Month: April 2012

KILRUSH Town Council is to launch its campaign to play host to the National Famine Commemoration in 2013 – a project that has the capacity to bring thousands of extra tourists into West Clare. The local authority is to apply to the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht to play host to the commemoration and in conjunction with Kilrush Local History Group have pledged to organised a weeklong event.

The move was heralded at Thursday night’s monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council, which was attended by members of the Kilrush Historical Society, which since its establishment over the past 14 months has raised new awareness about history in west Clare.

Paddy Waldron of the Local History Group told Thursday’s meeting that Kilrush and West Clare had a compelling case to host the famine commemoration that has been organised by the Government since 2009.

“After the Skibereen, this was one of the worst hit areas. It was also one areas who’s famine history is best documented,” he revealed.

“We have a database of hundreds upon thousands of names of people who were evicted in the West Clare peninsula during the Famine. Those people have descendants all over the world who might like to come back and commemorate their ancestors in Clare. It would be a great opportunity to bring tourists back to West Clare.

“If we publicise it along the lines of the Ireland Gathering Project to try and bring back the descendants of the Irish diaspora to help the tourist industry. It would be good for the town to get national publicity and get national figures to come to the peninsula,” he added.

“It would be great to tie it into the Gathering next year,” said Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch (FG), who revealed that representations have already been made to bring the prestingious event to West Clare. We are in with a fighting chance of getting this. It would spark something. It would really highlight the great work the historical society is doing,” he added.

This year’s Famine Commemoration takes place in Drogheda on May 13, with an international evetn taking place the same day in Boston.

A NEW application for funding to create state-of-the-art sports facilities in Kilrush will be made by Kilrush Town Council within the next month, amid renewed hope that the project earmarked for Gallery Park on the Cooraclare Road area of the town will receive grant aid under the 2012 Sports Capital Programme.

Town Manager, Nora Kaye, told the monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council that a new deadline of May 11 has been set by the Department of Sport for grant applications for sports capital projects and that work was already underway putting the application together.

“There are very tight rules and regulations,” revealed Ms Kaye. “Last year we made two applications – one for the astro-turf and one for the grass pitches, so that two contractors could work side by side and get the project finished early. This year we have to cost each separate element of the project.

“The maximum grant is € 300,000 so we have to break them up into packages of less than € 300,000 and to prioritise them. There is a bit of work to go into them yet,” she added.

The first phase of the € 1.3m development is set to include an artificial surface facility, grassed pitches (to include a full size playing pitch and two full size training pitches), fencing, lighting and associated works. The second phase of the project will include the development of dressing rooms, car parking, footpaths and associated works.

Plans for the ambitious project were unveiled were unveiled last summer when it was revealed that Clare County Council had reached an agreement with Gallery Park landowners Department of Education and the ESB to develop the site, but the initial application for funding for inclusion in the 2011 Sports Capital Programme made last September wasn’t successful.

“The maximum grant for the whole project is 90 per cent,” revealed the Town Manager, “but in awarding the grant and the monies, one of the terms of the scheme is that if you put more money towards it, you might jump the queue.

“We’ll have to look at matching funding. If we get funding we will have two years to complete the works,” Ms Kaye added.

“I would urge that every effort be made to ensure that we get this grant,” said Cllr Liam Williams (FG) who has tabled a number of motions on the need for developing sports facilities at the Gallery Road site.

“We have to keep the pressure on,” he added.

INCREASED links between Clare and its Australian twin, the Clare Valley, is helping to give Clare people who have been forced to emigrate ‘down under’ a little taste of home. That is according to Councillor Sue Wurst, of the Clare and Gilbert Valley’s Council, who visited Ennis last week.

According to Cllr Wurst, the connection has also led to a boosting of the local tourism trade in both Clares, with tourists travelling back and forth between the two areas.

“We are out of the way of the major cities so we haven’t seen a lot of people from Clare coming to live and work with us, but we have seen a lot of Clare people coming to Adelaide, and making their way up to us.

“It would be hard to put a figure on how many people from Clare have come to us but we know it happens,” said Cllr Wurst.

“I know that a sizable number of people from the Clare Valley visit County Clare and I know that the reason that they do visit is because of the twinning link. We read the Clare papers and we know that Shannon has been going through difficult times so we made sure to use Shannon Airport and support that.

