Month: July 2012

ON FRIDAY night, June 22, DJ Trevor White played a poignant piece of music as part of the end of the Junior Cert exams celebrations in the Queen’s nightclub, Ennis. The techno soundcloud mix was produced by 15year-old William Winder.

“Most of his friends, who were present in the night club, were celebrating the end of their exams,” said William’s mother, Caroline.

“He use to love going to the Queen’s disco and he had some friends there so it was lovely to see that it is not just our little community that has been affected. It has gone as far as Ennis and beyond.”

And those friends knew that their late fellow student loved music. They also knew him as a good friend, as Facebook pages testify to a young sensitive man, who was ever the counsellor and listener to their teen- age woes. William Winder was a good friend, who didn’t discriminate between genders or age when he offered help and assistance.

“That was a very special trait he had. William could get down and play with the kids. He was the first grandkid. All the kids just loved him. He was also one of us, the adults. We always counted him as one of us and the kids as the kids,” said his proud uncle, Lee Brennan.

“Even on his Facebook page, he was so proud of his little brother Jacob. A lot of 15-year-olds would be embarrassed by their little brother but, no, he loved it,” added Caroline.

A student at Ennistymon Vocational School, William had a lot of interests. He loved soccer, GAA and badminton, according to his parents.

“Unfortunately, with the Junior Cert, he had to cut back a bit. He loved music and DJ mixing. He loved dancing and golf. Golf was probably his biggest passion next to football and his music,” said his Mum.

A Liverpool fan all his young life, he was also a keen public speaker and was proud of his win in the Lahinch Golf Classic with his friends.

His biggest achievement was, however, no small feat, as he took on and climbed Kilimanjaro in aid of Ennis Voices for Autism. He had planned to climb the mountain again.

“He was always up for helping others – always,” said his proud father, Mark.

CAROLNE and Mark Winder are living every parent’s worst nightmare. On June 3, shortly before midnight, their caring and charismatic 15-year-old son William died.

“He took his own life,” explained his heartbroken mother. “It was a moment of madness, that is what they say to us, but that doesn’t give us any answers,” added Dad Mark.

Now his brave parents, despite their harrowing grief, are fighting hard to prevent another family suffering the unbearable heartache and loss they face every day.

The Miltown Malbay couple, supported by their family and William’s many friends, are setting up the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, which will be a one-stop shop for teens in crisis and young people with any worries.

The foundation will provide a safe and confidential counselling service to teenagers, and provide support to families. Through the foundation, Caroline, along with her brother, Lee Brennan, will visit schools and explain to teenagers the impact William’s untimely death had on their lives. A trained counsellor will accompany the family to the schools to provide professional advice to teen- agers and answer any questions.

A wallet card with the details of all the support groups out there, including the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, will also be provided to students.

The foundation will make available a counsellor to any teenager who wants one, and can be arranged in confidence through the website or by calling the foundation.

“We want to make available a counsellor if a child needs one outside of the school environment so there is no one going, ‘Oh look, there’s Mary Jane going in for counselling, what can we tease her about’,” said Ms Winder.

“The counsellor is to be provided to the family also, if needed, to help bridge the gap between the adult population and the teenager,” explained Mr Brennan.

A blog and discussion forum overseen by a trained counsellor is also to be set up.

“William obviously didn’t know there was help out there. I want every other kid to know that, yes, there is help out there,” said Ms Winder.

“It can no longer be a taboo subject. There are kids out there hurting. The thought that William was going through whatever pain he was going through is heartbreaking. No parent should have to go through it. No child should have to go through what they are going through.”

“Me and Mark would be the first to say to parents: You say you know your child, we knew our child insideout. He just had that worry. The only worry we knew of was the exams and we truly believe that, three days before he had to sit his exams, it got too much,” added William’s courageous mother.

“We know children have been taking their lives for quite a while and we hear a lot about road deaths but no one talks about this. This is part of our society. If young people feel they no longer want to be part of our society, what is wrong? This is not just affecting the kids and their families, it is spreading out to the community and society,” added William’s uncle, Lee.

To help the community and teenagers who may need some support, the grieving family are putting the final touches to the William Winder Rainbow Foundation.

“We know our lad and the idea of the Rainbow Foundation…well, William would be in the thick of this,” said his father, Mark. “This is a starting point for something unique, but it is needed.”

A FORMER St Flannan’s College teacher, who was last week named as the Irish Secondary School Teacher of Year, has spoken out against the Government’s treatment of young teachers.

