Month: February 2012

ONE East Clare school faces the prospect of having its teaching numbers halved next year, if the Minister for Education continues with his proposed cuts to staffing levels in primary schools.

The Killaloe Boys National School, which currently has a staff of 14 – nine mainstream and remedial teachers and five special needs assistants (SNA) – could be starting next September with just 7.5 – 6.5 teachers and one SNA if the cuts are implemented.

School principal David McCormack explained that it will not only be the teachers that will struggle to cope with the increased class numbers.

“Our school building will not facilitate an increase in class sizes as three of our classrooms are part of the old building and will not sustain extra furniture to accommodate 30 children. We have statistics from our school engineer to confirm this,” he said.

The school was given special status in 2002 entitled Giving Children an Even Break which allowed for an extra class teacher and a reduced pupil teacher ratio.

This school has now been notified that this teaching post will also be cut.

Concerned parents attended a meeting at the Killaloe school on Thurs- day last to hear what Clare INTO Executive Sean McMahon described as “social injustice”.

“A new buzz word has entered the Irish dictionary and the Irish psyche – austerity,” he told parents.

“Austerity in primary schools like Killaloe Boys translates to staff cuts be they teacher, SNA or ancillary personnel. It translates into larger classes, multigrade classes, lower school budgets, and less learning support for weaker pupils.

“This will undoubtedly lead to a under achievement and a denial of the rights of pupils to reach their full potential. Obviously these impacts will be most severe among our disadvantaged and marginalised pupils,” he added.

Hundred of parents and teachers from Clare also travelled to Dublin last week to protest at the proposed cuts to staffing levels in smaller rural schools.

The majority travelled from east and west Clare to the Dáil protest on Wednesday.

Meanwhile plans are being put in place for a public meeting involving INTO members, parents, boards of management, patron representatives and school communities at the West County Hotel on Monday night, February 20, to address these issues.

“All Oireachtas members in Clare are to be invited to listen to our collective concerns,” said Mr McMahon.

FEARS have been expressed that history will repeat itself in Clare, resulting in beds remaining closed at one of the county’s best known nursing homes.

The HSE revealed this week that between five and 10 beds will close in the county’s public nursing homes when the results of a review of the Long Term Nursing Homes is announced.

A further 19 beds are to close at St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis for refur- bishment, but one Clare representative on the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), said he hopes that the word “refurbishment” does not have the same connotations that it has had in recent health history.

“What has to be welcomed is that the HSE is providing the resources to upgrade two large wards in St Joseph’s to comply with HIQA requirements.

“It is a credit to staff at St Joseph’s that they have been able to keep bed reductions to a minimum to allow the ward closures for the upgrade,” he said. “The greatest challenge to all nursing homes in Clare will be trying to keep beds operational as nursing staff are not being replaced. I am concerned that the HSE admission that between five and 10 beds will be lost could be compounded by hard decisions hospital management will have to make to safely manage beds,” he added.

“I request that Deputy Breen and the other TDs continue to make a case for the lifting of the embargo on frontline staff. The reality is beds will close unless nurses can be employed.

“While I understand that TDs have to try to be the first with telling their constituents some good news, I request them to make it clear to the Minister for Finance and Health that the embargo on hiring nurses will cause a reduction in the number of elderly care and acute beds.”

Clare TD Pat Breen (FG) welcomed news that no nursing home in Clare is to close following the review and said he was assured that 11 of St Joseph’s beds will be re-opened after six weeks, with the remaining eight beds re-opening after a further six weeks.

“I understand from the HSE that the situation in the Long Term Nursing Home area will be kept under constant review for the remainder of the year and that hopefully no further bed closures will be necessary but this will be dependent on a number of factors; namely an unanticipated increase in sick leave or further staff departures from the service or other changed circumstances,” Deputy Breen said.

The nursing homes included in the review are Regina House in Kilrush, Raheen Hospital in Tuamgraney, Ennistymon Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospital.

A SEISMOMETER located at the Cliffs of Moher has already recorded two earthquakes in its first week of operations.

