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Household charge a ‘burden’ on councils

THE planned introduction of the household charge has been dismissed as “just another burden” on local authorities.

The comment was made by Green Party councillor, Brian Meaney last week at Ennis Town Council’s annual budget meeting.

Details of the charge are contained in a circular issued to the council from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

In it, Colm Lavery, Principal Officer, Local Government Finance Section states that the Government is introducing a household charge to meet the requirements of the EU/ IMF programme of financial support for Ireland.

He continued, “The household charge is an interim measure and proposals for a full property tax will be considered by the Government in due course. The Exchequer contribution to the Local Government Fund has been replaced by the income from the household charge for 2012.”

The plans were criticised by Cllr Meaney who told the meeting that the charge would have a negative effect on local authority finances.

He said there would be a net loss in central government funding to the council.

Describing it as a burden, Cllr Meaney said, “This is the last of a long list of straws placed on this camel’s back.”

He was sharply critical of a section of the circular that highlights Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan views on the need for continued reduction in commercial rates.

Mr Lavery writes, “The General Purpose Grant allocation continues to provide a very significant contribution towards the current expenditure needs of your authority for 2012. As part of a range of measures to aid economic recovery, the minister is clear on the need for continued reductions in commercial rates over the coming years and again requests that local authorities exercise restraint in setting commercial rates and local charges for 2012, in order to support competitiveness in the economy, nationally and locally, and to protect the interests of communities. Local authorities have responded positively to previous requests for restraint and, in light of the current, challenging environment for business, it is strongly urged that this restraint be continued.”

Cllr Meaney said Ennis Town Council has always exercised restraint and did not need to be told to do so by the Government.

On rates, he said the minister had used “loose language” in the circular, adding, “We’e not burdening the business community.”

He said national government had “foisted” an unfair system of funding on local authorities that left overly reliant on rates for income.

“I completely reject the language used in the circular, he added.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said the council needs income from rates and parking charges.

He said, “Our hands have been tied and have been tied for a long number of years.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said he wished the council could reduce rates but in the current economic climate such thinking was “only a fools paradise”.

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Landlord given three months to comply

CLARE County Council has brought legal proceedings against a 72-yearold woman arising out of “serious deficiencies” in relation to fire safety at a flats complex in Shannon.

The case was taken by Clare County Council against Maeve Lynch, of Drumgeely Hill, Shannon for failing to comply with a fire safety notice.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgibbon told Ennis District Court on Thursday that her client was pleading guilty.

Assistant fire officer Ger Fallon told the court that he carried out an inspection at Elm House, Drumgeely, Shannon, on January 18 last. He said that there are 21 flats; 20 of which are owned by the defendant. The building is 40 years old, he said.

He said there were “serious deficiencies” in relation to fire safety to exits on the premises namely inadequate means of escape, no working fire alarm and inadequate escape lighting.

Mr Fallon said he served a fire safety notice on February 14 last, which indicated a three-month time frame to carry out works.

He said that another inspection took place on September 28. On that date, some of the works had been completed, but other works were not.

He said that three of the apartments were occupied at the time.

Mr Fallon said that all of the works have now been completed as an inspection was carried out last week. He said that the three main tenants have been moved to ground floor flats.

“I am seeking an undertaking that no other flat will be leased without my approval,” he said.

Ms Fitzgibbon said that this undertaking was given by her client to the assistant fire officer the previous day and he accepted this.

The woman gave this undertaking in court, at the request of the judge.

Mr Fallon told Judge Aeneas McCarthy that he was satisfied for the safety of the current tenants.

Ms Fitzgibbon explained that her client, aged 72, operated a “family orientated business” and that tenants have resided there for more than 15 years.

“They are long standing tenants and regard this as their home,” she said.

“She (Ms Lynch) lives across from Elm House,” said the solicitor.

She said that damage had been caused last year by frozen pipes. “There is extensive water damage in the flats. Electrical works couldn’t be done until the flats were dried out,” she said.

