Month: January 2012

A SOUTH African man is picked on because of the “colour of his skin” on nights out in Ennis, a court has heard.

Derek Matha (20), with an address at 108 Woodhaven, Kilrush Road, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

Matha faced the potential activation of a two-month suspended sentence previously imposed by the Court.

Solicitor Darragh Hassett said his client had never come to the court’s attention as a juvenile.

He told the court that the suspended sentence related to a public order incident that involved a number of people in Ennis.

Mr Hassett explained, “The colour of his skin was called into question. The N-word was used and he reacted badly.”

He said Matha “gets picked on because of the colour of his skin”, adding that drink doesn’t agree with him.

He said Matha is “quite naïve”. He said his client is now off the drink and is living a “hermit life”. Mr Hassett said his client is currently carrying out community service.

He added that Matha is enrolled in the youthreach programe and is currently looking for work.

Mr Hassett asked that the suspended sentence not be enforced.

The court heard that Matha was convicted of assault causing harm at Athlone District Court earlier this month. Mr Hassett said compensation had been paid in the Athlone case.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said that, under the circumstances, he would not invoke the suspended sentence

He fixed bail and remanded the accused to appear at Athlone District Court on January 25.

ROAD deaths in Clare last year were the lowest in the country with two fatalities. The number was half of the previous year, when four people lost their lives on the county’s roads.

Welcoming the reduction, Chief Superintendent John Kerins said the number of deaths on the road has reduced significantly from a time when there were 15 to 16 people a year los- ing their lives on Clare roads.

Serious injury also fell by almost one-third with just seven cases in 2011.

Non-serious traffic collisions were also down significantly from 128 to 97 – a drop of 42 per cent.

Gardaí in Clare recorded an increase in the number of material damage collisions from 774 to 826 – an increase of seven per cent.

Superintendent Peter Duff said that many commentators attribute the increase in the figure to safer built cars.

People are now walking away from accidents with minor injuries, where previously they would have been seriously hurt.

Chief Supt Kerins attributed the reduction in deaths and serious injuries on the roads to new traffic laws and the penalty point system, as well as Garda enforcement and the work of Clare County Council.

On driver penalty points he said, “Whether we like them or not they are having a positive affect on our roads.”

He also paid tribute to Barry Keating, the road safety officer with Clare County Council.

Meanwhile the numbers of people arrested for drink driving in 2011 had reduced by 15 per cent on the previous year, while the number arrested for driving under the influence of drugs had increased by 15 per cent.

The number of missing people cases logged with the gardaí in 2011 was 374 people, but Supt Duff explained that this figure was not necessarily reflective of the number of people going missing.

“A small number of people make up a large number in this case,” he said explaining that many of the cases were young people in the care of the HSE that went missing repeatedly and were returned within hours of the report.

DRIVERS and pedestrians in Ennis have been urged to be vigilant after two accidents on the Clare Road in just over a week.

A fourth-year student from St Flannan’s College escaped serious injury when he was struck by a car on a stretch of road between Captain Mac’s Cross and the Turnpike.

The incident occurred at lunchtime last Thursday. The student received medical treatment.

Deputy Principal John Minogue explained that the student was brought to hospital but that the school had not received a report of any serious injury.

Another teenager was injured 10 days ago by a car exiting the carpark of the West County Hotel. An ambulance was called to the scene.

The incidents have led to calls for greater vigilance and awareness on routes around Ennis.

Road Safety Officer with Clare County Council, Barry Keating, said yesterday that there is an onus on both drivers and pedestrians to be aware of the dangers, particularly at busy periods of the day.

“In general, we would ask people to be extra vigilant and to pay extra attention, particularly around schools. There are a lot of people exiting schools at lunchtime and we would ask drivers to be cognizant of this.”

He added, “This applies to pedestrians too but in general we would always say to drivers to be extra vigilant when they are driving past schools, especially at lunchtime. when you have a large number of people looking to cross the road.”

Concern was also expressed yesterday over bus- and car-parking on roads near St Flannan’s College.

Senior Executive Engineer, Eamon O’Dea said yesterday that he is aware that some cars are parking on the slip road that leads from the roundabout at Lynch’s joinery to Flannan’s, a situation he described as “disgraceful”.

