Month: April 2012

PATIENTS at the region’s largest hospital are left without “privacy and dignity” while stretched nursing staff are finding it impossible to provide safe care to their patients.

The Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick is chronically overcrowded, according to its nursing staff, and last week their warnings were verified when the hospital cancelled all non-emergency surgical procedures on Thursday.

As many as 21 day-ward surgical procedures, two angiograms and two broncoscopies, as well as 45 outpatient appointments, were cancelled.

In the course of the day, the HSE appealed for patients not to attend the Emergency Department and to visit their general practitioner instead.

The health service said the cancellations were as a result of a sudden surge in emergency attendances at the hospital that saw some 36 patients on trolleys at the Emergency Department at 5.45pm the previous evening and an unprecedented demand for inpatient beds.

“Extra ward rounds took place during the day to release beds through discharging patients who could safely be sent home,” a spokesperson said.

“These are choices we do not make lightly. Every patient is important to us but, in the current situation, we have to make hard decisions. We very much regret the inevitable delay and inconvenience but dealing with the situation in the Emergency Department must take priority,” said Hospital CEO Ann Doherty.

Doctors were unable to ascribe any single explanation to the surge in the Emergency Department.

Meanwhile, the INMO trolley watch figures demonstrate the hospital endures chronic overcrowding in the Emergency Department, plus up to 50 additional patients on the corridors and in annexes of the hospital daily, awaiting a designated bed.

“Safe and proper care cannot be given to patients while they are placed in undesignated in-patient areas and while there is inadequate staffing to provide a safe level of care,” a spokesperson for the nurses union said.

Mary Fogarty, INMO Industrial Relations Officer said, “It is imperative that the HSE, together with the Special Delivery Unit, act immediately to address the current situation, and remove the very real risk of an adverse incident which currently exists in this region.”

Tessie HARTMAN nee Farrell
of Moore Street, Kilrush, at Regina House, Kilrush. Funeral mass onTuesday at 11 o’clock with burial after in All Saints Cemetery, Shanakyle. May she rest in peace.

Susan CABEY nee McGrath
of Cahermore, Kilmaley. Peacefully at Limerick. Wife of the late John. Funeral mass onTuesday at 11.30 with burial after in Kilmaley cemetery. Family flowers only please, donations, if desired, to Kilmaley Day Care Centre. May she rest in peace.

Sister Paul PILKINGTON
of Good Shepherd Convent, Pennywell Road, Limerick and late of Ahaga, Kilmihil. Peacefully in the loving care of the nurses and staff of Caherass Nursing Home. Sr, Paul, Good Shepherd Sisters. Deeply regretted by her sisters in Community, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, relatives and friends. Laid to rest in Mount St Oliver Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Nora CLANCY
of Kildysart. In her 92nd year. Laid to rest in Kilfidane Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Ann (Nancy) MULREADY (née Flynn)
of 25 ChurchView, Sixmilebridge. Laid to rest in Kileen Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Helen MOLONEY (née Duffy)
of Cullina. Laid to rest in Killofin Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

James (Jim) MANGAN
of AshView,Tulla Road, Roslevan, Ennis. Laid to rest in Doora. Donations, if desired, to your favourite charity. May he rest in peace.

Michael HOWLEY

A WHEELIE bin was allegedly thrown against the rear window of a Garda patrol car while it was parked in Ennis Garda Station, a court has heard.

The allegation was made at Ennis District Court on Tuesday at the case of Stephen McCann (28)

Mr McCann, with an address at Willbrook, Corofin, is charged with damaging the rear window of a motor vehicle belonging to the Chief Superintendent of An Garda Suíochana, Transport Section contrary to section two of the criminal damage act.

Garda Shane O’Connell gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. Solicitor for Mr McCann, Tara Godfrey applied for bail on her client’s behalf.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the Court that the State were objecting to bail.

Garda O’Connell said that something had been thrown at a garda patrol car causing damage to the window and dents to roof.

He alleged that a Garda colleague had observed Mr McCann pick up a wheelie bin and throw it through the rear window of the car.

