Month: April 2011

CLARE County Council has said it is constantly monitoring the situation regarding outstanding rent payments.

It follows concerns raised at yesterday’s monthly council meeting over the level of rent arrears in local authority housing.

Commenting on the council’s annual report for 2010, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said he was concerned that “certain sections” of local authority tenants are not paying rent.

He told the meeting that from his own analysis, the council was in arrears of around € 1.2 million.

He said this was not down to the performance of the council but rather to, “certain sections of society that just don’t want to pay”. He added that rent arrears are having an impact on the council’s cash flow and ability to provide services.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) said there was a problem for the council when tenants start accruing debts that run into thousands of euros. He urged the council to take a more pro-active approach and to start meeting with tenants as soon as arrears start to become an issue.

“Once its gone over the edge to € 4,000 or € 5,000, the horse has bolted,” he added.

Bernadette Kinsella of the council’s housing section said that the council has a policy of meeting and, if needs be, re-adjusting rent agreements with tenants if payment problems arise. Ms Kinsella agreed that the council needed to move as quickly as possible to communicate with local authority housing tenants that are finding it difficult to pay rent.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said the issue of homeowners seeking to have unfinished housing estates taken over by the council was a growing one in Clare.

Figures released in September 2010 showed that Ennis Town Council had taken over the running of two housing estates, while a further nine had applied to be taken in charge by the council. Cllr Flynn estimated that development bonds for estates in Ennis alone totalled around € 5 million. “This is an area of huge concern for many people,” he explained.

THE new Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), is to be tackled my members of Clare County Council on the issue of extending the Limerick boundary into Clare when he visits Clare in the coming days.

This follows recent activity on the part of Limerick County Council who it is feared are attempting to reignite the boundary debate. It had appeared that the question of the Clare/ Limerick border had been shelved after both Fine Gael and Labour gave commitments not to change the counties dividing line in the run up to this year’s General Election.

However, following recent contact between Minister Hogan and the new Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Maria Byrne (FG), it is feared that the possibility of a boundary debate may be put back on the table.

The debate centres around more than 5,000 Clare people who live on the border with Limerick City and County. Under the Brosnan report, commissioned last year, it was recommended that a new super local authority be created by combining Limerick City and County Councils as well as a section of South East Clare.

In a motion put forward by Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council calls were made for Clare to stand up for themselves in relation to the boundary issue.

“Every time there is a new mayor down in Limerick something seems to happen and this comes up again,” he said. “We thought this was all dead and buried but it doesn’t seem to be the case. We need to stand up for ourselves on this issue.”

The motion was support by Shannon Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) who said that Clare County Council needed to be “watchful and vigilant” of the threat posed by Limerick. She also called for an urgent meeting to be arranged between Clare County Council and Minister Hogan.

Speaking on the motion Cllr James Breen (Ind) said that all Labour and Fine Gael councillors should threaten to resign their seats or resign from their parties if the boundary issue is put back on the table.

CLARE has become the pilot county for a new service which aims to offer community support for people who have suffered a crisis or who are recovering from, or going through, depression.

And according to the facilitator of the service, that’s everyone.

The Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAC) is a system developed in the States which aims to give people the tools to help themselves and others to recover from a crisis.

“Our target audience is everyone because there is no-one who has not suffered loss, gone through grief or stress or had some kind of crisis in their lives, which means we are all in recovery. That’s particulalry true now, with people who have lost their jobs, carers, people facing financial difficuties – there are all kinds of stresses which we have to deal with,” said Liam Minogue, the project coordinator for Clare.

The project is currently available in Ennis and East Clare and will shortly be rolled out in West and North Clare. It is funded by the philanthropic organisation, the Genio Trust and Clare, Tipperary and Limerick have been chosen as the three lead centres for the programme.

People taking part in the programme work with trained facilita- tors to develop a plan to identify the problem, take control and use various tools to cope with stress in the future. The programme offers vital support from peers and helps participants develop a daily maintenance plan to keep the momentum of recovery up.

“The first step to recovery is empowerment,” said Liam. “What people need to realise is that you can’t do it alone – we need support and our aim is to have trained facilitators in every community who can help anyone who wants to avail of this programme.”

To that end, there are training programmes planned for people interested in becoming facilitators. First, however, there are courses coming up for those who want to be trained in peer support.

The course – like all of the programme – is free and takes two days with the next one planned for Limerick on April 28. Clare people are welcome to take part.

“By the time this pilot project ends in October, we want to have trained groups throughout Clare. We want trained people to organise peer support groups in their communities so that everyone has access to this programme,” said Liam.

Anyone who would like more details or information about times and places of meetings can contact Liam on 085 8267778.

AN EAST Clare man has received a suspended sentence after engaging in abusive behaviour towards gardaí in Ennis last year.

Keith Quigley (22) of Callaghy, Tuamgraney, pleaded guilty at Ennis District Court on Friday to engaging with abusive or insulting behaviour towards gardaí in Ennis town centre on September 20, 2010.

The court was told that on the night in question gardaí were called to Francis Street following a report of a “public order situation involving a number of people”.

