Month: April 2012

DETAILS of two new teaching and coordinator appointments in Ennis and Scariff have been announced by Clare Vocational Education Committee (VEC).

John Cooke has been appointed Principal of Ennis Community College.

John is a native of Thurles and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and is currently Principal of Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara in the Galway Gaelteacht.

John replaces outgoing principal, Matt Power. A spokesperson for Clare VEC thanked Mr Power for his decades of service to education in Clare. “We thank Matt most sincerely for the energy, enthusiasm, commitment and long and dedicated service, not only to Ennis Community College but also as a Senior Manager with County Clare VEC. We wish Matt every contentment and happiness in his retirement.”

Vivienne Hogan has been appointed Deputy Principal Ennis Community College.

Vivienne is a graduate of University of Limerick, currently teaches in Ennis Community College and has acted on two occasions as Duty Principal.

Vivienne replaces outgoing Deputy Principal Angela Mc Namara, who has been appointed Principal in Scariff Community College.

Ms McNamara is replacing Sean Daly as principal of Scariff Community College

Meanwhile, Triona Lynch has been appointed coordinator of the Scariff VTOS Programme and will take up this new role effective from September l, 2012.

Originally from Corrovorrin, Ennis, Ms Lynch now lives in Maurice’s Mills with her husband and family.

A spokesperson explained that the appointment is in line with an agreement with the Department of Education and Skills and Unions in relation to the redeployment of Directors of Traveller Training Centres

Triona replaces the outgoing coordinator, Brian Crossan, who has been appointed Deputy Principal in Scariff Community College.

Mr Crossan replaces retiring deputy principal John O’Donovan. Mr Crossan is a former director of St. Joseph’s Training Centre, Ennis.

A spokesperson for Clare VEC wished both Triona and Brian every success in their new roles.

CONMEN impersonating members of the Gardaí have stolen hundreds of euro from vulnerable pensioners in North Clare after a spate of door-todoor scams over the past two weeks.

Gardaí in Ennistymon have issued a warning to local people after a number of elderly Ennistymon residents, all of whom were living on their own, were taken in by confidence tricksters.

One of the victims, well known 90year-old local publican Nan Aherne, lost € 350 in the scam – € 300 of which she had with her at the time to pay for her home help service.

In a separate incident, a woman in her 80s living on the Ennis Road in Ennistymon, lost € 1,000 to the criminals. Gardaí in Ennistymon are investigating both incidents but would not say as yet whether they believed the two incidents to be connected.

In both cases a man came to the house and claimed to be a plaincloths member of the Gardaí conducting routine house calls.

The man, who showed a form of ID, was invited onto the premises and discussed a number of security issues with the women.

In both cases, the women handed over a sum of money to the conman – who claimed he would take it back to the Ennistymon Garda Station to determine if the money was counterfeit. The money was not returned.

Gardaí in Ennistymon confirmed yesterday that they are not currently carrying out any door-to-door callouts in the Ennistymon area. According to one local resident, the con man who had visited Nan Aherne was very convincing.

CLEARING Shannon’s debt, severing the airport’s links with the Dublin Airport Authority and giving the airport a lead role in the implementation of the Government’s regional development policy hold the key to ensuring a brighter future in the mid west. That’s the Shannon Chamber of Commerce view that was articulated to the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar in Shannon on Friday ahead of a definitive decision on the airport’s future.

Chamber president, Damian Gleeson, in quoting traffic figures that show traffic has dropped 42 per cent form 2008 levels and that there are only an average of 42 commercial daily movements said “we need to see change at Shannon”.

“We need a busy airport capable of generating economic activity in the greater Shannon area and driving outwards to the island as a whole.

“Shannon Airport should be driven by a commercially aware autonomous Board, with international, national, and regional aviation expertise, reporting directly to the Minister for Transport,” he added.

Continuing, Mr Gleeson said it was crucial that the “ proposed autono mous structure comes without debt”, with a clean slate financially paving the way for “harnessing the support of all stakeholders in the Mid-West which would lead to energised thinking and a new impetus for taking the airport in a new direction.