The court heard that the estimated cost of the damage was between € 500 and € 1500. Judge Patrick Du- rcan granted bail subject to a number of conditions.

He ordered that the accused reside at Willbrook, Corofin; to observe a curfew between the hours of 10pm and 8am and to sign on three times a week at Ennistymon Garda Station. Judge Durcan granted the State liberty to re-enter the matter at 24 hours notice. He remanded Mr McCann on bail to appear at Ennis District Court on April 25.

A NEW broadband service aimed at improving business-to-business connectivity has been launched in Ennis. As a leading mid-west wire- less broadband provider, BBnet, is launching its FibreAir dedicated internet service, which will enable businesses in Ennis to avail of a costeffective, uncontended, fully synchronous, internet connection from 10Mb up to 100Mb. The extension of this high-speed FibreAir service to Ennis comes in the wake of BBnet’s successful introduction of a similar service in Shannon late last year. Business customer demand in Ennis for a quality internet connection that offers greater upload speed at an affordable price led to the extension of the product roll-out. Backhauled onto its existing Tier1 Fibre network at Westpark Business Campus in Shannon, the FibreAir service offers businesses secure internet connections with scalable bandwidths from 10Mb up to 100Mb, a dedicated service to each customer with no sharing of bandwidths, and a fully synchronous service with the same upload and download. The official launch of BBnet’s FibreAir product took place in Ennis last week. The launch, which took place at the Temple Gate Hotel, heard presentations from John Page of DELL Computers and Mark Scanlon, CEO of Sourcedogg.com in Galway. Speaking ahead of the launch, BBnet Managing Director, Barry O’Halloran said, “The provision of competitively priced, high capacity, bandwidth which is totally independent of the incumbent provider’s network and infrastructure, will greatly assist companies that are migrating to cloud computing and that need greater upload speed.” With more and more video conferencing applications and remote connectivity being used within the business setting, to and from headquarters, there is a widespread interest in upgrading to higher-speed services. Using a combination of fibre and the latest wireless technologies, this new service will facilitate the migration to higher capacity services and accelerate the migration from copper-based networks.

THE majority of Clare secondary schools will lose at least one teacher next September, resulting in the subject choices available to students being cut and class sizes increasing.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) warned that approximately 16 full-time teaching posts will be lost in second-level Clare schools as a result of changes to guidance counselling provisions introduced in the last Budget.

From September, guidance counsellors will have to be provided from within the general teaching provisions of the school.

TUI President and Clare woman Bernie Ruane said, “These cuts will leave school principals with some harsh choices. They will have to choose between cutting back guidance provision, limiting subject choice, increasing class sizes or a combination of such measures. This latest cut to an education system already ravaged by a litany of cuts will result in significant further damage to the interests of students.”

Ironically, this cut to teaching posts is most likely to affect the stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) the Government say are paramount to the future of the economy.

The TUI maintains that as teacher numbers are being cut, principals will have to look at how best to serve all students with the reduced teaching provision available. Those options that currently attract less students for example, honours maths or physics – will inevitably be high on any shortlist of subjects under threat.

“The major threat is to subjects that we are being told to actively promote if education is to be a key driver in economic recovery,” Ms Ruane told

SCENES from a new docu-drama about the Titanic to be aired this week will seem more than a bit familiar to West Clare People.

While the 45-minute film is based on the true story of a County Mayo village that lost more than a dozen people aboard the Titanic, part of the filming took place in Moyasta, County Clare.

The refurbished West Clare railway station was used for one of the most poignant scenes, depicting the young people aged 17 to 32 leaving Castlebar station for the boat.

The docu-drama has been aired in Canada on CBC already and will be shown for the first time on Irish television screens on Good Friday, April 6, at 8pm.

Entitled “Waking the Titanic” the film is produced by Gillian Marsh.

All of the actors but one are amateurs and local.

FOR many people in North Clare and beyond, the dawn masses conducted annually at Corcomroe Abbey by the late John O’Donoghue were the highlight of the Easter period.

The masses, which attracted huge attendances, represented O’Donoghue’s way of connecting religion with local tradition, culture and the environment that he knew like no other.