She said this work has now been completed and is fully compliant.

“This has been done at great personal expense. They are up to their neck in debt arising from getting the apartment block compliant,” she said.

“It won’t be finalised by the insurance company for some time,” she added.

“The apartment block would have thrived as a place for people to live over the years,” she said.

Solicitor for Clare County Council Rachael Leahy said the maximum fine is € 3,000, while the council’s costs were € 1,638.

Judge McCarthy said he was satisfied with the undertaking given in court by the defendant and that tenants were not in danger.

He imposed a fine of € 500 and ordered that costs be paid. He gave the defendant three months to pay.

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‘Men need to share troubles’

THE head of the Samaritans in Clare has warned that there are “darker times” ahead for the people of Clare but stressed that organisations like the Samaritans will always be there to help.

Gerry Dobbin, head of the Samaritans in Clare, has warned that he cannot foresee any improvement for many people in Clare in the short term but that people, especially men, need to be prepared to share their troubles.

“I think we are headed for darker times,” Mr Dobbin told The Clare People this week.

“I don’t see how we are going to see much of an improvement. I honestly believe that from talking to people and from looking at the overall picture,” Mr Dobbin added.

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‘Special Payments’ to victims of clerical child abuse in Killaloe Diocese increases

OVER € 2m has been paid out to victims of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Killaloe, new figures secured by The Clare People this week have revealed.

Payments to victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in the diocese have broken through the € 2m barrier, with the latest statement of accounts produced by Diocese of Killaloe confirming the extent of the payments.

Money given victims, which has been labelled as ‘Special Payments’ in the accounts amounted to € 195,799 in 2010, while the statement of the diocese’s financial affairs also reveal that € 232,363 was paid out in 2009.

The cumulative figure for 2009/2010 of € 428,262 brings to € 2.24m the amount in compensation payments to victims of abuse in the diocese since 2003.

These payments are understood to have been made to 55 complaints and involved 15 priests, all of which related to child abuse between 1955 and 1990.

Most of these payments have been made from a trust fund that was established by Bishop Willie Walsh in 2002 from the sale of land at Westbourne in Ennis for € 1.5m.

In a statement to The Clare People , a spokesperson for the diocese said the most recent payments were made “by way of assistance towards healing for survivors of abuse”.

Commenting on the figures, Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly said that the payment of € 195,799 was made in 2010 “towards healing and reconciliation”.

“With regard to the safeguarding of children, the diocese continues to insist that best practice is adopted, and state guidelines are adhered to, by all in our parish communities who work and interact with children and young people.

“A great deal of time and resources continues to be committed to dealing with the tragic result of sexual abuse by a small number of clergy in the past,” added Bishop O’Reilly.

These comments come on the back of renewed commitment and promise by the Diocese of Killaloe to publish the results of an audit into the child protection policy in the diocese which is currently being completed by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

This report was to have been completed last September, but delays have meant that it’s not now expected to be finished until the new year, at which time Bishop O’Reilly has pledged to publish the findings in full – even if the HSE decides against this route of action.

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Sport

‘Does one size fit all’ for suspensions?

PERSISTENCE proved to be the key for Clarecastle’s motion to establish a committee to review the enforcement of the rules, in particular in relation to ‘striking with hurley, either with force or causing injury’ and the gravity of the offence in relation to suspensions.

Clarecastle delegate John Callinan outlined his club’s concern about the implementation of the rules in relation to suspensions which opened up a 40 minute debate from the floor, the longest of the night.

“We are not criticising the Disciplinary Committee in any way, we are merely requesting that a review be put in place on the enforcement of the rules that exist, particularly relating to Category III infractions and arising from that, a review and clear guidelines could be established.

