Month: July 2012

HUNDREDS of jobs are set to be created in the North Clare area in the coming months following the Government’s decision to go ahead with the completion of the M18 motorway from Gort to Tuam.

The decision to complete the motorway, which currently stops at Gort, is expected to create 2, 500 jobs over three years of constructions – with 500 of those jobs coming in local services sector.

The proposal is conditional on the Government securing private investment to match funds from the National Pension Reserve Fund and a € 170 million loan for the scheme secured from the European Investment Bank.

The announcement was broadly welcome in Clare with Clare County Council, the Ennis Chamber of Commerce and all saying it will drive employment in the county. Providing private sector investment is forthcoming, construction on the motorway should begin in early 2013.

“This project will further enhance the road infrastructure in the West and Mid West providing further access to County Clare and playing an important role in attracting more customers to Shannon Airport,” said Rita McInerney, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan described the Gort to Tuam motorway as “critically important” for the development of the county.

“Like the Gort-Crusheen scheme, a project that Clare County Council was centrally involved in, the Gort to Tuam motorway will further enhance regional connectivity between Limerick, Shannon, Ennis and Galway,” he said.

The Director of Shannon Airport, Mary Considine, described the goahead for the completion of the M18 as a “significant boost” for Shannon Airport.

“The completion of the motorway to Galway and further to Tuam will significantly enhance travel times to and from Shannon Airport for our existing catchment and also open up a wider market for our services,” she said.

“Today we remain the only airport on the entire western seaboard with transatlantic services and connectivity into one of Europe’s four major hubs, Heathrow so this improvement in the road network will benefit many people accessing our services.”

A LIMERICK teenager who engaged in “blaggardly behaviour” in Killaloe and Clonlara has been sentenced to eights months detention for theft and criminal damage offences.

Thomas Kiely (19), with an address at Barnakyle, Patrickswell, Limerick, pleaded guilty to the theft of a car stereo at Twomilegate, a popular viewing spot, on May 27. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage arising out the same incident.

Mr Kiely also pleaded guilty to stealing € 50 of diesel from a farmer at Kildooras, Clonlara in the early hours of July 20.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed summary disposal of the matter.

After hearing a brief outline of the facts, Judge Patrick Durcan accepted jurisdiction.

Insp Kennedy told the court that Mr Kiely had driven to the farm at 1.50am and started to fill his car with diesel. He said the farmer saw the accused from his house.

The court heard that the man and his son, who is a member of the gardaí, tackled Mr Kiely and prevented him from leaving the scene.

Insp Kennedy told the court that Mr Kiely had broken into a car at Twomilegate, near Killaloe, and taken a car stereo valued at € 250.

He said Mr Kiely, whose fingerprints were found at the scene, was arrested and subsequently made admissions.

Solicitor Shiofra Hassett said her client had made full admissions in respect of both incidents. She said, “He is not trying to hide. He is extremely apologetic”.

Ms Hassett said her client is living at home with his family and is aware of the negative influence he is having on his younger siblings. The court heard that Mr Kiely has 11 previous convictions.

Judge Patrick Durcan said that the accused had broken into a car while “some innocent citizen went for a leisurely stroll.” He said, “This is blag- gardly behaviour of the worst kind, breaking into this car.”

In relation to what he called the “more serious incident”, Judge Durcan said a farmer “had the misfortune to look out the window and see, in a blaggardly fashion, his diesel being stolen.”

He continued, “Someone who violates someone’s private property commits a most serious offence”.

He said, “I regard this as one of the most serious offences I have adjudicated.”

Judge Durcan imposed a threemonth sentence for the theft of the stereo and three months for criminal damage, to be served concurrently.

He imposed a five-month sentence for the theft of diesel, to be served consecutive to the three- month sentence.

He also disqualified Mr Kiely from driving for a period of two years. Judge Durcan warned that offenders who attack the farming community or violate the domestic privacy of a home would be dealt with in the most forceful fashion by the court.