Mr Quigley was not involved in the public order incident, the court heard.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court Mr Quigley was told by gardaí to leave the area but only moved a short distance away.

When Mr Quigley failed to leave, Inspector Kennedy said, Gardaí arrested him.

Solicitor for the accused Tara Godfrey told the court that her client was a 22-year-old single man. She ex – plained that her client lived 30 miles from Ennis and that on the night he had been waiting in Francis Street with some friends for a taxi home.

Ms Godfrey said an incident occurred that her client had no part in. She said her client accepted that he should have moved away when told to do so by gardaí.

“It was largely a misunderstand – ing,” she added.

The court was told that the man had previously been fined for a public order offence.

Judge Joseph Mangan passed down a two-month sentence, suspended on the condition that the man forthwith enters a bond to keep the peace and to be of good behaviour.

He also imposed a fine of € 500.

AN Ennis man charged with punching his friend has been told by a judge that he must enter a treatment programme for drug and alcohol abuse.

Cathal McNamara (19) with an address at Old Military Barracks, Kilrush Road, Ennis, appeared be- fore Ennis District Court on Friday, accused of striking another man at Lifford Road on February 20.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that gardaí arrested the accused, who was found to be intoxicated, at the scene. The court heard that the man is currently serving a prison sentence imposed at Ennis District Court last month.

Solicitor for the accused, Tara Godfrey, told the court that her client had been involved in a physical altercation with a friend. She said the two men are still friends.

Ms Godrey said her client had tried to turn his life around. She said Clare Youth Service and Slainte drugs and alcohol counselling service had written letters to the court on her client’s behalf.

“He had made progress but has slipped off the wagon,” she added.

Ms Godfrey asked Judge Joseph Mangan not to extend the period of detention. She said that her client is able to avail of treatment services in Limerick prison and is “drying out”.

“Any period beyond that would be counter-productive,” she added.

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded the man on custody until his release date of June 3. He added that he wanted to see if the man has commenced a full treatment programme of drug and alcohol abuse.

Judge Mangan added that it would be “a shame” if the man wasn’t on good behaviour for the rest of his sentence.

A 58-YEAR-OLD man has appeared before Ennis District Court charged with threatening his son with a loaded shotgun.

Patrick Moloney, with an address at Gaurus, Ennis, was present in court on Friday as Insp Tom Kennedy described details of the incident.

Insp Kennedy told the court that the charges relate to an incident that occurred at the home of Mr Moloney’s wife, where it is alleged that Mr Moloney threatened his son Joseph Moloney with a shotgun. Insp Kennedy told the court that no one was hurt in the incident. Judge Joseph Mangan declined jurisdiction in the case and remanded Mr Moloney on bail until May 6. He also ordered the preparation of a book of evidence.

CLARE Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley is the only Oireachtas representative in the county with a property portfolio outside his primary place of residence that generates income, new figures secured by The Clare People his week have revealed.

The 2010 register of interests for TDs published last Friday show that Deputy Dooley, a poll topper in the 2007 General Election in Clare and was recently returned to Dáil Éireann for a second term, is also a landlord in Dublin, from which he derives income.

The Mountshannon man, who is hotly tipped to become a member of Micheál Martin’s front bench team later this month, owns a semi-dectached house in South Dublin and an apartment in the city centre.

A CLARE man is on the verge of helping to achieving the impossible – discovering a cure for cancer.

Doolin native Gerry Dunleavy has been informed by experts at the Cancer Centre of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that a cure for paediatric brain tumours is between 18 months and two years away.

This breakthrough has been made possible as a result of a large amount of research funding made avail- able to the institute by the Dunleavy Foundation. The foundation, which is based jointly in Doolin and Boston, was set up in 2002 following the death of Gerry’s son Michael as a result of a brain tumour. Eight-year-old Michael Dunleavy died on October 28, 2002, after losing his four-yearlong battle with brain cancer.

A number of annual fundraising events take place each year on both sides of the Atlantic, with the money raised donated to a number of child cancer research initiatives both in Boston and in Dublin.

“With all the money that has been raised by the Dunleavy Foundation, they have just been told that they will have a cure for paediatric brain tumours in the hospital within the next two years,” said Gerry’s sister, and Doolin coordinator of the Dunleavy Foundation, Mary O’Donoghue.

ONE of the smallest schools in Clare has launched a national campaign to fight the cause of schools facing possible closure under the terms of the controversial McCarthy Report that wants all units with under 50 pupils shut down.

The ‘Save Small Schools Ireland’ campaign was launched two weeks ago by the parents of Doonaha National School on the edge of the Loophead peninsula, who now say that it’s set to “snowball nationwide” as primary schools across the country join forces to keep their doors open.

“The parents are leveraging the power of social media, by launching a Facebook campaign called ‘Save Small Schools – Ireland’ to allow the voices of all small schools to be heard,” Tony Collins said on behalf of the Parents of Doonaha National School.

“The response in just two weeks has been very encouraging, including responses from all across Ireland.