Cllr Brennan said that buses parked at Flannan’s school are “blocking up the road” in the morning and afternoon.

He said measures were needed to improve safety at the location.

Cllr Brennan said that electronic speed repeater signs, similar to those in place on the Tulla Road, should be placed on the road between the Éire Óg GAA grounds and St Flannan’s.

THE number of commercial flights landing at Shannon Airport in 2011 was 42 per cent less than the number coming to the airport at the height of the Celtic Tiger in 2008. This massive drop in plane numbers was confirmed by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last week when Shannon Airport was also confirmed as Ireland’s third busiest airport, behind both Dublin and Cork.

A total of 19,275 planes landed in Shannon Airport in 2011, or an average of 53 planes each day. This compares to Cork Airport where 22,173 coastal flights landed and Dublin where 522,959 flights landed.

Despite the 42 per cent drop from the 2008 peak, these latest figures actually represent an improvement on the 2010 passenger numbers, with 2.7 per cent more flights landing at the airport last year, compared to 2010.

The figures also indicated that the gap between Shannon and Cork Airport to be Ireland’s second most used commercial airport in closing. Shannon’s 2.7 per cent increase in plane traffic compares to a 6.2 per cent year-on-year reduction to the traffic numbers coming through Cork Airport. Should this trend continue, Shannon Airport would pass out Cork and once again become Ireland’s second most popular airport in 2015.

The figures do not include the number of US military airplanes which used the facilities at Shannon in 2011. If military flights had been used as part of the calculations, Shannon would have outstripped Cork in the number of planes using the facility.

The improvement on the 2010 figures may not indicate a rebound in the industry, however, as numbers were down in that year as a result of the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano.

According to Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the IAA, the reduction in traffic volumes was very disappointing but was not unexpected in the context of the global economic crises. “En route charges in Irish airspace have been reduced by eight per cent this year and we hope to reduce these further in 2013 and 2014. Our reductions greatly exceed the minimum 3.5 per cent required by the Single European Sky II package and Ireland is the fourth lowest in Europe for air traffic control charges to airlines in 2012,” he said.

“The terminal charges have also been reduced by 21 per cent this month and will be cut by six per cent yearly from 2013 to 2015.”

A WEST CLARE company has given Clare food producers a huge boost this week with the news that it has broken into the lucrative American market by supplying its unique seafood products to a high-profile chain of department stores across the country.

Spanish Point Sea Vegetables, operated by the Talty family in Caherush in Quilty, is poised for major expansion on the back of securing a contract to supply the Dean & Deluca chain of stores with its expanding range of seaweed products that are produced and packaged locally.

This move into the international market comes less than three years after the company was established by Ger, Anne and Evan Talty in 2009. It has since undergone rapid expansion in its product range and operation in Caherush. The move into the US market means that the company, which provides products to over 400 shops nationwide, is to be re-branded to meet the new challenges and demands of servicing international customers.

“We are changing the name of the business from Spanish Point Sea Vegetables to Wild Irish Seafoods,” Evan Talty told The Clare People this week. “This is because, outside of County Clare, Spanish Point isn’t really that well known so in America, if it was Spanish Point Sea Vegetables, they’d think it’s coming from Spain, which is no good,” he added. The company started by producing two local delacies, Dillisk and Carrageen, for local health food shops around the county, but in the last year has undergone rapid growth in terms of its products and the range of shops that carry these products. “We have seven or eight different products in the range that we’ve developed. There are hundreds of different types of seaweed but we concentrate on seven, the edible ones. We would supply health food shops, shops like SuperValu, Centra, fish shops. We also supply a product for seaweed baths and, at last year’s Ploughing Championships, we launched an animal feed and a soil conditioner,” revealed Talty.

To facilitate the company’s growth, a new processing plant – which was grant aided by the Clare Leader Programme – has been built, while a number of jobs will be created when the company goes into full production during the summer season after Wild Irish Seafoods is officially launched in the the spring.

THE number of people signing on the Live Register in Clare broke through 10,000 mark last month, with a total of 10,368 people signing on in the county in December.

The latest figures come after two consecutive months of positive figures which had seen the Live Register figures drop below the 10,000 mark for the first time in more than two years.

