Month: May 2011

CLARE’S reputation as the county that makes electoral history was continued on Friday when Cllr Martin Conway was elected to Seanad Éireann on the Administrative panel, a success that been hailed as an historic breakthrough for the disability sector.

Senator Conway, who has been a Fine Gael member of Clare County Council for the last seven years, was selected to contest the Seanad election by the People With Disabilities Ireland (PWDI) group only months after his own party refused to put him on the ticket for the General Election.

Now, in being elected to the Upper House on Friday night to bring Fine Gael’s complement of Oireachtas members to an historic four, Senator Conway has created a famous first for Clare and national politics.

“From the vision impairment perspective, I’m the first person member of the Oireachtas ever to be elected with a severe vision impairment,” Senator Conway told The Clare People .

“There hasn’t ever been someone elected with the level of eyesight I have, which is less than 20 per cent.

“It is a great achievement for myself, given the battles I’ve had over the years, the disadvantages I’ve had over the years. I was born with it and lived with it all my life. It isn’t an is- sue I go on about but I speak about it when I’m asked,” he added.

Senator Conway’s success came against the odds as he was up against two former Fine Gael TDs who had the imprimatur of the party in a highly competitive seven-seater constituency.

“I had to look at long and hard about standing,” admitted Senator Conway. “It’s a separate house and I don’t buy into theory that because I didn’t get to run in the Dáil that I’m automatically going to run in the Senate as a second best option.

“I looked at panel system, as outdated and archaic and all that it is, from my perspective in politics, that the most appropriate panel was the Administrative panel given the outside nominating bodies are the voluntary disability sectors.

“My life experience of disability of being the only councillor the country with a declared disability, there was scope there for representing a minority group. Given that the Senate is supposed to be for minorities I felt I could competently represent that minority group.

“I sought the nomination for People With Disabilities Ireland (PWPI). I felt I could be a strong advocate for the issues that concern them. They gave me their nomination. I toured the country and I met every Fine Gael councillor I could – 90 per cent of them and got the vote out,” added Senator Conway.

FIFTY years after Shannon Town was born, it finally has an Oireachtas member thanks to Tony Mulcahy’s election to Seanad Éireann – a victory the former Mayor of Clare and Shannon had dedicated to the power of the social media site, Facebook.

On being elected to the upper house on the Labour Panel after the 13th count, Senator Mulcahy told The Clare People that it was the reaction to his General Election bid on Facebook that inspired him to launch his Seanad Éireann campaign.

“I was told to read the Facebook page. I read it on the Monday night after the General Election and the volume of goodwill messages that I got – people telling me to give it another go – was what prompted me to go for the Senate,” he said.

“That drove it home for me. I was going to leave it after the General Election and I decided after that to give it one good lash. It was from Malin Head to Mizen Head and every bit of it to get elected but it was worth it.”

Senator Mulcahy first stood for election in 1999 when winning a seat on both Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council, seats that he subsequently retained in the 2004 and 2009 local elections.

His first Oireachtas election was in 2007 when he polled 3.408 first preference votes in the General Election, a figure he doubled to 6,829 in the February 2011 election.

After the General Election, Senator Mulcahy, who served as Mayor of Clare from 2009 to 2010 and is the current Mayor of Shannon, was selected by the local Fine Gael organisation in Clare to contest the Seanad election, a nomination that was endorsed by party leader Enda Kenny.

“This brings closure on the General Election. We were over four months on the road. I was asked to stand in the General Election on December 19 and was added to the ticket on January 10,” said Senator Mulcahy.

“It was a tough campaign, a much different campaign to the General Election, but one that I threw myself into, once I made the decision to give it a go. I think it’s a great day for Shannon Town that it finally has an Oireachtas member.

“I say that because there was a strong view out there that people wanted an Oireachtas member from the town of Shannon and the Shannon electoral area. Shannon needed an Oireachtas member – Shannon is a major promoter for business and investment,” he added.

A FATHER of two, charged with the murder of a woman in North Clare in March, has secured bail in the High Court – subject to conditions.

Colm Deely (39), of School Road, Ballyvaughan, made his third court appearance last week in connection with the death of Deirdre McCarthy (43), whose body was found on Fanore beach on March 31 last.

She was last seen alive on Sunday, March 27, and was reported missing the following day, after she failed to turn up to meet a friend.

At Ennis District Court last Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy asked that the accused be further remanded, to appear in court again on May 13.

His solicitor did not object. She told the court that her client had appeared in the High Court the previous day, where a bail application had been made. She asked that her client be brought back to Limerick prison, saying, “He’s currently being detained at Cloverhill.”

However, Inspector Kennedy said this was not a matter for the court; rather it was a decision to be taken by the prison authorities.

In the High Court, a ruling was made that a new address was to be approved by gardaí, at least 30 miles

away from Bally

vaughan, if bail was

to be granted. A number of bail

conditions were at

tached, including

that the accused

reside at an address

approved by gardai;

that an independ

ent surety be pro

vided; that he sign

on at a nominated

garda station; that

he abide by a cur

few and not contact

the family of the

deceased. Another condition was that the accused surrender his passport.

The matter will have to get district court approval, prior to bail being taken up.

THE state of the art fire and rescue service and training centre opened in Ennis last week is set to become the blueprint for regional fire services all over the country.

