Month: December 2012

CLARE County Council is to make a submission to the Electoral Commission in an effort to retain the current local authority boundaries and save the North Clare or Ennistymon Area of the local authority.

A joint motion put forward by three councillors from West, North and East Clare at last night’s December meeting of Clare County Council requested that the council lobby the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), to have some flexibility in how the electoral areas of Clare are divided, in an effort to ensure that the five traditional electoral boundaries in Clare are allowed to continue in their current form.

While no formal decision has yet been made, it is likely that the Ennistymon Local Area and the West Clare Local Area will be amalgamated, while the East Clare, Ennis and Shannon Electoral Areas will remain. The criteria for deciding on the number of councillors who represent each area has also been changed but it is not clear as yet whether this will mean a reduction in the overall number of councillors.

The motion was put forward jointly by West Clare Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), North Clare Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) and East Clare Cllr Joe Cooney (FG).“If this goes ahead, it seems that the Ennistymon Area council would be a prime candidate for abolition. I think that we need to make the submission and hope for the best,” said Cllr Nagle. Cllr Kelly said that a “small bit of flexibility” by the Minister for the Environment would result in a a situation that was “not too different from what it is like at the moment”.

Speaking on the motion, North Clare Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that the local areas of the council represent different community blocks in Clare and should not be altered.

“An electoral area should be a community area – Ennistymon has very little in common with Kilrush and probably even less in common with East Clare,” he said.

CHAIRPERSON of the Shannon Airport Business Development Task Force, Rose Hynes, confirmed yesterday that negotiations are at an advanced stage with Ryanair, but admitted that the airport should not be beholden to Michael O’Leary.

Speaking at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, which was hosted by Shannon Airport, Ms Hynes confirmed that talks were ongoing with a number of carriers, including Ryanair.

The Bellharbour native, who is expected to head up the new company which will manage Shannon Airport and Shannon Development from January of 2013, also confirmed that the local property of Shannon Development, and its rental income, will be folded into the new company in July of next year.

“We have spoken to many airlines and Ryanair is one of them. Ryanair is the largest airline in Europe and they are right on our doorstep. We haven’t concluded a deal but we have to grow our numbers. We are talking to a number of airlines and the interest has been high. One does not want to be beholdant to Ryanair, that is a dangerous place to be.

“Before July 1 of 2013, the lands of Shannon Airport and their rental income will transfer to the new company. The airport is starting off with funding facilities available to us. I’m not going to get into the numbers but there will be openings for us.”

Responding to questions from councillors at last night’s meeting, Ms Hynes also confirmed that keeping Aer Rianta International as part of the new Shannon Airport organisation was never within the remit of the Task Force.

“It wasn’t a negotiation – the government own all the assets and it [Aer Rianta International] was not on the table. It wasn’t a case of trading one thing off against another,” she said.

Current Director of Shannon Airport, Mary Considine said that the rights of staff at the airport will be protected under the transfer.

“We have gone through a period of consultation with ICTU but we have also been talking to people here on the ground – they are the people who will ultimately deliver this change for us and we need to be conscience of that,” she said.

“There are some worries among staff members but it is important to stress that their terms and conditions will be the same after the separation.”

CLARE Green Party councillor, Brian Meaney has suggested that the Clare County Development Plan be changed to allow for fracking to take place, but only if it undertaken by a member of the local community.

The suggestion was made at last night’s December meeting of Clare County Council following a motion by the Green Party councillor concerning the status of a ban on fracking, which was asked for by the elected members of Clare County Council earlier this year.

In response to this motion, Ger Dollard, Director of Services with Clare County Council, said that it was not within the legal remit covered by the County Development Plan to place an outright ban on any activity – or any “crude exclusionary policy”.

Cllr Meaney then suggested that instead of introducing a ban on fracking, the council could take a “more creative” approach to the issue and change the County Development Plan to allow for fracking, but only by Clare people.

“We really don’t have a lot of power to change our own County Development Plan in order to reflect the needs of the elected members,” said Cllr Meaney.

“There is an awful lot going on with the energy companies. They are building up a reasonable expectation that they are going to be able to exploit this gas. The EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] and the European Commission still have not taken a proper look at whether this can be extracted properly. We still don’t know how people are going to be affected by this most intrusive of activities.”

