Month: May 2011

A QUIN man is spearheading a novel venture aimed at finding the best ideas to create employment.

The Ideas Factory is the brainchild of Niall Chandler (28), a former Ennis-based personal trainer who has turned his hand to trying to find so lutions to Ireland’s jobs crisis.

Niall, who holds a masters in international business, started work on the project last November.

“It started out as a website but that developed into bringing people into one room to focus on ideas,” he said.

The Ideas Factory 100 held their first meeting in Shannon on April 29, bringing together recent graduates from different backgrounds to kick-start the initiative that has been backed by the business network group, Atlantic Way and Westpark, Shannon.

Niall explained that the aim is to gather 100 of Ireland’s graduates and out-of-work professionals from all disciplines to brainstorm, share and generate ideas, with the intention of creating businesses and employment.

The meeting centered on creating a unified vision for the Ideas Factory 100 and proved that there is a definite appetite for this kind of initiative. The graduates from different disciplines came from Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry and Tipperary. The next meeting takes place on Friday, May 13 in Westpark Shannon. Niall said there has been an enthusiastic response so far to the project.

He explained. “The first meeting was mainly about trying to create a unified vision for the group. The next meeting will be to figure out how we go about brainstorming. You can’t just look at a blank page. We can take it step by step.”

Niall said the meetings are not just being held for the “craic” and that the aim is generate ideas that will help lead to the creation of jobs within a specific timeframe.

Participants so far have ranged in age from 24 to 42 and according to Niall, come from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds.

“We have engineers, people from agriculture, a couple of business graduates, a woman who was let go from Boston Scientific, so there are a lot of different ideas,” he added.

For further information or to express your interest in coming to the next meeting, contact Niall Chandler – niall.chandler@gmail.com

CONSTRUCTION work on a new multi-million euro pier in Doolin will not begin before this summer as had been previously hoped. Works will now not now begin on the pier, which is expected to brings hundreds of tourism and construction related jobs to North Clare, until the end of September at the earliest following a request for planning clarification from An mBord Pleanála.

The national planning authority has been asked to decide whether the Part Eight planning permission, which was granted by Clare County Council in March, will require a Foreshore License to be granted and an Environmental Impact Statement to be carried out.

According to documents lodged with An mBord Pleanála last week a decision on this case will not be made until September 16 of this year – meaning that it now unlikely that any construction work will take place in 2011. The documents also named The West Coast Surf Club as the active applicant in the planning case. The surf club, which is one of Ireland’s oldest surfing organisation, is opposed to the development of the pier in its current location as they believe it will have a negative effect an a number of world class local waves. More than 5,000 people have signed up to an online campaign to “Save the Crab Island and Doolin Point” waves.

The development was granted planning permission after a protracted planning process earlier this year.

Speaking after planing permission was granted, County Engineer Tom Tiernan said that tender process for the development will be started in a matter of weeks with the construc- tion work not likely to be finished until 2012. It is not yet clear how the latest planning delay will effect the overall project or the 2012 date set for having the pier up and running.

The original planning permission for the pier came before last December’s meeting of Clare County Council but a decision on this was deferred by the County Manager, Tom Coughlan, to allow for more public consultation to take place.

ONE OF the legends of traditional music in Clare was laid to rest in Doolin on Thursday when “Uncle Jerry” – John Joe Lynch – heard his final tune at the Holy Rosary Cemetery in Doolin.

Jerry, who has been synonymous with the great Kilfenora Céilí Band for more than seven decades, passed away last Tuesday, May 3, on the day before his 77th birthday. Jerry’s father, who was also christened John Joe, was a fiddle player and a founder member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band in 1907. After beginning his musical life on the mouth organ Jerry, influenced by the late great Joe Cooney, took up they accordion in his teenage years, before joining the Kilfenora’s officially in the late 1940s.

He was a member of the band during their famous three-in-a-row AllIreland successes in the 1950s and was the inspiration behind the current band repeating the same feat in the 1990s.

After collecting the third All-Ireland title in Ennis in 1956 Jerry, like so many others of his generation, moved to New York in the early 1960s where he worked on construc tion. He returned home in the 1990s and became the link between the old Kilfenora Céilí band and the modern band.

Jerry’s siblings Noreen and PJ were also in the band over the years as were his nephews Pat and John.

He gained the name “Uncle Jerry” because of his relationship with his nephew and current band leader John Lynch, and also to distinguish him from his nephew, the popular singer also called Jerry Lynch.

“Jerry was a wonderful character but he was also the last link between the great band of the 1950s and the modern band. He was always there to share his knowledge with us and was happy to share tunes with us or with anyone that he played with,” said current band leader John Lynch.

“He played music right through his entire life – he kept playing while he was in New York and was still playing. He started on the mouth organ but switched to the accordion because of the influence of Joe Cooney. This would have been unusual as everyone in the house would have played the fiddle but the band needed an accordion player at that time.”

