clare County Council, said the maximum fine open to the court was €508 per day, which amounted to €135,128.

Ms Fitzgibbon said her client is currently not working and is living off donations from his parents.

“He has no savings. Everything that they have is tied up at the mo- ment,’ she said.

The judge said that the demolition occurred in 2006, which is almost four years ago. “There were birds showing in the attic of the property

next door. It’s really serious,’ said the judge.

Ms Fitzgibbon pointed out that she has only been on record for her cli- ent since June of this year.

“I should really impose a prison sentence on your client for his bla- tant disregard of court orders,” said the judge and imposed a fine of €2,000, giving him two months to pay. He also ordered him to pay €2,500 in costs. A bond was fixed in the event of an appeal.

Meanwhile, the judge also refused to extend time for an appeal of the case from December last year. In making the application, Ms Fitzgib- bon said Mr Costello was not rep- resented when the case came before the court 11 months ago.

“He was unwell and left the court. We appreciate our application is out of time. I’m asking that the appeal be dealt with,” said Ms Fitzgibbon.

However, Ms Dobson said that ap- plication would be opposed.

“This came before you almost a year ago. He left the court,’ said Ms Dobson.

She said that a notice of appeal was not filed until July of this year, after another summons was issued.

Ms Fitzgibbon said her client ap- preciated that. She said he has re- ceived medical attention and “has a lot of medical conditions.”

However, the judge refused to extend time to appeal and said Mr Costello could appeal that to the cir- LED Lmerel bya

VARIOTAS SPECIALS

A KILRUSH Town Councillor has called on the Minister for Commu- nications and Natural Resources to look to the future by integrating the ESB Power Station in Moneypoint with renewable energy resources.

Fine Gael Councilor Ian Lynch claims that the future of energy and the economy of west Clare is in bio- energy, specifically energy derived from seaweed.

“When we think of green energy the vast majority of us will think wind and wind farms but there is no doubt that Kilrush is located in a prime position, due to its geologi- cal location and the current national erid infrastructure at Moneypoint, to maximise several of our natural resources such as wind, tidal, hydro and on the rare occasion solar en- ergy, he said.

‘“T want the minister to go one step further, I want the minister to think outside the box use initiative and diversity to ensure the future of all those currently employed at the sta- tion but also to firmly grasp the pos- sible opportunity that Kilrush has to

offer in becoming not only a national leader but possibly a European lead- er in the production of biofuel thus creating an opportunity for Kilrush, west Clare and possibly for the econ- omy to regenerate and strive.

“The production of biofuels has reached advanced stages through the global industry of green energy. The production of biofuel from seaweed and algae presents Kilrush with an opportunity to make its mark and en- sure its future,’ said the councillor.

“The cultivation of algae and sea- weed for harvesting and converting into bio fuel is advancing at a rapid rate. The potential of this as a fuel of the future is astounding and the possible benefits are immense to the local and national economy,’ he ex- je e-Nelexen

Algae naturally absorbs carbon and is currently being used in several coal burning plants through out the world as a filtration system he added.

“Filtering carbon dioxide using such a method will eliminate the need to develop the Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) facility at Money- point, the 235km pipeline, 50km of which would be under the sea, and

the storage site at Kinsale which is put at about €3 billion and over the 25 year lifetime of the plant,’ he added.

‘Harvested seaweed and algae can then be processed in to meal and bio fuel providing not only a system of reducing CO2 emissions, it produc- es employment in the cultivating, harvesting and processing process which in turn offers two additional new industries creating meal product and a biofuel product, not to men- tion the return of seaweed collection from our local beaches creating em- ployment and adding to the tourist potential of these attractions.”

“The cultivation and harvesting process can both take place at sea adding an additional advantage by ensuring that the new industry pros- pects is not competing with farm land as with the traditional wind farm method but it also allows the current lands at Moneypoint to be maximised as a possible dock land for the export of these new products,” he explained.