“While we are here, we like to buy as much stuff and we can eat and drink as much as we can. We want to contribute to the local economy. I know that when the Mayor of the Clare and Gilbert Valleys was here last week that he spent € 400 on clothes in one shop.

“The Australian dollar is quite high at the moment so we are very happy to come over here and to visit a place that is very much close to our heart.”

THE 500 year-old body of a Clare teenager is helping to paint a clear picture of what life was like for the people of Ireland during one of the most violent periods in Irish history.

Carbon dating of human remains, discovered in a cave on Moneen Mountain, just outside Ballyvaughan, has revealed that the dead person was between 14 and 16 years of age, and was severally malnutritioned.

According to Dr Marion Dowd of IT Sligo, the evidence suggests that the youth crawled into the cave and died, rather than being placed in the cave after death. This suggests that Moneen Mountain was being used as a refuge or meeting place for poor Clare people at this time.

This period, around the time of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, was one of the bloodiest times in Irish history.

“At this time in Ireland, there was religious persecution, a lot of warfare, Gaelic people are being dispossessed of their land and there are lots of famines.

“But to find the remains of one of these individuals and to see, first hand, the evidence of what was going on is very interesting,” said Dr Dowd.

“Another mystery is why the re- mains were in the cave and not in a burial ground – because there were a number of official burial grounds quite close to the cave. It seems that this young person went into the cave, crawled into a small recess in the cave wall and died there.

“This person may have been completely on his own and died in the cave or there may have been a few people hiding out there.”

The excavation also revealed evidence which suggests that Moneen Mountain may have been a significant place for Bronze Age people.

“The other material dates back to 1,000 BC. We discovered a large quantity of broken-up pots and a deer antler. There is something quite unusual about this also, it does not look like a refuge, there was no-one living inside the cave at the time, and we know that the pots were weathered outside,” continued Marion.

“It is possible that these were some kind of special offerings that were placed inside the cave. The material was brought into the cave and deposited very carefully on top of a large rock.

“Broken artifacts can have a symbolic value in prehistoric communities and pieces of pottery can be placed in ritual context.”

Research into the excavation, which was funded by the National Monuments Service, is still being evaluated. Ove ra ll a ve ry we t st a rt t o t h e we e k b u t t h e ra in b e c o m in g m o re sp o ra d ic a ft e r t h a t . Ne xt we e k lo o ks so m e t h in g sim ila r.

THE tricolour flew at half-mast at the offices of Clare County Council yesterday as tributes were paid to former councillor Sean Hillery who passed away last month. Sean, who was originally from Miltown Malbay, played a significant role in the development of Shannon in recent decades and was remembered fondly by councillors from every corner of the house.

Councillors voted unanimously to adjourn yesterday’s proceedings, with the April monthly meeting of Clare County Council now set to take place later today, April 16.

Sean Hillery was a man of many firsts. He was the first man to establish a pharmacy in Shannon, the first head of the County Development Board in Clare and the first Clare president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Hillery’s Pharmacy in Shannon has been a family business for many years, first through Sean and his late wife Paula, and in recent times through their sons Seadn and Feidhlim.

Sean was the first cousin of the late President Patrick Hillery, and also a relation of current Clare County Councillor, Michael Hillery (FF).

Speaking at yesterday’s adjourned meeting, Clare County Manager, Tom Coughlan, described Mr Hillery as a leader and “a gentlemen in every sense of the word”.

“The respect that he commanded was very clear, especially when the County Development Board was being established. As the first chair of the County Development Board, he was able to command that respect and leadership that showed he was a leader,” he said.

Sean is remembered by his sons Barry, Seadn and Feidhlim, his daughter Majella and his family and many friends.

THERE have been calls for Ennis Town Council to build on plans to further exploit the potential of coachbased tourism.

Last week, the council announced that additional bus and coach parking spaces have been allocated in the Friars Walk area of the town centre, located adjacent to Clare Museum.

The council is also investigating a number of other capital projects, including the development of a dedicated bus park equipped with main- tenance facilities for tour operators.

According to the Chairman of the Ennis Municipal Policy Committee (MPC), Cllr Johnny Flynn, job creation could be boosted if Ennis taps into the estimated € 500,000 weekly spend generated by coach tourists.

He explained, “If just a quarter of the estimated 120 tour buses passing Ennis each day during the tourist season could be attracted to stop in Ennis, it would mean up to 30 busloads spending € 3,000 each – that is, € 90,000 per day in and around Ennis, or € 540,000 per week.