Jerry’s influence on traditional music in Clare was immense – he helped to preserve the great heritage of tunes from earlier times and also the repertoire he learnt on his travels and from other great musicians such as Jimmy Shand.

He is survived by his wife Betty and daughter Tara as well as his wider family and many friend in Clare and all over the country.

GOING back to education has the ability to become a life changing experience and become the agency for new job opportunity in the county, the co-ordinator of the ground-breaking programme training programme that operated throughout the county over the last nine months has claimed.

Speaking to The Clare People ahead of this Thursday’s finale to the 2010/11 Labour Market Activation Programme operated by Clare VEC, Rita McCarthy has said that the continuation of the programme would be a huge boost to providing job opportunities for hundreds of people across the county.

“In the current climate, when you listen to doom and gloom every day, back to education courses are key,” said Ms McCarthy. “The Labour Market Activation Programme covered a wide range of area and at different locations around the county and represented an opportunity for people,” she added.

The courses included outdoor recreation studies, renewable energy, heritage studies, health and community care and the catering and hospitality sector.

“Doing these courses have helped people make changes in their lives. They see a way ahead – this programme has made a difference to a lot of people,” said Ms McCarthy. “If you’re without work, you still have to do something, you still have to get up and get through the day.

“To have programmes like this in place for people is of huge benefit and gives people new hope. It gives structure to their day for a start, while also providing opportunity and ideas for new businesses, for work,” she said.

“We have a government jobs initiative coming out this week and we would hope that there will be funding for the Labour Market Activation Programmes under that. This was a special fund that was put aside for the government to generate training and education opportunities for people. It was strictly for unemployed people.”

SCHOOLS days are about to become dramatically different for the pupils of Barefield National School as they prepare to open a new 16classroom school later this month.

Construction work at the school has now finished and the final touches are being put on a large eight-classroom extension, six special education teaching rooms, a general purpose and sports hall and the refurbishment of six classrooms built in 1995.

According to the school principal, John Burns, the new extension will be of great benefit not just to the pupils and staff of the school, but also to the wider community in Barefield.

“Ultimately, this is a gift to the children in our care and so we are absolutely delighted with this news, both for the current and future generations of pupils,” he said.

“The parents, teachers and children deserve this opportunity as they have always shown the enthusiasm and goodwill to respond positively regardless of circumstances.

“Crucially they and the whole local community had already shown their commitment and foresight in having the local contribution for this project at the ready when the time arrived.”

The Chairperson of the Board of Management, Ronan Connolly, said the new extension was the culmination of a committed campaign to provide the best possible facilities at the school and he expressed his appreciation of everyone who had been involved in bringing the project to fruition over the years, including the Parents Association, the Board Of Management, parents and teachers.

The school-going population has grown rapidly in the area in recent years and the new classrooms will help meet the needs of the growing area into the future.

The school has grown from a fourteacher school in 1984 to today where it employs a total staff of 40.

The extension and refurbishment work was completed by local contractor Martin Fitzgibbon and Company along with architects Simon J Kelly and Partners.

The new school will be officially opened at 2pm on Sunday, May 29. A full programme of events are planned for the opening starting with a mass, celebrated by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly.

THERE have been calls for Clare County Council to provide more water taps at Drumcliffe and other public graveyards in Ennis. According to Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG), taps are needed to assist elderly people visiting the graves of loved ones.

There are currently two taps provided inside the main gates at Drumcliffe. Cllr Mulqueen told yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis west electoral area, that taps should be located further up the graveyard as elderly visitors often had to fill and carry five litre containers of water from the entrance. He said that at a time of the year when temperatures were on the rise, the current situation was unacceptable.

In his response, Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, said that the likelihood of vandalism and a lack of funding meant the council was not currently proposing to provide taps.

“I would not envisage the provision of additional watering points due to the issue of water conservation and vandalism of taps away from the gates. The current taps have spring closure mechanisms on them and have been vandalised in the past,” he said.

“If there is a particular need at a burial ground then the provision of a watering point can be looked at on an individual basis and assessed accordingly.”

Town manager Ger Dollard said taps in the graveyard had previously been the subject of vandalism.

A GROUP of Clare parents have vowed to continue to fight to improve services for children with diabetes.

It is estimated that 3,500 children have type one diabetes; almost 100 of who are from Clare. Those children are referred to Galway or Limerick for treatment, while several are sent to Dublin.

Last Wednesday, a national campaign was launched in an effort to improve support for children with diabetes and the Clare branch is playing an integral role in this.

Secretary of the Diabetes ac- tion Advocacy Campaign in Clare, Gráinne Flynn is involved in a campaign to improve services for people with disabilities.

“Type one is the type of diabetes that just comes out of nowhere. It is the less common type. It is a grass roots campaign in that it encourages people in the community to encourage others to get involved,” said Ms Flynn.