TWO Kilkee community groups were prevented from providing 20 nights of local entertainment due to what has been described as “exorbitant” costs charged by the theatre at Cultúrlann Sweeney. According to Kilkee town councillor Paddy Collins (FG), Kilkee Amphitheatre was quoted € 4,200 to stage 10 shows at the Clare County Council-run theatre. They would also be required to pay up to seven per cent of ticket charges. “They usually make € 1,000 to € 1, 500 when they were in the community centre,” he said.

Likewise the Kilkee Civic Trust was prevented from using the theatre for its popular summer talks due to high costs. Cllr Collins said the voluntary group that hosts the talks free of charge were asked to pay € 1,500 for the use of the theatre.

“The two groups wanted to use the theatre for 20 out of the 60 nights in July and August,” he said. “Both had to pull out. There are now just four nights booked for the remainder of July and August.”

He said that Kilkee National School also wished to hold a presentation night at the theatre but could not afford to, due to costs.

The Kilkee councillor told a meet- ing of the West Clare County Councillors last evening (Monday) that there are now fears that the theatre, which was opened in February, will be “moth balled”.

“The theatre is state of the art but it is not being used due to the exorbitant cost.”

He said it was being run as a commercial business rather than a community facility. “I don’t feel that Clare County Council and the Arts Council are suitable to run this,” he added calling for a board of management to take over the role.

Since the library and theatre opened five months ago it has been run by Clare County Council.

Director of Services Anne Haugh said that the last meeting of Kilkee Town Council was advised that the local authority would review the rates at the end of the season. She added that it is being operated on a full cost basis.

Cllr Collins argues however that as the theatre and library was funded by donations from a Kilkee emigrant the building also belongs to Kilkee.

It was agreed that he would meet with the Director of Services responsible for Cultúrlann Sweeney Bernadette Kinsella, mayor Claire Haugh (FF), and local county councillors Pat Keane (FF) and Gabriel Keating (FG) in a bid to find a resolution.

A LOCK of hair belonging to Irish revolutionary hero, Peadar Clancy, has resurfaced – 92 years after the Clareman was shot dead by British soldiers in Dublin Castle.

The hair was presented to relatives of the executed revolutionary in Cranny on Sunday, after spending most of the last hundred years lost in an envelope in America. It was discovered by Irish Historian, Professor Eunan O’Hailpín, who is himself a grandnephew of executed revolution- ary, Kevin Barry.

The hair was given to Professor O’Hailpín by an American relative – who was disposing of a collection of family artifacts from Ireland, and had no idea of the significance of the hair or its owner.

Clare man, Pat Shannon, accepted the hair on behalf of the decedents of family and says that he has no intention of selling the lock of hair to collectors.

“We were shocked when we heard about the hair. This all came from a relation of Kevin Barry’s in America. Kevin Barry had served under Peadar during the War of Independence and when Peadar died a relative of Kevin Barry must have taken the lock of hair from him – along with a lock of Kevin Barry’s own hair,” he said.

“It is incredible for this to come back to us but there was a tradition in those days to take a lock of hair from someone when they died young – as a momento.

“We are certainly going to hold onto this lock of hair ourselves – we wont be selling it on ebay or anything like that. There are a number of descendants of Peadar Clancy still in Clare and our plan would be to use the hair to mark the hundred anniversary of his death here in Cranny.

Peadar Clancy was shot and killed by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920, as a reprisal for the murder of a network of British spies by the IRA. Also killed on that day were fellow prisoners Dick McKee and Conor Clune as-well-as 14 people attending a football match at Croke Park.

A CLARE teenager could be on the way to becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg through his creation of PearUp – a new social network based on sports.

Bunratty youngster, Tiernan Kennedy, is currently in New York where he and two of his classmates from Trinity College Dublin have been accepted into a prestigious incubator programme organised by American conglomerate General Electric.

The intensive 10-week incubator course is intended to bring the best and the brightest of young technical stars – in an effort to further their business start-ups. Tiernan, along with his co-company founders Alex Mann and Dermot Markey are the only non-American students accepted to the Manhattan course.

PearUp is a new form of social network which aims to link together people with different sporting interests in different parts of the world. It is operational as a mobile app for smart-phones and works by allowing strangers to meet and play in sporting events together.

While the application is aimed at individuals looking for people to play sports with, it is primarily aimed at sports clubs who can use its software as a virtual booking agency.