“Balanced regional development is a key part of Government policy. Shannon Airport is a key economic driver for the Mid-West region and should therefore directly fit in with Government policy. With a commercially driven ethos in conjunction with no debt, adequate working capital and an improvement of its cost structure, the airport would eventually become selfsustaining,” Mr Gleeson added.

TRAFFIC at Shannon Airport is now at a 15-year low with figures for 2012 so far showing an alarming loss of 20 per cent for the same period in 2011 – a hemmorhage of that if it continues will see passenger numbers decline to under 1.3m by year’s end.

This alarming decline of passenger traffic at Clare’s international airport was hammered home by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar on Friday as he warned once more that Shannon is on its way to being overtaken by Knock Airport and relegated to the fourth biggest airport in Ireland.

“The trend at the moment isn’t good,” said Minister Varadkar. “Shannon has less passengers now that it had back in 1997, where in that same period Knock has increased its passengers by 350 per cent. Even though both airports operate in the same country and the same economy, the trend in Shannnon is down while it’s up in Knock.

“Numbers are already down 20 in Shannon on what they were this time last year and Knock is still growing and it is only a matter of time,” Minister Varadkar warned. “The trend in Knock is upwards, so if one trend is upwards and another is downwards, sooner or later they’ll cross. It will happen sooner or later, but that’s not what I want to happen,” he added.

Minister Varadkar rejected the notion that state aid for Knock amounts to positive descrimation for the Mayo airport at Shannon’s expense, pointing to the hefty subvention for Shannon through the DAA.

“Knock does receive exchequer support and Shannon doesn’t,” Minister Varadkar admitted, “but Shannon directly receives support for the DAA group and the financial transfers from the DAA group to Shannon are nearly three times the exchequer’s contribution to Knock,” he added.

“It’s state-owned and Shannon is a huge asset and it’s very important for the region and our objective is to arrest that decline and Shannon a growth for investment and employment again.”

THE Dublin Airport Authority siphoned off the profits of the Shannon Airport inspired and headquartered Aer Rianta International (ARI) for a generation in a move that has been described as “an absolute scandal” and a major contributory factor to the current ills of Clare’s international airport.

This claim was sounded out by former ARI executive Michael Hanrahan on Friday, as he highlighted the local case for profits from the multinational arm of the Dublin Airport Authority to be channelled into Shannon.

“Everyone thinks that Shannon is losing money, but I have a different view. Shannon is making a considerable amount on money, particularly through Aer Rianta International,” said Mr Hanrahan.

“Aer Rianta International started in May 1988 – we had an initial capital of € 1.2m and that came from the surpluses of Shannon through the ‘80s. Minister Varadkar indicated that this money came from Dublin – it came from Shannon,” he added before he rounded on the DAA highjacking of the ARI brand.

“The concept that Shannon owes € 100m is to me an absolute scandal,” he blasted. “Aer Rianta International invested in Birmingham Airport and that investment was £30m sterling. That came from the surpluses of Aer Rianta International. The DAA disposed of the investment Birmingham and made a profit of € 270m.

“That went into the monstrosity they have built in Dublin Airport. All the surpluses of Aer Rianta International have gone to Dublin from the very outset. That’s about € 560m to date.

“The DAA have taken all the surpluses that they have made from profits they made on the hotels. I believe they made € 260 or € 270m from the sale of the Great Southern Hotel Group.

“Why should be Aer Rianta International be based in Dublin. The chief executive of Aer Rianta International was based in Shannon for 23 years and all of a sudden the chief executive is now based in Dublin, together with the head of finance. Shannon is just being denuded,” he added.

In response, Minister Varadkar warned Mr Hanrahan not to “forget the accumulated losses that Shannon have made in the last 15 years and what they add up to.

“You have to ask yourself what profits, when it was making profits, would Shannon have made if the Government passed a law forcing people who didn’t want to land here, to land here. If there wasn’t a law forcing people to land here the acculumated losses would be enormous, much more enormous than they are now,” he added.

WHEN it’s finally revealed, the Government blueprint to secure Shannon Airport’s future won’t be devised with the sectional interests of Clare County Council or Shannon Development in mind – the two bodies that are expected to be given a lead role in the new management structure.