THE county final against St Senan’s Kilkee was only a few seconds over and Micheal McDermott was al- ready casting an eye into his crystal ball – rather than dwell on the signifi- cance of back-to-back championship triumphs he preferred to talk more about Munster.

That meant Dromcollogher-Broad- ford – the team that brought the cur- tain crashing down on Kilmurry’s unbeaten year that December 7 day in The Gaelic Grounds.

“Tt will take very little motivation to get our lads ready for a game against Drom-Broadford,” he said.

How right he was, something that was hammered home in decisive fashion over this hour of football.

“Yes they’re worthy Munster cham- pions but we felt that we left it behind us in The Gaelic Grounds last year,” said McDermott seconds after this 0- 11 to O-5 victory.

“We wanted another crack at them and knew all week that there would be no better motivating factor for us than to have them a here in Pairc

Naomh Mhuire.”

Cue Kilmurry’s most impressive championship display since last year’s demolition job on St Senan’s Kilkee in the county semi-final.

“People say that we didn’t play well in the county semi-final, that we didn’t play well in the county final. People can say what they like, but the Monday week after the county final we went out and destroyed a top- quality University of Limerick side.

“That night I said to Gerard (Mc- Carthy) and to Martin (Cahill) that ‘we’re getting right for this game against Drom-Broadford on Sunday week. We knew that this perform- ance was in us — it was a tremendous performance by everyone out there. They all produced.

“It was the best 60 minutes of the year — what better day to do it than a Munster championship game in our home ground against the Munster champions.

“It was a very strong wind and the one thing I told them was not to be thinking that they had to hit score after score quickly. It was a case of concentrating and then whenever the

scoring opportunities came it was a matter of taking them.

‘They took enough of those chanc- es in the first-half to give us a good lead. When we played in the Munster final we didn’t take our chances and that was the difference between the two sides.

“The most important was not to concede a goal in the second-half — we achieved that and the most sat- isfying thing was once we sucked them into a battle we knew we’d be able to turnover ball and get our own chances.”

It means that Kilmurry now go on the road to Stradbally in two weeks time – in what will be a repeat of the 2004 Munster final that went to a re- play in Tipperary Town before Kil- murry won the day.

‘Tough assignment,’ was McDer- mott’s initial reaction. “Waterford club football is very strong. We’re under no illusions as to the task fac- ing us down in Waterford. We’re up there to be knocked after beating the Munster champions. We have two weeks to prepare and try to get to a Munster final.”

DESPITE Whitegate’s agonising loss there was still one very happy Clareman in Cusack Park on Sun- day afternoon. It was Sean Hehir, the former Clare and O’Callaghan’s Mills legend who trains the South Liberties side.

“T think we had most of the run of play today. We could have had a bigger score too if we had converted all our chances. Of course I’m not taking away from Whitegate’s per- formance, but I feel we probably just edged it. They are a good team and a good club and I thank them for a great match,’ said Hehir after his team’s victory.

“We barely got through today and we barely got through our county fi- nal but in the end we do our best and so far that has been good enough. Next day we’ll be up against a very classy Douglas side and it will be a very different story. Who knows hopefully our luck will continue.”

His team will certainly have to 1m- prove significantly if they wish to capture this Munster Intermediate ti- tle based on today’s match, but when the improvement and the voyage they have conquered so far is taken into consideration, this again could be yet

another challenge that they can over- come in 2009.

Hehir spoke about all these great hurdles his team have faced and how they have leaped over them with great success. “When I got in- volved with this club first there was so much history I did not understand and know about. They had been in a number of county finals but had lost every time.

“There was a great frustration amongst everyone involved and that did not disappear until we finally became county champions this year. The sense of relief that can now be felt is unbelievable and I think it may act as a catalyst for future success. Hopefully starting with a Munster Kens eae

South Liberties left Ennis on Sun- day with smiles all around. They, like Whitegate, have had a fantas- tic year. Unlike Whitegate they still have a chance to mould it into an even greater year.

