Month: January 2011

A SUBMARINE cable which will connect Moneypoint to a new combined-cycle gas turbine power plant on the former ESB station at Tarbert in County Kerry has been granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála.

The new plant is now likely to be supplied with natural gas from An Bord Gáis through the national gas network, whose nearest connection is just 22 kilometres. This could open the possibility for Moneypoint to converted to a gas burning power station in the future.

The new Tarbert station will be owned and operated Endesa Ireland, part of the Spanish energy company Endesa. The power plant, which will generate up to 450 megawatts by 2016, is to be built within the confines of the existing power-generating plant at Tarbert, which is to be demolished, on the Shannon estuary just opposite Moneypoint.

The more energy efficient plant at Tarbert will occupy 10 hectares of the existing 42-hectare site and be constructed in two phases over four years.

The Endesa application came under the Strategic Infrastructure Act, which provides for planning applications for some major projects to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála, and an oral hearing was held earlier this year.

A PRIMARY school in Ennis is participating in a major research project aimed at compiling a new database of information for historians.

The Junior Genealogist Initiative has been underway at the Ennis National School for the past month. Under the initiative, students are asked to collect memorial cards of people who were born or died in Clare, and bring them in to school. Cards are then copied and returned safely to their owners.

Over 1,000 cards have been copied so far at Ennis National where students have really embraced the spirit of the initiative.

The purpose of this project is to compile a repository of historical detail and family information for future genealogists and historians.

It is also an objective of this project to use genealogy as a practical learning tool for children to deepen their awareness and appreciation of the origins of their own families, their communities and their broader society.

It is also hoped that the project could be used in the classroom as an interesting, enjoyable and practical addition to the existing curriculum, in which the children themselves would play a leading role.

Clare Education Centre will collect the copies from all Clare schools for presentation to Clare County Library, genealogy section. This will ensure that the memory of all these deceased people will be preserved, and accessible to descendents of Clare families into the future. The Junior Genealogist Initiative will close on January 17.

The project is sponsored by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, and is designed to give children an appreciation of the importance of preserving knowledge of their own community.

The project is also supported by the Clare Roots Society. The Clare Roots Society, brainchild of Ennis man Larry Brennan, was formed in April 2006 as an amateur family history group in Clare.

The society meets once a month in Ennis, and now has over 100 members. The society aims to provide a forum for family history and genealogical research with emphasis on County Clare.

IT NOW seems unlikely that the voters of Clare will not be asked to turn out for a General Election before January or February, as The Green Party had promised before Christmas.

That was the message from Clare TD and Minister for Defense Tony Killeen who said over the weekend that the General Election is now unlikely to take place before March.

This is to give time for the Financial Bill to pass through the Dáil, a process which could take more than two months to complete. Once the Financial Bill is successfully through the Dáil and the Dáil is dissolved by President Mary McAleese, it will take at least one month for an election to take place.

“It would seem unlikely to me that the election would come before March,” said Minister Killeen, who also raised the possibility of hosting a referendum on the future of the Seanad at the same time as the General election.

“In the kind of time scale that is envisioned for the Finance Bill it would seem to be to be possible [to host the Seanad referendum] but I am not aware that it has been considered yet.”

Meanwhile, Labour yesterday has confirmed that they will be calling for the abolition of the Seanad as part of their programme for government.

It is also understood that behind the scenes talks have taken place between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party and both side of the coalition are said to be receptive to the idea of getting rid of the Seanad.

The Green Party said two months ago there should be a general election held before the end of January. However, they have since cooled towards the idea and hope to push legislation through in the coming months

ANOTHER successful year in St. Joseph’s Education Centre, Ennis, has been celebrated with the raising of the green school flag for excellence in environmental and ecological achievement.

Over 3,500 centres of education in Ireland now have the flag but St. Joseph’s is only the second among 30 Traveller training centres to gain the accolade.

An Taisce’s Green Schools Travel Education Officer, Roisín Garvey told students “achieving the flag was clear evidence of everyone’s real pride in taking care of creation which was intended by God in the first place to be cared for, not destroyed”.

The flag was formally raised by the chairman of the National Association of Traveller Training Centres, Martin Ward of Tuam, former mayor of the town council there.