The latest figures released from the Central Statistics Office show that 5,768 people were signing on in Ennis last month, while 1,671 were signing on in Ennistymon; 1,468 signing on in Kilrush; and 1,493 signing on in Tulla.

The overall figure for the county marks a year-on-year drop of 251 from the 10,619 who were signing on in the county in December of 2010.

The figures do not, however, take into account the large number of people who are expected to leave the county after the Christmas period. With large numbers set to emigrate, especially from rural communities, it is likely that any drop in the January figures would be brought about by emigration rather than by job creation.

The numbers signing on are still more than 500 people short of the all-time high in the county which was recorded in February of last year when a total of 10,883 people were signing on in the county.

The biggest month-on-month increase in the Live Register was recorded in Ennis where the numbers signing on swelled by 101 people, from 5,635 to 5,736.

The largest percentage increase, however, was recorded in Ennistymon with a jump of 80 people signing on, from 1, 597 to 1,671, amounted to a five per cent increase in just one month.

The numbers signing on in Kilrush and Tulla jumped by 59 in both locations.

A NIGERIAN doctor who made history by becoming the first immigrant to be elected to public office in Ireland has said that Ennis is “absolutely” not a racist town.

Taiwo Matthew, who was elected to Ennis Town Council in 2004, said yesterday that he has never been subjected to racist abuse since moving to in Ennis in 1999.

He said, “Me as a person, not at all. I’ll be honest. I will tell you that I have never experienced (racism) and I would not trade Ennis for any town in Ireland. I say that sincerely. Everybody might have a different opinion but I can tell you that even within the African population, the majority of people will tell you that Ennis is one of the best towns.”

Mr Matthew lost his seat at the 2009 local elections. He said his success in getting elected in Ennis would not have been possible without the support of a broad section of the community.

He said, “I couldn’t have done what I did. I couldn’t have been elected without the support of the people. I have always said that that is a reflection of the maturity of the people in Ennis, in their hearts and minds. You know, to elect somebody from the continent of Africa, you would have thought that was impossible. It was the first ever in the country.”

He continued, “If anybody is saying that Ennis is racist, then show me the evidence, show me the facts. I speak and I get involved with people across the community and I have never, never anywhere experienced it (racism).”

He added, “When these incidents happen, they bring it to my notice. Over the past 12 years, I haven’t had five or 10 incidents of racist abuse.”

The father of three was commenting after a man received a prison sentence for an assault on Nigerian taxi driver Batholomew Omoifo in Ennis in June 2010.

Mr Matthew said incidents of this nature are isolated and that the image of Ennis as a racist town is an incorrect one.

He said, “That would not be the perception of the population that I know, the immigrants or the indigenous population that I know. No, I won’t buy that. I have said this before, it is making a mountain out of a molehill.”

He added, “I would tell you that that incident is an isolated incident. In any bucket of grapes, you will always find a bad one. Things will happen. That would not be the perception of Ennis.”

Mr Matthew said that Ennis had welcomed immigrants at a time when other towns and cities hadn’t.

He added, “I have lived in Ennis for 12 years and, when I say I am an Ennis man, I think I have every right to say so! I have been in Ennis since 1999. I have three children. They started primary school here and my first girl is finishing in Coláiste Muire this year, doing her Leaving Cert.”

AN assault on a taxi driver in Ennis was “blown out of the water” by the media, according to the Mayor of Ennis.

Independent Councillor Michael Guilfoyle was speaking at the January meeting of Ennis Town Council as members rejected the image of Ennis as a racist town.

Cllr Guilfoyle was commenting after a man received a prison sentence for an assault on Nigerian taxi driver Batholomew Omoifo in Ennis in June 2010.

Ennis District Court heard that Mr Omoifo suffered € 2,400 worth of damage to his teeth as a result of the assault.

Cllr Guilfoyle (Ind) told last week’s meeting that many people had been assaulted in Ennis over the years. In relation to the assault on Mr Omoifo, Cllr Guilfoyle said that when the “media got it, it turned out a lot worse than it was”.

He added, “The media have a habit of blowing things out of the water.”

He said Ennis had been portrayed as a racist town and “we’re not that type of town”.