“The plan for the airport is not to please local authorities or government agencies or interest groups of any sort,” warned transport minister, Leo Varadkar when announcing a new timeframe for delivery of a decision on the airport’s future.

“The plan for the airport is to develop it for the region, to arrest the decline in passenger numbers and to bring employment and investment into the region for the benefit of everyone. That’s the plan – it’s not about satisfying interest groups of any sort,” added Minister Varadkar.

The Booz Report, which was published in redacted form in March, put forward five separate options for Shannon, with the most favoured of these being a recommendation that Clare and Limerick county councils, together with Shannon Development be part of a new holding company that would manage the airport.

It was expected that a decision rubber-stamping this recommendation would be delivered by the end of next week, but now this has been deferred to later in the month.

“These things can be quite complicated,” said Minister Varadkar. “It won’t be before Easter but we can bring an outline proposal to government in April and then we can work on business plan in subsequent months.

“The response to the Booz report has been very good. People are being very positive about what can be done and there’s a good understanding that things can’t go on the way they did before.

“The reality is that there are a lot of players in the region. They all need to be included and involved and consulted, but the reality is that very few of them are willing to come on board in terms of capital and finance. That’s understandable because they’re in a difficult financial position too.

“What we’re doing at the moment is the due diligence. Shannon Airport is involved in this; the DAA is involved in this; Shannon Develop- ment is involved in this; four government departments and various government entities as well, so we have to put all sorts of detailed things like loan agreements, debt issues. When the decision is made by the Government on the roadmap, then there will be progess.

“We will spend a few months after that with an interim board and an interim task force perhaps developing the detailed business plan and working out the necessary legislative change that will have to made. I want to be able to do that very quickly,” he added.

SHANNON Airport can become the saviour of the mid-west region in the same way that the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) saved the Docklands area of Dublin and became the great engine for Ireland’s growth during the last economic recession.

This will be done by giving Clare’s restructured international airport tax breaks similar to those that made the IFSC such a success story, thereby opening up a new “very exciting” and “very innovative” chapter in Shannon’s storied history.

That was the central message delivered by the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, to business leaders in Clare on Friday when he said the new Shannon Airport would “very much in tune with the early pioneers in aviation in this region”.

While stopping short of announcing a new management blueprint for the airport, Minister Varadkar gave guests at Shannon Chamber of Commerce spring luncheon in the Oak- wood Arms the inside track on what his proposal to Cabinet for Shannon will be.

“When I think of what envisaged – the closest example I can think of is the IFSC,” the minister said. “The Dublin Docklands was in decline during the last severe recession and a decision was made to develop it as an international financial services centre and put in place the structures and the tax incentives necessary to attract investment.

“The IFSC is now a phenomenal success, generating loads of revenue for the State and employing tens of thousands of people. That’s the model that we’re likely to propose for Shannon.

“The development of an international aviation based services centre in the region, based around Shannon Airport and the land around Shannon with a view to attracting new industry, industries that currently don’t exist in Europe, industries like aircraft re-fitting and aircraft recycling in addition to other industries,” added Minister Varadkar.

This decision was originally due to be announced prior to Easter, but has now been delayed until late April, but ahead of that Cabinet decision on the future of the airport, Minister Varadkar has also confirmed the new blueprint will have a state and private sector involvement.

“It will need some private sector involvement and investment,” he said “and I do think that overall public ownership should remain in place and the Government will need to have step-in powers to intervene in the unlikely event that things go badly wrong”.

THE Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is due to issue directions next week in respect of three people charged with alleged offences arising out of an incident at a primary school in Ennis earlier this month.

Conor Mahon (21), Rose Mahon (22) and Laura Molloy (21) are charged with alleged offences arising out of an incident at the Holy Family Junior School, Station Road, Ennis on March 20.

Conor Mahon, of Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis is charged with possession of a slash hook at the school contrar y to the firearms and offensive weapons act and with engaging in threatening and, or, abusive behaviour.

Conor Mahon’s wife, Rose Mahon, a mother of two, also of Ballaghboy Quin Road, Ennis, is charged with causing € 1, 500 worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle belonging to Thomas Sherlock on Station Road.