Director of the St Joseph’s Centre, Brian Crossan said he was “very proud of all the great work ongoing there”, adding “we are living in times of great change and uncertainty, so it’s important to stay positive and to influence that over which they had control”.

The centre was developing new programmes and a great atmosphere plus a fine work ethic prevailed throughout.

The centre had a proud tradition over its 36 years, one of the best latest developments being the high number of males taking courses there.

Mayor Christy Curtin emphasised that “Traveller culture was very much part of Irish traditions and I’m always pleased to see how it was maintained and enhanced in St Joseph’s which was an intrinsic undertaking of Co Clare Vocational Education Committee with which I had been a teacher for many years in its community colleges.”

IF IRELAND’S political parties have a genuine commitment to democracy they would not be seeking to abolish the Seanad.

This was the view of west of Ireland Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she insisted that a reformed Seanad would be a vital protection for citizens in a situation where democracy was being increasingly eroded at Dáil level.

She said, “It is disquieting to say the least that the main political parties are trying to outdo each other in populist advocacy of Seanad abolition.

“A reformed Seanad will be essential to the preservation of an effective democratic system in Ireland and as a protection for citizens against a system which has clearly failed to protect their interests.”

Ms Harkin said that in a reformed Seanad the voluntary sector should have a valid and necessary role.

“The Seanad, as originally envisaged and constituted was a valuable brake on government arrogance or ineptitude and, having regard to the huge role and effectiveness of the voluntary sector, there would be highly qualified and highly motivated people available to perform effective roles in a reformed Seanad.”

“The Seanad could also have an essential role in considering draft EU legislation in depth and subsequently monitoring its implementation. We have had too many instances of inadequate input into new legislation.”

GARDAÍ in Clare arrested a total of sixty three people on suspicion of various offences between Christmas Eve and last Sunday.

The busy holiday period saw ten people arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

Five of these were stopped in Ennis, three in Lahinch and two in Kilrush.

In Ennis alone, thirty four people were arrested and in seventeen of these cases the arrests were for alleged breaches of the Public Order Act. A number of these arrests were made on St Stephen’s night.

Gardaí working round the clock over the holiday period manned twenty sixcheckpoints around the county.

The busy period and the weather didn’t stop members of the force getting out on the county’s roads to check for drink driving, speeding and other Road Traffic offences.

According to a Garda spokesperson the road conditions “weren’t a big factor” in the holiday operations as the thaw had set in and only Christmas eve and Christmas day presented some dangerous road conditions and only in some places. During the icy road conditions members of the public did also heed garda advice on driving with extra care.

While the special operations to stop people drinking and driving during the holiday period will now be stood down, gardaí are reminding motorists that checkpoints and speed detectors are a feature of Garda operations all year.

CLARE County Council estimates that up to 400 homes still have no water or have an intermittent supply as work to repair leaks continues today around the county.

A council spokesperson confirmed on Monday that in the initial period that followed the rise in weather temperatures around 2,000 of the 30,000 homes that receive water from Clare County Council experienced supply problems.

Restrictions on supply are expected to be in place for another three days at least.

“I’d be concerned that parts of the county are suffering more than most . Obviously there must be a lack of infrastructure and that must be examined”, said Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind).

Supply was cut off last night (Monday) from Aughanteeroe on the Gort Road to Barefield in an attempt to boost supply in Crusheen, where members of Clare Civil defence tankered thousand of litres of water to 100 homes on Sunday.

Myles Carey, of Clare County Council’s water services section explained: “The idea there is that, if we can restrict supply on that stretch of pipeline, the idea is to push water out to Crusheen. Crusheen has been one of the kind of blackspots in all of this and has ended up without water for a long time.”

Mr Carey said work will continue in Ennis until all visible leaks that resulted from recent cold weather con- ditions are located and repaired.

“The biggest leaks, the biggest water losses, our lads are going to those first.”

Over 35 per cent of the 16,000 cubic metres of water being produced at the Ennis water treatment plant is currently being lost due to leaks.

Mr Carey said that the “exceptional losses” sustained in Ennis are due to the old and fractured network of pipes in the town. He said a € 6.2 million pipe rehabilitation programme will commence in Ennis later this year.