The machine, which was installed by the Geological Survey of Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher last week, has already detected two earthquakes which shook the Pacific Islands of Vanuatu over the past few days.

An earthquake measuring 2.6 on the Richter Scale shook North Clare in May of 2006. This new device will be able to provide exact details on any future tremors which occur in the area.

“The seismometer is a precisionbuilt custom-made device which will be recording data on an ongoing basis at the Cliffs of Moher. Already, since it has been installed, a series of substantial earthquakes in Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands have been registered,” said Katherine Webster of the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience.

“When we record an incident on the seismometer we update the data to the Incorporated Research Institutions of Seismology (IRIS). The information that we pick up is quite technical. We can establish the distance at which the earthquake is oc- curring, however, in order to find the location of the earthquake we need to have the information from two other seismographs which would allow us to triangulate the exact location.

“Had the device been installed for the May 2010 earthquake in Clare it would have recorded data from it – likewise the one in Donegal last week.”

As well as recording seismic events from all over the world the seismometer will also be used as part of the Cliff’s Education Programme for students and a graphic display is attached to the device to providing both historic and real time informa- tion for visitors to view.

Meanwhile, the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience will celebrate its fifth birthday tomorrow with a number of events to mark the occasion. The centre, which was officially opened by the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (FF) on February 8, 2007, in one of his final events as Taoiseach.

To mark the anniversary, The Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience will launch a detailed guide leaflet for the cliffs which will be presented to everyone tourist who comes to the North Clare centre. The celebration will take place from 12 noon to 4pm tomorrow with free entry for those who wish to attend.

TROUBLED teens from Clare were amongst those sent abroad last year for “treatment” at a cost of € 250,000 each, while a local specialist unit was closed for renovation.

That is according to Ennis Town Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) who raised concerns that Coovagh House was closed for renovations for more than six months.

The house on the grounds of St Joseph’s Hospital in Limerick was built in 2003 at a cost of € 10 million to house and assist teenagers from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary with behavioural problems.

Cllr O’Shea brought it to the attention of his council colleagues that as many as 13 young people were sent abroad for care at a cost of € 6. 5 million or a quarter of a million euro each.

This process has since ceased, leaving Cllr O’Shea to question where Clare teens with problem are now being referred.

“This is a national disgrace,” he said.

The Ennis councillor added that he also wants to know when the local unit, which closed in June last year, will reopen. “It closed at the time for renovations, which were to take six weeks,” he added.

He said that he was having difficulty getting any commitment on the future of Coovagh House from the HSE, and was now bringing the matter to the attention of Labour TD Michael McNamara.

In reply to questions from The Cla r e People, a spokesperson for the HSE said that Coovagh House was scheduled to reopen in March 2012, once the remaining development work was completed.

“The staff are reassigned locally or to other units within the National High Support and Special Care Service,” she said.

Asked where the young people who rely on this specialist unit now reside, the spokesperson replied, “Young people are accommodated in other units within the National High Support and Special Care Service.”

Meanwhile, Ennis Town Council has agreed to write to the HSE seeking clarification of the re-opening date, and when referrals can be made for Ennis children who require urgent special care.

TAXI drivers in Clare say they are facing financial ruin as changes to the law mean they will not be able to sell their licences after October.

While MEP Jim Higgins (FG) maintains that the new taxi legislation is good for Ennis, the men and women behind the wheel have a different opinion.

Ennis taxi driver and member of the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation Martin White described as “ludicrous” the ban on selling licences.

“It is absolutely ludicrous to tell drivers that have invested in plates, that they can’t sell them after October,” he said. “A lot of theses lads have 25 to 27 years experience and if they, God forbid, has a stroke or heart attack after October their family would be left with a licence that could not be sold.”

He added that at least three local taxi drivers spent more than € 100,000 on licences before deregulation in 2000. “Then too many plates were issued when deregulation came in,” added Mr White.

He said taxi drivers are struggling to make ends meet as Ennis town has become very quite and there are so many licensed drivers out there.