The centre, which was officially opened by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), is set to become a centre for fire training for professionals from all over the midwest.

“This is a wonderful boost for the county – it is a fabulous training facility and one that should be replicated all over the country if resources are available,” he said.

“I can see how this can be a regional centre for other counties as well. I wish the fire service well and all who work here. They are doing a very im- portant job as a front-line service to protect the people of Clare and the surrounding counties.

“The training needs of today’s fire service personnel are wide and diverse. The opening of this new facility in Ennis will ensure the provision of high quality training to fire fighters into the future.”

Minister Hogan was joined at the launch by the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin (Ind); the County Manager, Tom Coughlan and a number of members of both Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council.

The € 470,000 facility is located right beside the offices of Clare County Council on the New Road in Ennis. Speaking at the official opening, Minister Hogan also paid tribute to the work done by the county’s fire fighters during major flooding events in the winter of 2009 and 2008 and to the efforts of County Manager, Tom Coughlan; Clare’s Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly and Clare County Council Director of Service, Ger Dollard, in getting the new facility in place.

“I understand that management and staff worked around the clock to ensure that the threat posed by the flood waters to property and life was minimised [during the flooding],” he said. “The response was a credit to everyone involved. The experience and insights gained will no doubt shorten the learning curve for others in the emergency management sector.”

ANY help for the County Clare’s struggling rates payers will only be introduced hand-in-hand with new taxes, The Clare People has learned.

Businesses around the county owed more than € 5.6 million to Clare County Council when figures were last compiled in December of 2010. This represent a massive increase on the € 600,000 end of year rates arrears figure recorded by the local authority in 2006. Much of these arrears comes from the tourism sector where a number of Clare flagship tourism businesses have been unable to pay their rates in full in recent years.

Speaking to The Clare People last week, the Minister for the Environment said that changes to the current rates situation would be tackled by “broadening the base” by which Clare County Council funds itself.

“We are actually signed up to the EU/IMF agreement – the previous government signed up to it and we are obliged to implement it. This year we will be bringing forward proposals for utility charges and that will broaden the base of financial support for local authorities and hopefully take the pressure off the rate payers,” he said.

“There are significant cash flow problems in every business and it is not just because of rates, there are other issues as well. We will be asking the valuation office to apply more resources towards carrying out re-valuations which are essential throughout the country – this is too slow at the moment and will take too long. I am conscious at the moment of having the costs of local government as low as possible to allow business people to protect employment and to create other employment. There are problems in Clare but these problems are replicated right around the country and this will need a national response.”

Besides speeding up the process by which businesses can have their rates re-valued, the Minister has also agree to examine Irish Hotel Federation proposals to completely change the way in which rates are calculated.

“We have received a number of submissions about that [changing the way in which rates are calculated] and I am looking at them at the moment. I have asked the department to examine how we could actually improve the situation with regards to deploying resources to the valuations office – which is a matter for the Department of Finance – but also to look at ways that we can get local government to broaden its tax base and the opportunities in other ways and to take the pressure off labour intensive industries like the tourism sector,” he said.

Meanwhile, Clare local authorities have restated their commitment to work with Clare people in solve individual rates arrears.

“Calculation of rates is primarily determined by the valuation attributed to the property. This is determined by the Valuation Office independent of the local authority. Pending any change in the current system we will continue to work with rate payers to put in place flexible payment arrangements to discharge rates due,” said Ennis Town Manager and Director of Services with Clare County Council, Ger Dollard.

A FINAL decision on the proposed change in the boundary between Clare and Limerick will be made in eight weeks.

The new Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan (FG) told The Clare People last week that a final decision would be before the cabinet before the summer break at the beginning of July.

Minister Hogan was in Ennis to officially open the new fire station and training centre on the New Road but also attended a one-hour, behindclosed-doors meeting with members of Clare County Council. The Clare People understands that 14 elected members of the local authority met with Minister Hogan during the meeting, with each councillor making a two minute presentation on why the current boundary should remain.

The minister also rejected claims that he had reopened the boundary debate, which many people felt had been resolved before this year’s General Election.

“You will have to talk to the previous government if they [the voters of Clare] feel that they are let down by them because this is the first opportunity that I have had to deal with an issue that it there and I will deal with it in the next couple of months,” he said.

“After six or seven week you wouldn’t expect me to have a resolution found but I am working on a resolution and I am here today to hear the views of the Clare local authority and Oireachtas members to get their views on the issues raised in the Bro- snan Report. I’ve already met with members of Limerick City Council and I’ve met with Mr Brosnan and I’ll be coming to conclusions in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m not going to announce today [what I intend to do]. I am in a con sultation phase and I am going to listen to people here in Clare as I have been listening to the people in Limerick.

“I have a lot of legacy issues to deal with. After just six weeks in office I think I need a little bit more time o deal with these issues. I have a lot of issues that I have inherited from the previous government and previous minister but I am going to consult widely on this matter. It has far reaching decisions for Clare and for Limerick but I won’t be dragging out that process. I would expect a recom mendation to be before cabinet before the summer recess.”

Speaking after the behind-closeddoors meeting, the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin, said that the councillors had restated their opposition to the boundary change in the strongest terms possible to the minister.