When the programme comes to an end of August 17, Tiernan and the rest of the PearUp founders will get a chance to pitch to General Electric executive for the chance to win € 10,000 in start-up capital.

Tiernan nearly missed out on taking part in competition as the PearUp’s entry to the event was only confirmed weeks before the start of the incubator programme – leaving them without enough time to obtain visas to travel to America.

However, after letters were written on their behalf by former Tánaiste, Dick Spring (Lab) as well as US Congressman Todd Akin and highprofile venture capitalist, Will Porteous, they were able to process their visas in just two and a half weeks.

Despite missing out on the first eight days of the programme, Tiernan and the rest of the PearUp team are reported to be competing well with their American counterparts.

For more information on the PearUp website visit www.pearup. tumblr.com.

Kat hl een McMAHON (nee
Gi l l i gan)

LAHINCH hotelier and head of the Irish Hotel Federation, Michael Vaughan, has withdrawn his calls for an independent investigation into the e-coli outbreak which forced the closure of the Clare’s three main swimming beaches over the weekend.

This comes following the confirmation by Clare County Council that the temporary closure of beaches at Lahinch, Kilkee and Spanish Point was the result of run off from nearby farmland, and not as a result of a breakdown in the sewerage infrastructure in either of the three locations.

Mr Vaughan confirmed that follow a lengthy conversation with County Manager, Tom Coughlan, yesterday, he was satisfied that the sewage treatment plant in Lahinch was not the source of the e-coli.

In a statement to The Clare People last night, a council spokesperson confirmed that it was run off from nearby land and not sewage which caused the e-coli build-up.

“The excessive rainfall in recent weeks was a major contributory factor to the detection of e-coli in the water. Lahinch, Kilkee and Spanish Point beaches are each located in bays, unlike other bathing areas along the west coast of Clare.

“As a result, the run off from land surrounding these beaches became concentrated in enclosed bodies of water resulting in the greater concentration of bacteria levels. The results of water samples taken at beaches which are located at less enclosed locations along the coast did not show such elevated levels.

“The effluent from the wastewater treatment plant in Lahinch has been consistently within the permitted limits for the three main parameters for measuring the discharge of effluent from treatment plants, namely Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and suspended solids, and the plant has capacity to treat the existing town including increased population during holiday periods.

“Neither have there been any untreated overflows from the network during the period in which the water samples resulting in exceedances of the Blue Flag limits were taken at Lahinch beach.”

Clare County Council say they will continue to consult with the HSE as well as carrying out further water quality tests on the effected beaches.

A PLAN for the development of the mid-west region for the next 20 years has been branded a “complete waste of money”.

The € 1.2 million Mid West Area Strategic Plan (MWASP) will cost Clare County Council € 184,000, yet local county councillors claim that its main concern is furthering the development of Limerick City at the expense of Clare.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), who is a member of the Mid West Regional Authority, is particularly critical of the plan stating, “It is a document that serves no purpose other than to further the needs of Limerick City.”

The plan is described as a “Planning Land Use and Transportation Strategy” that covers North Tipperary, Limerick City and Limerick County and County Clare.

However following the next local elections in 2014 Tipperary North will cease to exist, as it will be amalgamated with Tipperary South.

Cllr Kelly has now called for the plan to be reviewed if there is any “territorial change”.

Following the local authority changes in Tipperary, the Clare county councillor believes Tipperary North will have to be omitted or the South included making the current plan, which is in its final draft stage, nul and void.

Senior Planner with Clare County Council Gordon Daly told The Clare People that the MWASP was similar to strategies that have been prepared in other parts of the country.

Asked about the costings he explained, “The overall cost of the strategy over a four to five year period is € 1.2m. A grant of € 600,000 was received from the Department of Transport, primarily focused on the transportation and smarter travel assessments of the plan. This would have involved a substantial amount of survey work and traffic counts. The balance of the funding (€ 600,000) is shared between the four local authorities in the region on the basis of population. The overall cost to Clare County Council over the four to five year period is approximately € 184,000,” he said.

“Also, one of the main benefits of MWASP has been the development of an overall transport model which is available to the local authority for future traffic assessments and the model is available to Clare County Council and can be used by the council in the future,” added the senior planner.