The matter was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) who said he rejected out of hand the assertion that Ennis is a racist town.

He said, “Ennis is as open and tolerant a town as I have come across.”

Cllr Meaney said that Mr Omoifo had said he was subjected to daily racist abuse in Ennis. Cllr Meaney said he did not accept this statement, saying that he would like the taxi driver to speak at a council meeting.

He added, “I would like an opportunity to correct a media record that is starting to develop that is injurious to the image of this town.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said Ennis is one of the friendliest towns in Ireland, pointing to the electoral success of Taiwo Matthew and Dr Moosajee Bhamjee as proof that racist attitudes are not widespread in Ennis.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) told the meeting that he had listened to an interview with Mr Omoifo on Clare FM. He said that Mr Omoifo had praised the town of Ennis and the people of Ennis.

“It’s not all one-sided,” he added.

WEST Clare locals appear to be split on a proposal to construct one of Ireland’s largest ever wind energy farms in Doonbeg, with a number of local submissions, both for and against, being lodged with An Bord Pleanála. The proposal would see the construction of 45 wind turbines at Shragh near Doonbeg, in an area where 13 turbines have been constructed or have been granted permission for construction.

If constructed, the € 200 million wind farm will see turbines reaching 400 feet tall, more than half the height of the Cliffs of Moher. While some concerns have been raised about the scale of the farm, it has also been argued that the development will be a major economic boost for the area, with more than 100 jobs being created in the construction phase while 79 local farmers and landowners are set to benefit from annual rental payments from West Coastal Wind Power Ltd, the company developing the farm.

One of the main objectors to the project is the Friends of the Environment organisation, who say that the development would be the largest of its kind in Ireland if it gets the goahead. They also accused the developers of using the bait of big financial pay-outs to landowners to split the local community on the issue.

“The proposed very large wind farm is an inappropriate development as it will have a significant adverse visual impact on the landscape, ecology and on rare and protected species, with an adverse effect on tourism and the local economy,” said Tony Lowes of Friends of the Environment. “Because of the substantial payments involved to participating landowners, developers can split rural communities with long-term social consequences.”

In their submission, the Friends of the Environment also claim that the developments on both the Tullaher Loop and the Doonbeg Loop walking routes have been developed in the area in recent years.

Other groups to lodge submissions on the plan include Birdwatch Ireland, the Department of Heritage and Fáilte Ireland, who have raised concern over what they describe as the “industrial scale” of the proposed development.

CONCERNS have been raised this week by members of the Psychiatric Nurses Association in Clare that cutbacks with the health services in Tipperary will severely impact of the care that will be available for Clare psychiatric patients.

This is because the closure of the psychiatric ward at Clonmel Hospital now means that patients from the north Tipperary catchment that were previously catered for in Clonmel now have to come to Ennis for treatment.

“This impacts on Clare,” one psy- chiatric nurse told The Cla re People this week, “because a service that was there for Clare patients is effectively being stretched with much more demands placed on it.

“This leads to overcrowding and patients being on the corridors,” he added. The Cla re People has learned that up to 12 patients from north Tipperary who previously would have been catered for in Clonmel have now come to Ennis for their psychiatric care needs.

With only around 40 psychiatric beds in Clare at present, the move to bring patients from Tipperary for their treatment to already overloaded services in Clare has been met with opposition from public representatives.

“This has to be put on hold,” said Cllr Brian Meaney, who is a member of Regional Health Forum West.

“The HSE should do this until such time as they know what their staff compliment for psychiatric services will be this year and if it is implemented it will put a very big strain on resources,” he added.

The news of extra demand for acute beds in Clare comes at the same time as the publication of the HSE Service Plan for 2012 that was launched by the Minister for Health, James Reilly on Monday.

“It’s clear that there is now a reduction in bed capacity in acute services in the region and this places greater pressure on services in Clare,” Deputy Timmy Dooley said on Monday, “while there could be a reduction of up to 230 elderly care beds in the public area over the next year in the west area that Clare is a part of.

“If this happens the long-term future of the public nursing homes that are in Ennistymon, Raheen and Kilrush could be put in jeopardy,” he added.

The HSE West was contacted by The Cla re People , but declined to comment on the Clare specifics of the 2012 Service Plan.