Newly-crowned teacher of the year, Evelyn O’Connor, has been contracted on a year-to-year basis since she left St Flannan’s in 2010. She believes that the Government is failing young teachers and students by the way they are managing the cutbacks in the education budget.

Currently, in Clare, one in every four Clare-based teachers are on temporary contracts from the Department of Education.

“Ultimately, this is very bad for students. I am worried about myself and my students. Continuity is so important in education. If a student has a teacher that they work well with, they need to know that that teacher will be there the next year and the year after that,” said Evelyn.

“The Government are pretending that they haven’t cut the student/teacher ratio but that is just not true.”

According to Evelyn, the popular preconceptions held by the majority about teachers are not true.

“I think the perception is different from the reality. The Government are trying to turn teaching into a part-time job and they are avoiding, whenever they can, giving any teacher a full-time jobs now. Instead, they issue teachers with fixed-term contracts with so few hours a week that they can never hope to be made permanent.

“These teachers then have to look for other jobs just to make ends meet and a lot just end up leaving the profession. Students ask me more and more, ‘Will we have you next year Miss?’, and I don’t know what to tell them. Because I don’t know.”

Evelyn also hit out against redeployment in the education system, which she says has created an atmosphere within staff rooms where teachers are afraid to speak up for fear of being redeployed by the management.

EAST Clare County Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald made history on Friday when he was the first Labour councillor to be elected to office in County Clare.

The man from Westbury was named deputy mayor at the end of Clare County Council’s AGM.

In a heart felt speech, the new deputy mayor paid tribute to his daughter Joyce who he said was the one who encouraged him to run for public office.

“It is a hard game and we are in hard times,” he said.

Among his colleagues in the council chamber Cllr Fitzgerald was recognised as the man who fought off Limerick’s attempt to take over lands in Westbury, Meelick and East Clare. “It was not just me at the bridge who told Limerick ‘no’,” he said.

“We don’t just recognise parties we recognise people,” he said of Clare County Council.

Cllr Fitzgerald said the biggest issue facing the council during the next political year was Shannon Airport.

He said it was essential to the future of the county.

The East Clare councillor was nominated to the position by Independent county councillor and former mayor

Cllr Patricia McCa

rthy. She said she was

happy to nominated

him as he was from

an “isolated part of

County Clare” that

is very much part of

the county. She said it was

also appropriate for

a Labour council

lor to hold office

in Clare County

Council for the first

time this year – the

year of the party’s

centenary.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind), who like Cllr McCarthy is also a former member of the Labour Party seconded Cllr Fitzgerald to the position of deputy mayor declaring he had the qualities and experience necessary to hold such a position.

A MAN was rescued off a tiny island just off the Doolin coast in the early hours of Saturday morning after spending the night camping on the rocky, uninhabited mound. The man, who lives in the North Clare area, spent the night on Crab Island before he was spotted by the Doolin Harbour Master who contacted the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard to assisted the man back to the mainland.

Concerns were raised over the man’s safety as weather conditions in the area at the time were described as “extreme”. The local unit of the coast guard managed to reach the man and ferried him and his equipment back to the mainland. The man had used a small kayak to reach the island in calmer waters on Friday evening.

Crab Island is a designated bird sanctuary and members of the public are not allowed to disturb the birds nesting on it. The island also has a long and often tragic maritime history.

In July of 1983, eight young men, including three brothers, drowned while swimming nearby when a strong current caught the men by surprise and dragged them out to sea. Crab Island is also the site where a German spy came ashore during World War 1. The man, who came ashore on an April evening in 1918, surrendered to locals because he believed that he had landed on the mainland and had destroyed his boat.

“We were on out way to provide cover for the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway when we got the call from the harbour master. We sailed to Crab Island and spoke to the man and we had to call out a smaller ves sel to get close enough to the island to bring him ashore,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard. “The sea was rough but the man was not in any immediate danger. We had to make three journeys back and forth to the mainland to ferry the man and al of his equipment back from the island.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Doolin Coast Guard unit was tasked to assist in the search for a number of walkers who had become separated from their companion near Blackhead in Fanore. The walkers had descended back onto the Green Road track but had come down on the steeper side and had suddenly lost contact with each other in the heavy mist. The walkers were found safely and reunited with their companions.