SHANNON’S ability to be transformed into a strategic freight logistics hub that would have direct connections to some of the world’s global logistics centres has been highlighted following a major thinktank that took place in London last week.

The Mid West Regional Authority (MWRA) and the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) have sounded out Shannon’s potential after meeting with international freight logistics experts in London this week to promote the mid-west region as a strategically located and sustainable freight logistics hub.

Through its participation in the EU co-funded Weastflows project, the MWRA chaired the meeting in London to discuss methods to promote the major North West European freight Gateways in terms of their connectivity to other European Gateways and onwards to the major global logistics hubs in the United States and Asia.

“The importance of an effective and well-managed Gateway for freight movements cannot be overstated for a peripheral European region, such as the mid-west,” explained Liam Conneally, Director of the MWRA.

“The Limerick-Shannon Gateway is at the heart of the region and is an important contributor to the economic development of the mid-west. Ireland’s exports continue to rise in 2012, despite the challenges faced by our key export markets, and our exporters rely on an efficient transport system to move their products within the North West Europe area and beyond.

“Furthermore, if Ireland is to meet its commitments in terms of reducing CO2 emissions, the region needs to learn the best methods for en- couraging modal shifts from road to more sustainable forms of freight transport,” he added. “The Weastflows project is seeking to improve and enhance freight logistics in North West Europe on a West-East axis. The project brings together experts from all sectors of the freight industry to work towards connecting and improving sustainable supply chains for the movement of freight. During the recent meeting in the UK, the MWRA promoted the LimerickShannon gateway, which as the most western gateway in the project has a key location for freight movements.”

Linda Newport, EU Projects Officer with MWRA, explained that the benefits for the mid-west region in participating in the Weastflows project include an opportunity to improve the connectivity from the region to the major North West Europe transport corridors, as well as an opportunity to test out the latest in innovative approaches to freight transportation via participation in pilot projects.

“The mid-west region is strategically located on the west coast of Ireland and is an important logistics hub in Ireland with the Shannon Estuary and Shannon International Airport. The Limerick-Shannon gateway is at the heart of the region and is an important contributor to the economic development of the region.

“Through our participation in the Weastflows project, the MWRA will work with the Irish Exporters Association and other partners to establish the Limerick-Shannon gateway as a sustainable gateway and improve links with the Seine gateway, the Liverpool-Manchester gateway and the London-Thames gateway, among others. It is anticipated that the results of the project will feed into the regional planning processes,” she added.

A CLARE-BASED national organization that looks after the interests of over 100 carers groups around the country has rowed in with its support for a new strategy that has been devised by the Government and launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Caring for Carers Ireland has said that the new strategy called ‘The National Carers Strategy: Recognised, Supported, Empowered’, included commitments from all Government Departments to meet the demands and needs of Ireland’s growing number of family carers of all ages

“As far back as 1988, the Department of Health expressed its desire to enable older people to live with dignity and to be cared for as long as possible in their own homes,” said Mary McMahon, CEO of Caring for Carers Ireland. “24 years on, the Government has produced a strategy that we feel provides the framework that will guide the future of caring in the community and help to support a fair and equitable system for family carers in challenging times.

“There are over 74,000 males and 113,000 females registered as family carers in Ireland, including 4,288 carers under the age of 15, who collectively contribute € 2.5 billion to the national economy each year.”

The new strategy was produced by the Minister For Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People, Kathleen Lynch.

Brigid Barron, Innovation and Programme Manager, Caring for Carers Ireland, noted that the publication of the strategy is “timely” as the pressures faced by family carers through- out Ireland have never been greater.

She continued: “The demand for support mechanisms to be put in place for family carers are increasing on a daily basis as a result of early discharges from hospitals, the growing need for long-term care for Ireland’s ageing population and the increase in the numbers of people with complex health issues being cared for in their home by family members. This strategy is geared toward including family carers in care planning and decision making for those that they care for, and the promotion of supports and services to protect the physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing of carers.

“Caring for Carers Ireland, on behalf of its members, now looks forward to a speedy implementation of the proposals outlined in the Strategy,” Ms Barron concluded.