Her sister, Laura Molloy, of 21 An Pairc, Bruach na hAbhainn, Ennis is also charged with causing € 1, 500 worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle belonging to Thomas Sherlock on Station Road.

Both sisters are also charged with provoking a breach of the peace.

The charges all relate to alleged incidents at the Holy Family Primary School, Station Road, Ennis on March 20.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Inspector John Galvin requested that the matter be adjourned until later this month to allow for directions from the Di rector of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Solicitor for all three accused, Daragh Hassett said that the matters should not be adjourned for longer than a week in order to “incentivise the DPP to make up its mind.”

Mr Hassett told the court that the cases had gained “a certain degree of notoriety”.

He said that he did not want the cases to “slip to the bottom of the pile.”

In respect of Laura Molloy, Mr Hasset said she was a single mother who has not seen her two young children since she went into custody.

Judge Patrick Durcan remanded both Conor Mahon and Laura Molloy in custody to appear at Ennis District Court on April 11.

He ordered that the DPP’s directions be ready on that date.

The judge remanded Rose Mahon on bail to appear in court on April 11.

A 53-YEAR-OLD woman has appeared in court charged with damaging a house in Sixmilebridge with derogatory graffiti.

Elizabeth O’Connell, with an address at Cappa, Sixmilebridge, is charged with alleged criminal damage offences.

It is alleged that on dates unknown between September 18, 2011, and September 30, 2011, at Cappa, Sixmilebridge, Ms O’Connell did without lawful excuse damage the walls of a house with graffiti of an intimidating, insulting and derogatory nature causing damage to the value of € 1,929 belonging to Carmel O’Connell Kagahazchi contrary to the criminal damage act.

Ms O’Connell is also charged with damaging and breaking windows, doors and drainpipes at Cappah Sixmilebridge on dates unknown between September 1, 2010, and August 8, 2011.

The value of the alleged damage is € 7,452.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Inspector John Galvin gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution by schedule.

Solicitor Caitriona Carmody made an application for free legal aid.

She said, “These are two quite serious offences.”

Judge Patrick Durcan approved legal aid.

He remanded Ms O’Connell to appear again at Ennis District Court on April 25.

A JUDGE has refused jurisdiction in the case of two Cork men who were allegedly in possession of machetes and stab proof vests at a funeral at Drumncliff graveyard last week.

Bernie McDonagh (27) and Peter McDonagh (19), both with address at Nashes Boreen, Knocknaheeney, Cork are charged with having machetes which had a blade or which was sharply pointed contrary to the firearms and offensive weapons act.

Both men appeared at Ennis District Court on Tuesday. Detective Garda, Dominic Regan of Ennis Garda Station gave evidence of arrest charge and caution.

He told the court that he arrested Bernie McDonagh at Drumcliff Cemetery on Sunday March 25. Detective Regan said that after being cautioned, Bernie McDonagh said, “I didn’t have a machete.”

Both men were released on bail from Ennis Garda Station to appear in court last Tuesday.

After both men initially failed to appear in court, Judge Patrick Durcan issued bench warrants for their arrest. Solicitor Tara Godfrey ex- plained that her clients had agreed to show up later in court to avoid any “emotiveness” with the other side of an alleged dispute.

Judge Durcan said the court does not run “an a-la-carte menu.” “You’re here when you’re obliged to be here,” he added. Judge Durcan later vacated the warrants. The court heard that Gardai arrested both men after they were observed attending a funeral at Drumcliff graveyard last week.

Ms Godfrey said both her clients would “strongly” and “vigorously” dispute having the items in their possession. Detective Regan said both men were also wearing stab proof vests at the time. He said Gardaí believed that a “serious incident was about to occur.”

Saying he was not happy to deal with the matter in the district court, Judge Durcan refused jurisdiction.

Ms Godfrey requested that the vests be returned to her clients, who she said accepted they wore them at the graveyard. Judge Durcan stated that as he had refused jursdiction, he was making no more orders on the case.

He remanded both men on continuing bail to appear again in court on April 24.