AN estimated 28,000 Clare households can expect unwelcome mail this week as the Local Government Management Agency begins writing to home-owners that still have not paid the contentious household charge.

According to the agency, as many as 27,762 Clare households registered for the charge last month, 354 of which received waivers.

However, the CSO’s preliminary figures puts the number of houses in Clare at more than 55,800.

Not all of those who have not paid will get letters immediately, as an example will be made of just a percentage.

Chair of the Household Charge Project Board, Jackie Maguire said the first batch of homeowners who have not yet paid the charge has been taken from a sample set “following an initial data comparison between the Household Charge database and other databases as set out in the Act”.

Meanwhile, householders with a septic tank will be asked to pay up again within the next three months.

From now until September 26, owners of domestic wastewater treatment systems are required to register their systems with Clare County Council.

A once-off registration fee will apply, starting at € 5.

After September 26, however, the free will increase to € 50. Owners will then need to renew their registration every five years, at no cost.

Homeowners can register online at www.protectourwater.ie, in person at any local authority office in the county or by post to Protect our Water, PO Box 12204, Dublin 7.

Inspections of septic tanks will by carried out by the EPA from next year. Householders have been warned however that all inspectors will carry identification and should not be allowed on to any property without it.

Meanwhile the Chairman of ICMSA’s Farm Services and Environment Committee, Pat Rohan, said that the Minister for the Environment must now ensure that provisions are put in place to assist rural-dwellers that may have to incur significant costs in upgrading their sewerage systems.

He said a properly funded grant scheme must be introduced for rural dwellers to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

RESIDENTS of a housing estate in Ennis have outlined their strong feelings at the anti-social behaviour of just one family in their estate, writing to councillors to list a litany of complaints that include intimadation, theft, noise, fighting and certain female family members using a back garden ‘as a toilet’.

The letter, which stunned many listeners at an Ennis Town Council meeting yesterday, claimed that two other families were forced to move from the estate as a result of the antisocial behaviour.

It also alleged that pubic urination on the estate’s footpaths and gardens is commonplace, while bad language is also an everyday occurence.

Sections of the letter were read out to councillors at the meeting.

The letter, which has been seen by The Clare People, states;

“A Brazilian family has moved out of the estate as a direct result of continuous noise, intimidation and the theft of their flicker scooter bike. Another lady and her children have moved also because of intimidation.” The letter highlights incidents of “continuous fighting”, “disgraceful bad language”, drunken verbal abuse and public urination.

It also states that parents no longer feel it is safe for them to allow their children to play outside their own homes.

As a result of the intimidation the letter writes states that residents in the estate keep clinds and curtains closed throughout the day. It also alleges that alcohol is being openly consumed during daylight hours in the estate, leading to instances of loud, verbal abuse directed at neighbours.

Residents’ associations recently met with councillors over the anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) told the meeting that he wants legislation to make landlords more accountable. He says the Health Services Executive (HSE) should be instructed to view any tenancy agreement prior to sanctioning a rent subsidy. He said some members of the Traveller community are causing “major concern” in Ennis. He claimed that, in some instances, residents are “afraid to call the guards because they will be identified”. He said, “I’ve had people crying in front of me because they are so afraid. People are living in fear and something has to be done.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said the situation in Ennis has “deteriorated”. He said, “They fight in our streets, our banks. They are taking on society.”

The council is to seek a meeting with the HSE and the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter.

According to Town Clerk, Leonard Cleary, “The community (residents and landlords) have a key stakehold in addressing the issues raised.”

The Ennis housing estate at the centre of the latest allegations is not one previously associated with such instances of anti-social behaviour.

AT LEAST five people have been injured in a spate of dog attacks in the county during the last 10 days.

Two teenagers were hospitalised following two of the incidents. The first, a 16-year-old girl from Inagh, was taken to hospital in Galway after she was attacked by the family’s pet husky. Meanwhile, a teenage boy from the Tulla area received chest wounds from a Golden Labrador while he was out cycling his bike. He was also taken to hospital for treatment. The county’s dog warden Frankie Coote has since taken charge of both dogs. Mr Coote is disturbed by the number of growing attacks in the county and fears a dog in Clare will eventually kill someone.

“It might sound alarmist but I think we are facing a child or person being killed in this county by a dog,” he said. The dog warden was himself a victim of an attack on Friday last. He explained that while the dogs looked friendly, one animal jumped at his throat. Due to his training Mr Coote escaped the attack with minor bruising to his throat and neck.