“Our particular concern is the offence of striking with the hurley either with force or causing injury. The minimum suspension is eight weeks and you may be also aware of the gravity clause which says that ‘where a minimum suspension is prescribed in relation to an Infraction, the Coun- cil or Committee-in-Charge shall have due regard for the gravity of the Infraction in each case and where appropriate should impose a longer term of suspension.’

“If you go to the back of the AGM booklet, there is a section on offences and suspensions. I think there are 21 suspensions relating to striking with the hurley using minimum force. All received the minimum four weeks. There are five suspensions under striking with the hurley using force or causing injury and all five received the minimum suspension of eight weeks.

“We are not saying that the committee has acted in any unfair, impartial or unjust way. Having regard for the gravity provision, it is strange, is all we can say, that each of the five situations merited the exact same suspension in each particular case. The minimum.

“Does one size fit all?”

Initially, Chairman Michael O’Neill requested that the motion be put forward to congress for a change of rule but after repeated clarification from Clarecastle delegate Callinan that the club were not looking for a rule change, the debate was opened up to the floor.

County Secretary Pat Fitzgerald considered it a matter for the referees to indicate the severity of the offence in their reports; Ger Hoey, Referee Administrator Coiste an Chlair told the meeting that referees are instructed from national level to report per rulebook, full stop. ‘You don’t go any further, you don’t go any less.’

Fellow referee and Ruan delegate Ger Lyons suggested it needed a change of protocol from Croke Park while Sixmilebridge delegate PJ Fitzpatrick backed Clarecastle’s proposal.

“I think what John [Callinan] is saying is that the minimum suspension has automatically become the maximum suspension and that there is a huge difference.

“We have a duty to our games. There is no justice whereby you see a player who sustains an injury from a deliberate blow from a hurley who is out of the game twice as long as the suspension issued to the person who administered the injury.”

The debate raged on with Chairman O’Neill sticking to his guns on the matter. “We can put the committee is place but I don’t know if there is a whole lot we can do about it unless we bring it to Croke Park, that’s my assertion of it.

“In principal the motion will be carried but in this case, the motion means nothing. The rule is the rule.”

However, the intervention of Corofin delegate and referee Ambrose Heagney proved crucial in the debate. “I’m a bit baffled at this. Maybe I’m a very fortunate in that I never refereed a game with an incident like this. But if I came across an incident where some hurler was struck intentionally, by God, in my report it would be seriously underlined. I just wouldn’t quote the rule, I would go a long way more than quoting the rule.

“This is very serious that if a guy can strike down another guy, that he would get the minimum suspension. I think that the referee has to put in his report that this was a bloody serious offence and put in a few words along with it. It doesn’t take a lot and I don’t think you will leave yourself wide open by doing so.”

Further additions from Clarecastle delegate Neville O’Halloran that the term ‘this is a serious strike’ was used in one referee’s report this year and the offender still got the minimum suspension added more fuel to the fire while PJ Fitzpatrick rounded off the discourse with a final plea.

“You can see from the discussion that it has opened up options and what Ambrose [Heagney] has said there has given some clarity to the situation as well.

“If a committee was set up to discuss something that is a cause of grave concern, surely it must do some good and it might be a system of clarifying issues for referees, the disciplinary committee, club managers or club officers.”

With no opposition, Chairman O’Neill finally granted the motion.

“Just to finalise it, I would be prepared to put a committee in place.

“This was a merited discussion because if our games are getting nasty and getting dirty, the message should go out there that we will be stringent with the rules but we can only be stringent with the rules as they stand. So a three person committee in conjunction with myself and possibly a representative of the referees will sit down and see if we can work around this obstacle that is there at the moment.”

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Sport

Shortage of money for Cusack Park

PLANS and costings for the redevelopment of the main stand at Cusack Park are being drawn up by architects as the Clare County Board’s initial response to the recent health and safety audit that has reduced the ground’s capacity by over 10,000.