Who knows, maybe the extra Clare influence they have stolen this year might just push them into the path of victory once more.

THE multi-million euro package to assist Dell employees who lost their jobs earlier this year came a step closer in the last week as the Em- ployment Committee approved the proposal.

Last September the President of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso announced that the Com- mission had approved an application from Ireland for assistance from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF).

The grant of €14.8 million would help 2,400 redundant workers in the computer industry in the mid west to find new jobs.

The application however also re- quired the approval of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Last Thursday at a meeting in the European Parliament, the Em- ployment Committee approved the proposal to grant assistance to the former Dell workers.

Member of the Employment Com- mittee and the only Irish member of the EU Globalisation Fund Working Group, Ireland North West MEP- Marian Harkin, said that the work- ing group took the decision to ap- prove the Dell application following a response from the EU Commis- sion to a number of questions posed by the group.

“It is absolutely crucial that former

Dell workers have access to this fund as soon as possible and that nothing further delays the procedure. It is an expression of solidarity and support from the EU to those who lose their jobs through globalisation and at least it gives a ray of hope to those considering their future plans.

“IT have worked hard within the working group to ensure support for the Dell workers and I am very pleased with the progress so far,” said the MEP for the West, includ- ing Clare.

The mid-west application relates in total to 2,840 redundancies in total, of which 2,000 were in Dell Com- puters and 840 in eight of its sup- pliers and downstream producers. Dell represented 1.7 per cent of the total employment in the mid-west region, a region where unemploy- ment before the Dell redundancies was already higher than the national average.

The total estimated cost of the package is almost €©23 million, of which the European Union has been asked to provide EGF assistance of €14.8 million.

There have been 27 applications to the EGF since its creation in late 2006 for a total amount of over €154 million, helping some 33,300 workers.

The Dell application is the first re- lating to computers. The only other Irish application was for Waterford eee

THE curtain came down last night on the 15th annual Ennis Trad Fes- tival. A performance by the Alan Kelly Quartet rounded off the festi- val, which organisers are hailing as AME CLentoe

Committee member Kevin Finu- cane said the four-day festival drew big crowds.

“There seems to have been a good crowd around alright; particularly on the Saturday for the Lunasa gig but there seems to have been good crowds around all weekend. We haven’t got an official figure on the numbers yet but in terms of musicians, there was a big turnout. Talking to the pubs where there were sessions on, there seems to have been a lot of people around. It’s a sign that music brings people to the pubs,” he said.

This year’s festival had been in doubt but its future was secured through increased support from En- nis Town Council, local businesses, the Vintner’s Federation and the ar-

rival of Guinness as main festival Sponsor.

““T think the fact that there was doubt about it, more people came along to support it. Between concerts and ses- sions, CD launches and workshops, there was an awful lot going on. The hotels were full. You couldn’t get ac- commodation anywhere so I think that’s a fair indication of the amount of people that were around,’ added Kevin.

The festival kicked off on Thursday night with a performance by Clare band Moher at the Temple Gate Ho- tel. Saturday night saw some of the best traditional bands face off against each other in the West County Hotel for the Ard Ghaisce na mBuionta, or Great Band Challenge.

Trad band Lunasa drew big crowds to the Auburn Lodge for their per- formance, also on Saturday night.

Sunday saw two legends of tradi- tional Irish music, Frankie Gavin and ‘Tony McMahon, take to the stage for a rare joint concert at the Old Ground Hotel.

TANAISTE Mary Couglan has ad- mitted that the money is not there to implement all of the recommen- dations made by the Mid-West Task Force which was set up in the wake of massive job losses at Dell.

The Task Force was appointed by the Tanaiste herself after Dell an- nounced it was moving all of its manufacturing process to Poland, taking 2,000 wagepackets directly out of the economy and causing fur- ther job-losses in companies depend- ant on feeding the Dell plant.

