Month: December 2011

THE Green Party’s newly appointed spokesperson for European Affairs, Clare councillor Brian Meaney, has hit out at European leaders for fiddling while the Euro burns.

The Ennis-based councillor was named on the party’s new-look front bench by party leader Eamon Ryan last week and believes European leaders need to step up to the plate and really tackle the Euro crisis.

“I am appalled, I am standing back stunned to see what is going on with- in the political structures of Europe at the moment. They are still only tinkering around the edges. The Euro is in a total crisis – it is a currency without a treasury or any institutions that support it and the powers that be think we can just tinker around the edges,” he said.

“We are in a position where there should not be a question whether there should be a referendum or not, the true reform that is needed is so great that it would require a constitutional referendum in Ireland. I do think that people do understand the benefits of our participation in Europe and they will vote to continue it.”

The Green Party have also outlined how the party plans to recover from loosing all of its six representatives in Dáil Éireann in February’s General Election.

“We are a policy orientated party. But the changes will come in how these policies are brought to the fore. I thing you will see a more pragmatic and realistic party who are going to follow policies that are achievable,” said Cllr Meaney. “I don’t like the approach that this government has taken to climate change and we are going to bring forward policies that will challenge the mainstream political thinking. I think we will be able to bring something that will have a deeper relevance for the people.”

One of the party’s first stated aims is to double the number of local Green Party councillors in Ireland in the 2013 local elections. The new front bench contains only two members who have served as a TD or Senator for the party in the past – party leader Eamon Ryan and Ciarán Cuffe.

CLARE parents have been warned not to purchase a puppy as a gift for their children this year by the county’s dog warden Frankie Coote, who had to rehouse dozens of newly abandoned animals in the first week after Christmas last year.

Anyone interested in getting a pet for their family this Christmas is instead asked to visit the Clare Dog Pound with their children and speak to a trained professional about what is required to look after a dog prop- erly.

“Unfortunately, each year parents and relatives go out there and decide to buy a pet for a child for Christmas. We would advice anyone who is thinking of getting a dog at Christmas, and they have the right time and facilities, that they should go to a pound and rehouse a dog rather than going to a puppy farm. Puppy farms are just breeding establishments and you are going to buy from a puppy farm you really need to see the dogs parents and what sort of conditions they are being kept with,” said Frankie.

“Parents can rush into getting a dog as a present without really thinking about the amount of work that is involved in a dog.

“Last Christmas we saw a number of relatives bringing a puppy for their niece of nephew – that is a terrible thing to do with someone. The people are not prepared for the pup and all the work that that entails. Last year I had to go to several people immediately after Christmas because they just were not able to take care of their pups. It is a big commit- ment and people who get a puppy at Christmas don’t realise this.”

Meanwhile, a number of horses have been discovered dead at various locations around the county over the past two weeks. A large number of horses were effectively abandoned last year as the prolonged cold snap mean that the owners could not feed the animals.

Flooding has been the main difficulty for animals this year with a number of horses found dead in drains and wet areas in Kilmaley and Kilkishen in the past two week.

STAFF were optimistic yesterday that work on a new building for Ennis National School will start by Easter 2012. It follows confirmation from the Department of Education and Skills that the school can precede to construction next year.

The funding announcement means that the Board of Management can proceed to tender, appoint a contractor and start construction in 2012.

The tendering process has so far received 30 expressions of interest. Tendering is to be completed within six months with construction to last 12 to 18 months.

“We would like to get going with the tender process as soon as possible”, said Deputy Principal Tom Glynn yesterday.

Students were informed of the announcement at the school’s Christmas concert. Mr Glynn explained, “It was for the junior infants and it was kind of appropriate in a way given they will be the prime beneficiaries of the new building.”

The school has been located on the Kilrush Road near the town centre since 1971. A long running campaign for a new school building resulted in the Diocese of Killaloe donating a site at Ashline.

In addition to 32 classrooms, the new building will include rooms for our reading class, special education teachers and library. The building will have an energy rating and a level of disability access, which is ahead of current regulations.

A campaign has been underway for the past 12 months to raise money for sports facilities, which will include a full-size sports hall with dressing rooms and a playing pitch.

Mr Glynn added, “It’s been a very long campaign. We got great support over the years from parents, teachers, pupils and the various different Boards of Management. We also got great support from the Parish, Ennis Town Council, our political representatives. We’re ready to roll now that the money is there.”

The announcement was welcomed by a number of Clare TDs. Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey stated, “At present, there are 16 pre-fabricated classrooms in use to educate children at the school that has a student population of between 600 and 700. Parents and staff stuck with this issue and ensured their voices were heard over recent years and they must be congratulated for this.”

According to Fine Gael TD Pat Breen, “Teachers and pupils have had to put up with prefabs for a number of years, but today’s announcement paves the way for the construction of a new state of the art facility.”