Board chairman Michael O’Neill told delegates to Thursday’s annual Convention that Horgan, Lynch and Company from Cork have been employed by the board to draw up new plans for the redevelopment of the 75-year-old seat of Clare GAA after the recent Slattery Report reduced the capacity to 14,864.

O’Neill made his comments on foot of a motion that was tabled by St Joseph’s Miltown delegate, Noel Walsh, which called for the county board to appoint a new sub-committee that would address the reconstruction of the main stand.

“The ground is becoming a little bit more dilapidated, particularly the main stand,” said former Munster Council chairman, Walsh. “It was decided back in Fr Mac’s time to do something about it, but it’s a problem, a perennial problem that there’s no money to do it. I understand that it was decided to sell a section of ground to refurbish the main stand,” he added.

“We are where we are with Cusack Park,” interjected chairman Michael O’Neill.

“The point I am making that it was eight years ago that the county committee had decided to go ahead and do that – they had decided unanimously to do that. For some reason it didn’t happen,” responded Walsh.

“Despite the fact that there is a shortage of money – plans should be drawn up with people who do that down in cork , Horgan and Lynch should be asked to put forward plans.”

“I don’t want to cut across you,” interjected O’Neill. “Can I outline that that (employing Horgan/Lynch) is in progress at the minute. Two years ago we would have met all the relevant authorities here in Clare. Our capacity was something in the region of 25,000/27,000 people.

“Nobody had any disagreement with that. There is no problem, in my opinion with having 25,000/27,000 over there. We have to carry out works there. We have a fair idea at this stage about what they are. We haven’t them costed yet, but that will certainly be done in the not too distant future,” the chairman added.

“If our capacity reaches a certain minimum size we would be in a very weak position when it comes getting high profile games like All-Ireland under 21 semi-finals, or big Munster championship games,” warned Walsh.

“I remember in 1993, 19000 attended Clare against Cork in senior football. The Clare football team wouldn’t attract that attendance now, but you never know. If the capacity is that low we won’t be able to enter into a home and away arrangement in senior hurling either,” he added.

“The capacity is more than 12,000,” countered O’Neill. “It’s capable of taking nearly 15,000. We need to put in extra turnstiles. It wouldn’t take an awful lot to bring it up to 20,000, but certainly to bring it up to 25,000 would take a fair bit of money. That’s where we’re at at the moment. All the things that you talk about are in situ at the moment – we are in discussions with Horgan/Lynch,” added O’Neill.

“I would like to see the report of Horgan/Lynch at a board meeting during the year,” responded Walsh. “I go back to the time of Brendan Vaughan’s time in the 1970s. There was very little money around in ’78 when he set up a committee and he got debenture loans – we got a wonderful county ground at that time that was superior to any other county ground in the country at that time,” he added.

During Mr Walsh’s three-year term as Munster Council chairman from 1995 to 1997, he secured substantial funding for a pilot project to erect floodlights at Cusack Park.

However, Clare GAA turned down opportunity to be the first ground in the province to have floodlights, with the grant aid totalling around £100,000 being grabbed by the Kerry County Board for Austin Stack Park in Tralee.

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Sport

Moroney defends Éire Óg Academy

FORMER county board secretary Simon Moroney used the platform of last Thursday’s annual Convention to make a staunch defence of the Éire Óg underage Academy that has put the Ennis club at loggerheads with the Clare GAA leaders over the past two years.

Moroney, who is also a former secretary of Éire Óg, said the Academy that caters for children between the ages of six and 12, has “mobilised excellent coaches” and is the way forward for the club.

He made his comments in response to a motion for the Banner club that called on the county board to establish a committee that would be responsibility for managing GAA affairs in Ennis.

“It’s far more complex than implementing By-Law 19. It needs a lot more consideration,” said Moroney. “Ennis does require attention, but it should be started organically between the clubs and the clubs themselves must get up off the floor and promote it in a much better fashion.

“The Éire Óg would totally go along with the sentiment of improving the standard and levels of participation of GAA in Ennis.