She said the campaign is aimed at ensuring more resources are made available to assist children with type one diabetes.

“In Clare, children with type one diabetes are either referred to the diabetes pediatric centre in Limerick or Galway and because the services for children with diabetes in Ireland are generally very poor, the services in Galway and Limerick are under resourced,” she said.

“Parents need a more complete service,” she added.

“When parents start to demand better care they are referred to the three centres in Dublin and they can’t cope with the added pressures. It’s a vicious circle,” she said.

“We are looking for the establishment of eight diabetes paediatric networks to deliver care in Ireland. That would mean that the centres in Limerick and Galway are properly staffed and resourced. They are not at the moment,” she added.

“Children and adolescents with diabetes should attend a hospital four to five times a year to monitor their diabetes. Because some children are referred to Dublin, they have to take a full day off school to attend their appointments,” she said.

“The fact that these centres are not fully resourced means that 50 per cent of the children with type one diabetes will develop long-term complications of diabetes like kidney disease, eye damage or nerve damage,” she added.

THE hero bus driver who jumped into a Kilnamona river to save a 60-yearold-woman from drowning says that anyone would have done the same thing under the circumstances.

Mike Goggins was taking a busload of American tourists from the Cliffs of Moher to Ennis when he came upon a serious car accident on the N85, at a location which was described yesterday as the “worst stretch of national secondary road in Ireland”.

Mike, who works for Paddywagon Tours, came upon the single-vehicle accident in which a car had left the road and landed, upside down, in the Shallee River. The bus driver leapt from his bus and down a 10-foot incline into the river where he freed the woman who had become trapped in her car, which was taking on water.

“There wasn’t any time to think but when you come across something like this, you don’t need to think, you just go. I was the first one down there but I think that if someone else had been there they would have been straight down there too,” the Kerry based driver told The Clare People yesterday.

“I jumped out and went straight down the bank. I thought the car was a large people carrier – so I was shouting into the car, asking were there any children inside. I could hear muffled sounds from the woman who said that there weren’t any children. The car was wedged perfectly into the river and the woman could not open the doors. I went around the back where the window was smashed, cleaned out some of the glass and went in. She was upside down and wedged in between the two seats and hanging from her seat belt.

“I tried to get her to stop moving because I wasn’t sure if she had a spinal injury but she was struggling and mov- ing a lot so I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with her spine. I got her out of the back seat and out of the back window of the car.”

According to Cllr James Breen (IND), a Kilnamona native, the road where the accident took place will claim a life in the future if safety works are not done.

“This is without doubt the worst stretch of national secondary road in Ireland. This road has been brought to the NRA’s attention in the past and they need to allocate some money for essential safety works before a very serious accident takes place here.” CLARE LADIES football team were resigned to being without star forward Eimear Considine for their Division 3 final against Fermanagh last Saturday as Eimear had exams in the University of Limerick on the morning with the game scheduled for a 1.45pm throw-in. A prolific scorer, the PE and Irish student in UL had played a starring role in Clare’s march to the final. But cometh the hour, cometh the Armada! John Burke of the Armada Hotel came to the rescue, flying Considine from the University of Limerick to Weston Aerodrome via helicopter before she was whisked to Parnell Park in time for the 1.45pm throw-in. It was worth the trip as the Kilmihill star hit 1-1 from play over the hour to more than play her part in Clare’s narrow win. It was a double celebration this weekend as Eimear also turned 20 on Sunday. For confidential enquiries call:

A NORTH Clare river ran dry in May for the first time in living memory following the unprecedented month-long dry spell experienced by the county.

The Cahir River, which enters the sea at Fanore in North Clare, dried up in late April and has remained dry for the last 10 days. The river drains hundreds of acres of the Cahir Valley, located between Ballyvaughan, Lisdoonvarna and Fanore, and is normally a fast flowing river at this time of the year.

According to Fanore native and local historian, Kevin McCormack, the river has on occasion run dry for a few days during a very hot summer – in late July or early August – but has never before run dry so early in the year.

“It is something that has never happened before at this time of the year. The river ran dry and has stayed dry for the last 10 days. There still is a small bit of water in the river further up in the stream but that has all seeped away before it gets down to the lower parts of the river,” he told The Clare People. Meanwhile fire services across the county have been stretched to breaking point in recent weeks as the recent dry spell has caused an “unprecedented” number of gorse, bog and grass fires across the county.

Clare’s Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly, has condemned anyone who had started a fire deliberately in Clare in recent weeks.

“Such reckless actions have placed the lives of both members of the local community and also firefighters at risk. These fires have also destroyed hundreds of acres of gorse land, forestry and bogs, with negative consequences for property, tourism and wildlife,” he said.

Last month, the highest temperature record anywhere in Ireland was recorded in Clare.