The tradition started by O’Donoghue was sadly abandoned in 2001 because of the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease and hasn’t been revived since, but for those who are spiritually minded and into their exercise, there are the Heart of the Burren Walks that combine both.

The first event took place in January when walkers travelled St Colman McDuagh’s Way, while in March it was the turn to pay homage to St Patrick with a walk along the Burren Way that was interspersed with commentary about St Patricks’ connection with the landscape.

This Easter Sunday it’s the turn of the ‘Monks and Pilgrims’ in the Bur- ren Landscape Walk. The walk is being organized by Tony Kirby, the author of The Bur ren a nd the Ara n Isla nds – a Wa lking Guide , who also operates Heart of the Burren Walks.

“It will be a half-day long walk at an easy pace with the high point being the visit to a remarkable monastic site and pilgrimage station,” says Kirby.

“Highlights will include a rich complex of penitential stations, holy wells, rare reliquary shrines and an Early Medieval (400-100 AD) chapel with successive Romanesque ornamentation.

“The narrative will focus on the golden age of Irish art (400-1100 AD), the story of pilgrimage in Ireland and the enduring fascination of holy wells as places of public worship. The Burren region boasts about 45 wells. Stone, soil, soul, saints, sinners, pilgrims, poetry, penitents and purgatory will feature,” adds Kirby.

The walk takes place at 10am on Easter Sunday and lasts two and half hours. More information at 087 2925487 and www.heartof burrenwalks.com, with pre-booking essential for those who want to take part.

THE number of people building new houses in Clare has dropped by almost a half in the last year.

During January and February 2011 81 planning applications were submitted to Clare’s three planning authorities – Clare County Council, Ennis Town Council and Kilrush Town Council.

In the same period this year, that number had dropped to 46 applications in total.

This is a 43 per cent drop, the second largest decrease in the country.

However there has been a three per cent rise in the number of commencement notices issued in Clare.

According to the new National Housing Construction Index complied and issued by Link2Plans Clare is experiencing a significant decrease in construction activity.

Link2Plans National Housing Construction Index has shown huge variations nationally in housing construction activity and that housing extensions now make up the majority of active projects.

Produced by a team of researchers the new National Housing Construction Index relates to all Planning Applications and Planning Commencements throughout the months of January and February 2012 and gives a direct comparison with the same period in 2011.

The detailed index shows the overall national trend, and highlights the counties that have seen a significant rise or significant fall. The index shows huge variations in activity from county to county, with Clare and Kildare showing the second largest drop in planning applications.

Managing director of Link2Plans, Danny O’Shea said, “Construction related statistics tend to be up to six months out of date which limits their usefulness to those working in the sector. Our new National Housing Construction Index shows clear and current patterns and indications of activity in every county in Ireland. Link2Plans will issue this index on a bi-monthly basis and it will provide a solid and reliable resource for people in the industry in Clare, economic commentators and professionals who service the sector.”

TWO men have apologised for their actions following scenes of “bedlam” outside a courtroom in Ennis last week.

Thomas Molloy (20) and Darren Maughan (20) were detained in holding cells at Ennis Courthouse for three hours on Wednesday after being held in contempt of court by Judge Patrick Durcan.

The court heard that both men became involved in a noisy altercation outside the courtroom as Judge Durcan presided over court business.

Following instructions from Judge Durcan, both men were brought back into the court.

He told them that he was holding them both in contempt. The two men were brought back before the court shortly after 2pm.

Referring to the manner in which the earlier incident had impacted on court business, Judge Durcan said, “It was impossible here because of the bedlam outside.”

He said the matter could be satisfactorily dealt with if both men apologised to all services involved in court business.

Thomas Molloy, with an address at 39 Park Avenue, Clon Road, Ennis said, “It should not have happened. I apologise to everyone.”

Darren Maughan, with an address at 20 Stonecourt, Drumbiggle, Ennis, said, “I apologise for the incident this morning. It won’t happen again.”

Both Mr Molloy and Mr Maughan were originally in court to face separate charges.