“With an average staff cost per- centage of turnover of 15 per cent in SMEs, this would be € 81,000 in wages each week. This could create up to 100 jobs in retail, hospitality, restaurants, etc.

“By having a minimum of 15 coach parking spaces that figure of 30 coach loads a day could be achieved, as the spaces would be used at least twice a day.”

The Fine Gael councillor continued, “I raised the topic last autumn, seeking urgent action in order to generate economic activity and therefore create local jobs that were being lost to other towns with proper bus park- ing facilities.

“In proposing the notice of motion, I advised the meeting that O’Connell Street had been voted one of the 60 best public spaces in the world by USA organisation Publicspaces.org and that we were not capitalising on coach tours.

“There was general support for the notice of motion at the October meeting and, during the 2012 Budget discussions in December 2011, there was a commitment to progress a number of actions in the parking area in 2012 which should assist in stimulating economic activity in the town.”

Cllr Flynn pointed to figures from Fáilte Ireland that show that tourism numbers were up in 2011 and further increases are expected this year.

He welcomed last week’s announcement from the council.

“It’s great to see some extra bus spaces being provided but we need urgent extra progress – for example, the eight bus spaces in Friar’s Walk short-stay car park that were previously for buses could be urgently added to the attractiveness of the town for bus drivers and to get greater capacity.”

AN Ennis woman has started a petition to have the disabled toilet in Dunnes Stores strictly reserved for disabled users. Siobhan McMahon’s campaign has so far attracted almost 250 signatories.

Siobhan, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been a wheelchair-user since childhood. She was moved to start the campaign after becoming “frustrated” with the number of non-disabled people using the toilets in Dunnes. She explained, “I just wanted to do something because I was getting really sick of it. You have teenagers in there doing their make-up. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have found beer cans in there. Back before the smoking ban, the smell of smoke in there used to be disgusting.”

Siobhan said people give out while she is waiting to use the toilet because her chair blocks the door.

She added, “I just got a new powerchair and that barely fits in. Then you have people banging on the door and interrupting you. My two-and-a-halfyear-old son knows the word ‘wheelchair’ from me telling people that a wheelchair-user is in the toilet.”

Siobhan wants keys provided to regular users of the facility in Dunnes, while other people should have to get a key from security personnel.

She said the problem affects other wheelchair-users in Ennis. Siobhan added, “A lot of my friends wouldn’t have great speech so they don’t feel confident enough to speak out.”

Siobhan has handed petitions into local businesses and says so far she has had a fantastic response from the community. She said it is also “very difficult” to get around the streets of Ennis because of the narrow footpaths. Dunnes Stores last night declined to comment on the petition.

A MOTION for a full moratorium on fracking in Ireland was not carried at this weekend’s Labour Party conference in Galway – with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, saying that the motion was not necessary.

The motion, which was put forward by the North Clare branch of the Labour party, was one of two motions concerning a ban on hydraulic fracturing heard at this weekend’s conference.

“Both motions were discussed and Minister Pat Rabbitte actually responded directly to both motion during the conference.

“The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) are currently producing a major report on fracking and he pointed out that nothing will decided on in relation to fracking in Ireland before that report is completed,” said North Clare party member, Seamus Ryan.

“The minister admitted that we don’t have expert opinion on the effects of fracking in Europe. He was very much of the opinion that we should not progress with anything until a time when the reports from the US EPA is completed.

“The North Clare branch were seeking a full moratorium on fracking and that motion was referred back to the National Executive of the part until such a time as more information in available.”

Meanwhile, a motion put forward by the Shannon branch of the Labour Party referred back to the party’s National Executive for “fine-tuning” before it become party policy.

“We are very much in favour of a debt-free Shannon. Shannon Airport has very much been the poor cousin of Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) for some time. Slowly the number have been falling off in Shannon as air traffic has been diverting towards Dublin. We want to see Shannon given the best footing that it can possibly get and that means that it gets the best possible deal that it gets.

“Eamon Gilmore has been in Ennis and Shannon on a number of occasions and he has always reiterated the Labour Party’s commitment to Shannon Airport.

“You could even see that last year when Clare was the first constituency visited by Eamon Gilmore when Labour began its General Election campaign.”

A TALENTED young hurler sustained serious injuries after he was “rolled over” by a car in Ennis last year, a court has heard.