“We would totally agree that the promotion of the GAA in an urban context would present a lot more difficulties and frustrations.

“It is true to say that in urban populations there isn’t as great a penetration for our games as would exist in country places where identity is so bound to the local place and is so strong. It is far more difficult with other codes.

“The club has started working much harder with the Academy. Without slapping our own club on the back, it has been extremely successful and it has mobilised excellent coaches and people who want to learn the coaching trade.

“We have put in place a Child Protection Officer and everything like that and we’ve lucky to get over 200 kids over 18 months two years now.

“We feel the answer to the problem in Ennis lies with strengthening the clubs and assisting the urban clubs in being able to give the proper service to all the youth and maximising the participation of all the youth in the town,” added Moroney (below).

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Ennis is a ‘luxury’ for Clare GAA

THERE should be as many as four adult clubs in Ennis – Clare’s county capital that has been described as “a luxury the GAA can’t afford anymore”.

Stinging criticism of the current state of health of Gaelic games in the capital was sounded out by Ruan delegate, Ger Lyons, who called for the Clare County Board to spearhead a new direction for promotion of GAA affairs in the centre of population.

“This is a subject for a whole meeting in itself,” said Lyons. “The whole town of Ennis is a luxury that the GAA can’t afford anymore.

“If you look at Killarney and Tralee – they all have two or three functioning clubs at senior level. I acknowledge the effort that’s being done by Éire Óg, but with the population – Ennis has gone so big and that we have to grasp the nettle, sooner rather than later and stop pussy footing around. There should be three or four clubs in the town of Ennis that can survive and function,” he added.

And, in calling for change, Lyons highlighted the fact that many attempts at tackling the promotion of GAA in Ennis have failed.

“There has been a lot of resources put into in Ennis and initiatives have gone so far but then all of a sudden they fall apart. They go so far that then it stops,” he said.

“We (Ruan) have been associated with The Banner and there have been some fantastic hurlers there but a lot of them have fallen by the wayside. That’s sad and I think the GAA in Clare cannot afford the luxury of Ennis the way it is.

“There has been too much standing aside and it needs a lot of leadership and a longer discussion. My main point is that there should be a lot more units in the town of Ennis. Ennis is not a small place anymore,” he added.

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Banner rings the alarm bell

CLARE GAA has been told to face up to the reality that “there is a problem” with the promotion of Gaelic Games in Ennis.

This alarm was sounded out by the Banner club that has called on Clare GAA to establish a committee to oversee GAA affairs in the county capital, while ensuring that Ennis Urban Board has responsibility for all players under the age of 12 – a situation that has been directly challenged by the Éire Óg decision to establish an Academy to cater for children between the ages of six and 12.

“The urban committee should control the Urban Board – the Urban Board looks after the age group from 12 down,” Banner chairman, OwenRynne told Convention.

He made his call after tabling a mo- tion that called on the Clare County Board to abide by its own rules, by implement By-Law 19 which decrees that an urban committee be established in Ennis to oversee the promotion of games within the town.

“The Banner have proposed this motion to highlight to the board that urban areas are quite complex and need specific focus put on them,” Rynne told the Convention.

“Fundamentally there are numerous distractions in an urban area that the GAA player will encounter in their playing career.

“It is the duty of the club to highlight the fact that extra emphasis must be put on promoting the GAA in urban areas such as Ennis and making sure that the GAA marketed to compete against other sports.

“The club believes that with the implementation of the By-Law 19 that this urban committee can look at issues arising with urban areas and are ready to tackle problems as they may present themselves.

“It is imperative that we get the maximum participation of youth and adults playing our national games and raising the standard of games within Ennis.

“Coiste Contae an Chláir must ensure that we maximise our efforts to promote the GAA within the Ennis urban area and the club believes that by implementing By-Law 19 the board can deal with this issue,” added the Banner delegate.