In his response, Mr Dollard also said that there was no “hesitancy” from Clare County Council to deal with the fracking situation in the Clare Basin.

“The council will keep the matter under review and monitor progress at national level on the assessment of the issues and report back to the elected members in due curse,” he said.

“The council can be assured that there is no hesitancy on the part of the planning authority but any proposal must accord with law and be based on any national guidance on the issue.”

After successful test in West Clare, UK based company Enegi Oil confirmed last week that it intends to apply for a fracking license from the Department of energy next year.

A TEENAGE actress with very strong North Clare connections has had her big international television break playing the role of an abducted girl in a drama reminiscent of the Madeleine McCann disappearance.

Fourteen-year-old Lauryn Canny, whose mother Nicola comes from Corofin, has been wowing audiences all over Europe with her performance in the four-part mini-series Amber.

The series, which has been commissioned by RTÉ but has yet to be broadcast, has been shown in a number of countries across Europe and as far afield as Australia. The drama tells the story of Dublin teenager Amber Bailey and the attempts made by her family and friends to find her.

Lauryn is currently in Morocco where she is shooting her first feature film alongside Juliette Binoche.

“That was her breakthrough role. It was commissioned by RTÉ but they haven’t shown it yet. She always wanted to be an actress. She never went to stage schools or anything like that but just because of her personality people always said that she was going to end up on the stage,” said Lauryn’s mother, Nicola.

“She absolutely loves it. She’s trying to find the balance between doing this and keeping up with school work as well. But her dream is to be a professional actor and do this for a living. She flew off to Morocco on Friday to be in a film with Juliet Binoche entitled 1,000 Times a Night . Lauryn is actually playing one of the lead roles – she is playing Juliet Binoche’s daughter. U2 drummer Larry Mullen is also in the film.”

Along with their Corofin connections, the Cannys also have a number of relations in the Shannon area.

“We come to Clare a good bit. We celebrated Lauryn getting the role down with my nan in Corofin, Lauryn’s great-grandmother. We found out that she got the role on Friday night and we all headed off to Clare for a big family night on the Saturday,” continued Nicola.

CARERS from all over Clare took to the streets of Ennis on Friday, following an impromptu meeting through Facebook, to raise their concerns about budgetary cuts to the Respite Care Allowance.

Among the 40 to 50 people that took part in the protest were parents of young children with disabilities, older parents of adults with special needs and full-time carers of the elderly.

All had one clear message – the cut to the respite grant was the last cut they could even contemplate bearing on top of all the previous hardships they had endured in previous budgets.

One of the organisers, Niamh Daly (pictured above), said the protest organised in Dublin by the Carers Association was an indication at how upset people were but, as most carers cannot travel to protest, the carers of Clare decided to have their say on their own streets.

“Carers cannot all get to Dublin but, at the end of the day, we have to have our voice heard,” she said.

Many more Clare carers were unable to attend the protest as the people they care for are house-bound and therefore could not come to Ennis.

It is not just the cut to the respite grant, however, that is affecting Clare’s carers. Family carers, providing unpaid care to family members and loved ones, have been seri- ously affected through the number of cumulative cuts, including the cut to the Household Benefit Package, increases to the prescription charge from 50 cent to € 1.50, the new carbon tax on fuel and the drug payment scheme threshold increase from € 132 to € 144.

The Carers Association said it was extremely disappointed with the level of reduction of over 19 per cent in the respite grant paid to over 77,000 family carers, 20,000 of whom receive no other support from the State for providing full-time care for a family member from their own resources.

The grant is designed to be used by carers to buy in home care or pay for residential respite care for the cared-for person in order to give the carer a much needed break from their caring role.

However, The Clare People has learnt that many carers are using this grant to pay for necessary therapies and services for those they are caring for.

“I CRIED that day.”

Young mother Niamh Daly who spends every hour of every day caring for her three-year-old daughter with special needs was brought to tears by the announcement that the respite grant would be cut by € 325 to € 1,375 for the year.

This money was not used for the purpose of respite in her home, but to pay to replace essential therapies already cut by the government.

Little Chantelle was diagnosed with autism nine months ago. At the time, Niamh was told she would be sent on a course to teach her how to help her daughter with speech and language, but no speech and language therapist or occupational therapist would be provided directly to the toddler.