Clarecastle man Aaron Considine (20) suffered multiple fractures after being rolled over by a car driven by Stefan Coustrain (20).

On Wednesday, Ennis District Court heard that Mr Coustrain initially fled the scene before presenting himself at Ennis Garda Station, one hour and 20 minutes after the incident.

Mr Coustrain, with an address at 23 Ballymoneen, Tulla Road, Ennis pleaded guilty to failing to keep his vehicle at the scene of the occurrence at College View, Ennis on July 8, 2011, and also to having no tax.

Mr Coustrain was ordered to complete 175 hours of community service in lieu of five months in prison. He was also disqualified from holding a license for four years.

The court heard that, on the night, gardaí received a call about a man lying on the hard shoulder of the road outside St Flannan’s College.

Garda Sarah Murphy said Mr Considine, who had been on his way to his girlfriend’s house at the time, couldn’t move and had no re-collec- tion of what had happened.

Mr Coustrain stated that he had been driving home from the shop with his partner and young child when he felt the car “shake”.

The court heard that the incident occurred sometime between 00.51am and 00.59am.

In a statement to gardaí, that was read in court, Mr Coustrain said that when he realised he’d hit a person, he stopped the car and turned around. He said he then drove home, returned to the scene where he saw the ambulance and left again.

A driver who passed by shortly after Mr Considine was struck, stopped, administered CPR and rang the emergency services, the court heard.

The court heard that Mr Coustrain called to the station at around 2.20am. Garda Murphy said he was “distraught, pale and very upset.” She added, “There was no evidence that he was under the influence of any intoxicant.” The court heard that he told gardaí that he was not tired when the incident occurred.

Garda Murphy said the street lighting was not working well on the night.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said that it was accepted that Mr Considine had been lying on the road when the accident happened and had not been standing up.

His solicitor requested that the court not impose a custodial sentence as it would harm Mr Coustrain’s ability to keep his family together. “When he realised what happened, he panicked,” she added.

The court heard that Mr Considine is still recovering from his injuries. He was described as “academically bright” and a “skilled sportsman” involved in sport at a high level.

The court heard that Mr Coustrain has previous convictions for road traffic offences Judge Patrick Durcan said, “This is possibly the most serious driving case I have dealt with since my appointment six months ago.” He noted that this was not a case of dangerous driving.

He said the accused had “absented” himself from the scene for one hour and 20 minutes. He described Mr Coustrain’s beahviour on the night as “flagrant, ignorant and abusive disregard for the law.” He said the issue of lighting was “irrelevant” in this case. He said alcohol and tiredness were not issues either.

He imposed a community service order and ordered Mr Coustrain to appear in court on May 9. Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

THE first PhD ever awarded on Clare soil will be handed out in Ballyvaughan this Wednesday as the Burren College of Art breaks new ground for education in the county.

Having studied in North Clare for almost five years, Eileen Hutton has been giving the honour of receiving the first PhD ever awarded on Clare soil. Her work is heavily linked with nature and she has used material produced with the help of Burren birds and bees as part of her PhD.

President and cofounder of the Burren College of Art, Mary Hawkes Greene, says the conferring will be a big day for the college.

“The awarding of the first PhD in Studio Art at Burren College of Art is a significant milestone not only for the recipient Eileen Hutton, but also for the college itself,” she said.

“The location of the college has been integral to the focus of Eileen’s work, investigating reciprocal relationships between artists and the natural environment. Her sculptural collaborations with the blue tits and honeybees in the Burren has not only strengthened their natural habitats but has provided valuable insight into the positive ways environmental art can impact on its surroundings.

“We are delighted that the first PhD studies conducted at the college have focused so specifically and benefitted immeasurably from the Burren itself, the very reason for the college’s existence.”

The PhD itself will be awarded by the National University of Ireland, Galway – who are the Burren College’s academic partners. Eileen’s final exhibition at the Burren College of Art was entitled ‘Being in the Land’ was included a series of shaped honey combs formed by Burren bees and hexagonal birds nests made by Helen and 20 families of local blue tits.

“I wanted to interact with the ecology of the Burren and ask what is ecology and what is biodiversity in the Burren context. I am aware of the different focuses that people have in the Burren between the eco-tourists and the farmers, the work that BurrenBeo is doing and also BurrenLIFE,” said Eileen.

“There are a lot of people trying to develop a contemporary relationship with the Burren that is beneficial both the people and the environment.”