After a number of questions from Éire Óg delegate Simon Moroney and county board chairman, Michael O’Neill, who asked “what is the intention of the motion”, the Banner delegate reiterated his club’s desire for the board to implement its own bylaws.

“The urban committee should look after urban issues. The urban committee deals with urbanisation and urban issues,” he said. “It needs to be identified that there is a problem.

“The intention of the motion is simple. There are problems within urban areas and we need to tackle that within Clare and within Ennis. It’s fairly clear, we are trying to promote the GAA within an urban area,” he added. “We appointed PJ Fitzpatrick recently to look into the overall Ennis situation in relation to The Banner, Éire Óg and Urban Board,” said chairman, Michael O’Neill.

“Until such time as PJ, and I know that he is close to coming up with his findings on that, we will hold off. Whenever that happens, we’ll leave it until those findings are available to us,” added the chairman.

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‘The weather caught and TG4 killed us’

CLARE GAA is in the black, but will only remain so if costs are cut further in 2012, delegates to last Thursday’s Convention were warned as they were challenged to come up with new initiatives to boost the county board’s coffers.

County board treasurer, Bernard Keane and auditor Tony Fitzpatrick laid bare the financial facts behind the 2011 figures – the latter calling for belts to be tightened, while the former urging a “collective effort” between the top table of the board and the clubs to “keep Clare GAA above water” in 2012.

“It’s nice to finish above the line rather than below the line,” said Mr Keane, “but we had a very difficult year, but we are very happy to be above the line with a small surplus.

“Going forward we are not in a comfortable place financially in this county board. We all realise that. Over the last number of years our margins have been getting smaller, smaller and smaller.

“The fact that our income is down € 160,000 is a very worrying aspect. We can’t run away from that. We can and we will do our best to try and trim our expenditure. Expenditure are bricks in the wall the whole time and there are only so many bricks you can take off the wall before the wall crumbles on you,” he added.

The treasurer revealed that the biggest blow to the board’s financial situation, which saw the surplus for the year’s activities reduce from € 64,366 in 2010 to € 17,796 within the space of 12 months was brought about by a big drop in monies from gate receipts, locally and nationally.

“The biggest disappointment on our income side was our home games. There were various reasons for that,” Keane revealed. “During the course of year we introduced vari- ous schemes – 25 tickets, 15 tickets to help the cause.

“We got very few financially attractive replays. The biggest problem was that the patrons weren’t coming out to support the games. That’s the biggest worry.

“We noticed that in the second half of the year there was a drop off. Our county final was particularly disappointing. Our hurling final realised € 44, 580, our football final € 45,754.

“We were very disappointed with the hurling final, because we had a very attractive programme on the day, but the weather caught us and TG4 killed us. The National League was in the same vein, because patrons weren’t coming out either,” he added.

Now, in response to what county board secretary, Pat Fitzgerald has called “a bleak financial position”, Keane has called on the county club’s to become the brains behind a range of new fundraising ideas to create much-needed cash flow for the year ahead.

“Don’t anyone be under any illusions that a fundraising draw won’t happen in 2012 – it will happen because it has to happen,” said Keane. “The shape of the project, we are not sure of yet. We are waiting for submissions to come from the clubs and are waiting until the 20th of January.

“What we’re asking is that any club out there that has an idea for a fundraising scheme that would work for the county board – we would be hoping that the board would come on board with that.

“We are going to have to come up with new schemes of making money as well as enhancing the schemes that we have there. Every club will have to come on board with the fundraising project and work with that. We have to have new ideas and new brainwaves that will bring in finance.

“We’re all in this together. No one individual or no one club can save this situation. It will be all of us working positively together,” he added.

In closing the debate, auditor Tony Fitzpatrick warned that “if expenditure isn’t watched and if costs aren’t cut, we will go into the red.

“Tighten the belts and perform on the field and we will be fine,” he added.