Mr Molloy pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage. The court heard that he broke a downstairs window of 8 Upper Market Street on January 1, 2012.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the total value of the damage came to € 227. Solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client had broken the window in his girlfriend’s apartment in a “fit of pique”. He said Mr Molloy, the first person in a family of 17 to complete his Leaving Certificate, was sorry for his actions.

Judge Durcan ordered that he carry out 100 hours of community service in lieu of two months in prison. He adjourned the matter until April 25.

Separately, Mr Maughan pleaded guilty to two public order offences – being intoxicated in a public place and being a danger to himself and to others, and, to provoking a breach of the peace. The charges relate to an incident at Abbey Street, Ennis on March 10, 2012.

Insp Kennedy said the accused was very intoxicated when he was ap proached by Gardaí. Solicitor William Cahir said his client accepted his behaviour was unacceptable. He said Mr Maughan “struggles with alcohol” but now appeared to be keeping on top of the battle.

Judge Durcan ordered he carry out 100 hours of community service in lieu of two months in prison. He adjourned the matter until May 2 for the preparation of a report by the probation and welfare services. A we e k o f m o st ly dry b u t d u ll a n d fre sh we a t h e r, with te m ps we ll be lo w t h e pa st we e k’s glo rio u s sp e ll. Ra in a n d a lo t o f it , e xp e c t e d e a rly n e xt we e k.

THE early indications are that Clare is among the top counties in Ireland in terms of collection of the € 100 household charge, a meeting has heard.

Town manager Ger Dollard said yesterday that Clare County Council had indicated that the county is in the “upper echelons of collection of the charge”.

Responding to questions at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Mr Dollard said, “Clare as a county is in the upper half of the table in terms of compliance with the household charge.”

Mr Dollard told the meeting that the charge had been introduced to make up for the reduction in the local government fund.

Reports yesterday indicated that local authorities in counties where there had been a low compliance rate would be penalised by the Department of the Environment.

However Mr Dollard said the council had not received any communication or instruction from the department regarding what “might or might not happen”.

He said there was no indication yet that there would be any impact on Ennis Town Council.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) questioned whether or not a high compliance rate would result in extra money coming to Clare. He said he was doubtful this would happen, adding that the Government are “codding the people”.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) told the meeting that he had paid the charge and said he had encouraged householders to do so.

He said that Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, had made a “total kibosh” of the introduction of the charge.

He repeated his call for a system to be introduced that would allow hard pressed homeowners to pay of the charge on a weekly basis.

Cllr Neylon said this would allow the Government to make good on a campaign promise to look after the most vulnerable people in society.

He added, “There are people out there who don’t have it. You can’t draw blood from a turnip.”

Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) was also staunchly critical of the Government’s handling of the charge.

He said, “It was handled disastrously. Laurel and Hardy would have handled this better.”

LEONORA Carey said she was thrilled to be re-elected to Fine Gael’s Executive Council during the party’s Ard Fheis this weekend.

The Clarecastle woman is no stranger to the world of politics. Not only is she from the Carey family that has produced two Clare TDs to date, she has a vast experience in the world of party politics having been elected to the executive council three times.

The current vice chairperson of the Clare Constituency she was first elected to the council in 2004 while a member of Dublin Central.

As a member of the constituency of the late Jim Mitchell she worked hard to build the party in Dublin central from a constituency with one councillor to one with a TD and two councillors.

In 2007 she returned to her native Clarecastle to work as an occupational therapy manager.

Since then she has been re-elected to the national executive council with the support of the Clare branch of Fine Gael.

She was active across a range of constituencies in devising strategy and preparing for the 2011 General Election.

It is this activity that saw her succeed on to the north west section of the executive.

Ms Carey told The Clare People that she was particularly greatful to all of the Clare delegates who travelled to Dublin and supported her election.

“It is great to say you are re-elected from your own county,” she said.

Asked if she one day hoped to stand for elected office, in her home county or elsewhere, the daughter and sister of politicians, said she didn’t know.

“I wouldn’t say yes and I wouldn’t say no,” she added admitting with a laugh that she already sounded like a politician.

“I enjoy doing what I do at the moment. I enjoy developing and maintaining the party across the large area of the north west.”