After his interim report to Govern- ment, Denis Brosnan, Chairman of

the Task Force, said that any further work done by him and the Task Force would be a “waste of time’ unless the recommendations published four months ago are implemented.

Among those recommendations were that the Government should tackle costs in Ireland, to accelerate the regeneration programme in Lim- erick and to improve back to educa- tion allowance schemes.

Speaking before taking the mike at the Shannon Development ‘Dynamic Regions – Directions in Regional De- velopment’ conference last Friday the Tanaiste and Minister for Enter- prise said that while a lot of the rec- ommendations which have a national

context are being addressed, she stressed that “it has to be said that we don’t have the financial wherewithal to implement every recommendation that there is.”

But she promised that she and her government colleagues “will be bringing together two or three items that need to be addressed here in the context of the Task Force here to see if we can find the financial where- withal in next year’s budget to allow that to happen.”

The Tanaiste was speaking to the conference as Government employ- ees took to the streets to protest at proposed cuts in pay and revised work practices.

The Tanaiste told the conference that a “seismic change in attitude” is need in the public sector.

Citing the example of Shannon De- velopment “who did their own reor- ganisation without a word about it” she said that if public sector employ- ees are not prepared to co-operate to get the balance right “then Govern- ment will have to make a decision… everyone will have to take a reduc- tion in their standard of living. Many people in the private sector have done this in order to keep their jobs.

“A lot of people in the private sec- tor have lost their jobs and it is part of my portfolio to try and get those people back to work again and attract

more jobs to this country and support entrepreneurship,” the Tanaiste con- tinued.

Speaking to the conference itself, she said “I believe regional devel- Opment is now more important than ever. To be more competitive and innovative, we need more regional actions on the ground to devise so- lutions to help us on the road to na- tional recovery.

“IT believe the time for strong re- gional development is now. Mobilis- ing the contribution of each region to national competitiveness is at forefront of what we do. Strong re- gions will help us grow and sustain a strong national economy.”

that he believes the measure is “short term gain but to- tally counter productive”.

The renowned Jim Power, Chief Economist with Friend’s First was speaking in advance of his presenta- tion at “Dynamic Regions – Future

Directions in Regional Develop- ment’, which was organised by Shan- non Development to mark its 50th

anniversary. Describing the tax as a “totally counterproductive measure’ he

warned that the “tourism product in Ireland is already under pressure. Getting people to come to Ireland in the current economy is already dif- ficult.”

He said he is in “100 per cent agree- ment with Michael O’Leary about the long-term damage this will do. This tax is a short term measure with

long-term consequences.”

Speaking as workers from the pub- lic and private sector converged on cities around the country for a na- tional day of protest last Friday, Pow- er said the public service employees and unions will have to face facts and “will have to get their heads out of the sand. We have allowed the cost base in this country to get totally out of control over the past decade and that has to be brought down. Any- thing else would be disastrous for the jaUinel none

And he added that with high unem-

ployment in the mid-west, proper uti- lisation of the Task Force appointed by the Tanaiste, Shannon Develop- ment and other agencies is “vital”.

Speaking at the event in Limerick’s Thomond Park Conference Centre, Power said, “Continued ongoing in- vestment in access – by that I mean transport infrastructure such as ports, airport, rail and road, 1s criti- cal for the mid-west economy.

“Also critical for the region and Ireland generally will be a competti- tively priced power supply, without this economic and commercial activ-

ity will be in jeopardy. Broadband infrastructure will be another key business and economic enabler. Ac- cess to high speed broadband is an essential “must have’ on every inves- tors shopping list.

“A highly skilled flexible workforce iS a prerequisite to many FDI compa- nies in their search for a new base. If any of these basic requirements are missing or weak in a region, then it puts that area at a huge disadvantage. This is why it is vital to continue to invest in these key economic driv- ne

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