Labour TD Michael McNamara said, “The town of Ennis has badly needed a new national school for some time and that has been reflected in the Minister’s announcement today. It will, of, also bring some employment in the short term.”

A PROMINENT County Clare solicitor has strongly criticised the decision not to re-open a courthouse in Ennistymon, describing it as “an assault on rural society”.

Eugene O’Kelly, of O’Kelly Moylan Solicitors, said he will have to consider relocating his office from Ennistymon to Ennis, as a result of the decision.

The Courts Service has ruled that from January all north Clare court cases will be heard in Ennis Courthouse. In the past few years, the cases were heard in Kilrush Courthouse, but have now been moved to Ennis as part of plans to centralise the service.

A few years ago, court sittings moved from Ennistymon after the then District Court Judge Joseph Mangan argued that the venue, Teach Ceol, was unsuitable as it was cold and acoustics were poor.

At the time, the Courts Service looked for a new venue in Ennistymon and temporarily moved the hearings to Kilrush.

Mr O’Kelly, whose client base mainly covers West and North Clare, said he understood that North Clare sittings would eventually return to Ennistymon.

“I am dismayed to see it being closed without any consultation. I would see it as an assault on rural society. It is one more step in the continuous erosion of the fabric of rural communities,” he said.

Mr O’Kelly said that in 2008, there were 71 district court sittings in Ennis and this will increase to 120 next year.

“It is not that the workload has increased in Ennis requiring these sittings. Since 2008 Kilkee, Kildysart, Miltown Malbay, Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Tulla and Scarriff were abolished. When they were abolishing the North Clare ones it was said a very good facility would be developed in Ennistymon,” he said.

“That’s 31 court sittings (Ennistymon and Shannon) simply being abolished. It’s an enormous inconvenience and disruption for people in outlying villages and towns in county Clare. People are being made travel further and further to access basic services.

“The loss of a court from a town takes from the prestige of that town. The whole town suffers,” he said.

He said the decision was “centralisation for the sake of centralisation”.

“I accept that economic times such as we have require savings but these savings shouldn’t be made at the expense of rural communities. Rural society is degraded the more services are centralised,” said Mr O’Kelly.

Two years ago, Mr O’Kelly – whose main base is in Kilrush – opened an office in Ennistymon and says the proposed re-opening of a courthouse in the town was a significant factor in this decision. He said he will now have to reconsider his business options, based on this latest development.

“It is of considerable importance to my practice because we have a large client base around Ennistymon. We will have to look to opening in Ennis,” he said.

He said he fears that further services will be eroded in rural parts. “If the court is gone from Ennistymon, will the next centralisation be the garda districts? Is it going to be reduced to a 9 to 5 district as opposed to a 24-hour station?” he asked.

A 16-year-old Ennistymon girl who was struck by lightning in her home is fighting to be out of hospital for Christmas. Sixteen-year-old Aisling O’Connell was using a hairdryer in her home in Clonomera, just a mile outside Ennistymon when she was struck by lighting on Thursday, December 16.

Aisling, who is a keen basketball player and a student at Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon, remains in hospital in Galway at the moment with burns to her head and neck. She has undergone a number of skin-grafts on the effected areas and is responding well to treatment.

Aisling is a member of the school U-16 basketball team who won the Munster U-16 title over the weekend. Members of the team contacted Aisling in hospital after the historic win.

“Everyone at the school is hoping and praying for a speedy recovery. We would also like to wish her and her family all the best over Christmas,” said a spokesperson from Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon.

According to one Ennistymon local, Aisling is a brave girl and hoped are high that she will be out of hospital for Christmas.

“What we have heard is that she is doing well and is making a good recovery, she might even be out for Christmas,’ they said.

The last recorded report of a lighting strike in Clare took place in January of 2009

ONLOOKERS in Ennis were stunned on Friday afternoon last when a vicious melee broke out in the Turnpike area of the town.

The violent incident saw a van crash into three parked cars, one of which contained a four year-old child, before the occupants of another van emerged to smash windows and attack two men with shovels.

“I thought someone would be killed,” an eyewitness told The Clare People. “One van drove the other off the road, damaging cars and moving them eight or ten feet up on the footpath,” he said.

Miraculously the four year-old child was not hurt in the incident, despite the car he was in being hit by the van.“They then got out of their van and attacked the fellas in the van they run off the road. They had shov- els and smashed the windows in with the shovels. They then tried to hit the men in the van with the end of the shovels.

“It was frightening to watch. It’s a miracle no-one was seriously injured, especially the child.

“The men with the shovels took off quickly and the gardaí were here in minutes,” he explained.

Gardaí were conducting door-todoor enquiries in Ennis on Friday after the incident, which occurred around lunchtime outside Yvonne’s takeaway and Ladbrookes bookmakers.

The road was closed for a brief period. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses with any information to come forward. A garda spokesman explained;

“The driver of one of the vans was involved in an altercation on the Kilrush Road a short time earlier outside the Social Welfare offices.”