“I worked for 12 hours last Monday for € 18,” he said.

Another driver told how she worked from 9pm to 12.30pm on Sunday and made just € 6. He maintains the new legislation will force a lot of experienced drivers out of the business before October and on to the dole queues. “The Government should buy back the plates from lads that want to get out,” he said. “There is € 22 million in the national reserve that was handed over from the regulator and we are asking the Government to put € 2 million a year aside and let some drivers out with a bit of dignity.” He said that there were a lot of regulations in the new legislation, which he welcomed, but the non-sale of licences was crazy.

The MEP, Mr Higgins has welcomed the new legislation which he says will resolve the problems currently in existence in Ennis due to an oversupply of taxis.

“In recent years, taxi ranks in Ennis were overflowing. It’s about getting the balance right. In the ‘90s there were not enough taxis in Ennis, but in the past decade, things went too far in the other direction. These new proposals mean professional drivers will be given a fairer crack of the whip, by eliminating rogue operators, and at the same time increasing the service levels provided to the public.”

Among the measures to be introduced include taxi drivers having to accept credit cards, a new more tamper-proof taxi plate, and a smart phone application to allow customers to check in real time with their phone that the taxi driver is properly licensed.

THE amount of racism being experienced by migrants living and working in Clare has increased over the past 12 months – but the vast majority of people still do not report racist activity to the authorities.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) released its 2011 statistics last week which showed that they received 155 queries from people in Clare over the last 12 months. As the vast majority of people who contact the ICI do not identify their county of origin, the number of Clare-based people contacting the organisation is believed to be closer to 500.

According to Brian Killoran of the ICI, the recession has increased the pressure on migrants – most of whom will lose their legal right to reside in Ireland if they lose their job.

“There is a definite noticeable increase in the numbers who have been reporting racial incidences over the last year. There is still not a huge amount but there has been a very noticeable increase in the negative experiences that people are having on a day-to-day basis. The big hill that we are facing in terms of racist abuse is that people are reluctant to report an incident,” he said.

“The people will speak about it to their own family and friends but will not report it to the authorities or to the Guards. They just get on with it. The results of that is that statistic across the board for racism are still relatively low but all the anecdotal evidence suggests that racism is quite high but people are just not reporting it. They just don’t think that anything will happen if they do.”

According to the ICI figures, the type of questions being asked by Clare-based migrants has changed also – with people now more concerned with what will happen to them if they lose their jobs and how they can apply for full Irish citizenship.

“The tone of queries has changed. Originally it was about family reunification but it is now much more about dealing with people who have been here for five or six years and the questions that they would have about gaining citizenship and things like that. People are very insecure about their jobs – most of the people we deal with are from outside the EU. So they have a work permit that is tied to their job but a lot of people are afraid of what will happen if they lose their job. Will they also lose their home,” continued Brian.

AN unemployed construction worker attempted to blackmail a woman he met through an internet dating site for € 15,000, an Ennis court has heard.

Alan Custy (35) demanded money from the woman after he led her to believe that he had recorded an “inti- mate” encounter between them in his jeep. A Garda investigation determined that Custy did not have a camera in his jeep and that no recording existed.

Custy, with an address at 76 Dun na hInse, Ennis, pleaded guilty to making an unwarranted demand for monies with menaces contrary to Section 17 of the Criminal Justice Public Or- der Act.

The court heard that the complainant and the accused met through two websites, connectingsingles.com and smooch.com

The court heard that Custy and the victim were both involved in relationships at the time.

Over a 10-day period from July 9 to 19 (2010), Custy made the demands through a series of 11 text messages and a number of phone calls.

The court heard that he looked for € 15,000 from either the woman or her husband, claiming he needed the money to “pay the taxman”.

According to one text message read out in court, Custy told the woman, “I’d say he would find € 15,000 for proof you cheated on him”.

Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy told the court that the woman told her she was being blackmailed.

The woman said that Custy had told her he was single. She said that he told her “he was under financial pressure”.