To provide such services to her nonverbal daughter would cost Niamh € 100 per week.

She decided to use the respite grant, designed to give carers a brief holiday from their round-the-clock dedication, to provide some essential services when possible, and horseriding therapy which also helps her little girl manage her condition.

“This is just a whole lot coming together,” said Ms Daly, referring to the respite cut – the straw that broke the camel’s already seriously weakened back.

“If they keep cutting, I will just have to sit home with my child all day,” she said.

She laughed at the thought of taking a holiday, explaining that a few hours to go into town would be a heavenly break.

Niamh spends 24 hours a day, seven days a week, caring for her daughter and, as a result, cannot hold down a job.

“I can’t go out to work because my child requires 24-hour care. I want to work. This is the first time in my life I have not gone out to work. If I could work, I would at least be able to do overtime to get her some therapies, but I can’t because I have to care for her full-time.”

Niamh is busily collecting old mobile phones in the hope of exchanging them for an iPad.

She must collect 185 in a bid to get the tablet that would allow Chantelle to communicate with her mother and alleviate some of her daily frustrations as she struggles to speak.

The mother of one is angered that all Government TDs have been offered free iPads, along with all the other allowances and expenses, while carers struggle to survive.

She called on the ministers and TDs to spend a day living her life and believes that, after such an experience, they would reconsider any cut to carers and people with disabilities.

Cuts to the respite grant will save the Government € 26 million while TDs’ allowances and expenses come in at € 25 million.

MORE than 30 young men and women from the North Clare and South Galway area have contacted Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) either applying for a job or asking to be trained to work on the 500-hectare organic salmon farm proposed for off the Clare coast.

Despite growing concerns about the impact of the fish farm among local fishermen and agencies such as Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), BIM confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that they have been inundated with young people looking to work on the proposed site.

BIM have also confirmed that, should the farm be given the go ahead by the Department of Agriculture, the organisation will establish a temporary training facility in North Clare where people can learn the skills needed.

“We have not only had people inquiring about jobs, we have also had people asking about training courses where they could up-skill in preparation for the jobs coming on line,” said Donal Maguire of BIM.

“I think most people understand that the jobs will come when we are in a position to appoint an operator. But we have had an awful lot of enquires from people who want to get qualified in operating a boat or diving training – things like that. There are quite a lot of people locally who are thinking ahead with a view to being at the top of the queue if and when these jobs come online.”

BIM have said that the fish farm could create as many as 500 jobs locally, if it is given the green light by the Department of Agriculture. The number of jobs have been queries by the IFI and other groups.

“Once we get the go ahead for this we will set up a mobile training unit in North Clare or in Galway so that we can deliver training on the spot to the local people,” continued Donal.

Meanwhile, groups opposed to the fish farm will protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), this Saturday, December 15.

In a statement, No Salmon Farms At Sea (NSFAS) said that it will join like minded groups Save Bantry Bay, Save Galway Bay, FISSTA and Friends of the Irish Environment for the protest march in Cork.

SOURCES within Clare GAA have confirmed to The Clare People that a number of suspensions will be handed down this week as a result of the investigation into Minor A hurling final between Kilmaley and Clarecastle.

Both clubs are also expected to be fined as a result of the incidents that marred the second half of the final, played in Sixmilebridge back in October. Several mentors from both sides have recently been before a committee appointed by the GAA in Clare to examine the controversy.

The game made headlines when pictures of the incidents were featured on the front pages of a number of national newspapers, as well as going viral on Facebook and Twitter. Only two mentors were named in the referee’s report, Kilmaley’s Niall Romer and Clarecastle’s Tommy Howard.

A FORMER mayor of Shannon has called on Shannon Town Council authorities to outline to members of the local authority where over € 10,000 that has been put into a fund for the 2014 local elections has been diverted to.

Cllr Sean McLoughlin has made his comments ahead of the 2012 Shannon Town Council Budget meeting because the money put aside for the 2014 election won’t now be used for its intended purpose as the council is set to be abolished as part of the Government’s new blueprint for local government coming into effect in 2014.

“Every year we put away so much money for the local town election,” revealed Cllr McLoughlin.

“I am just wondering where is the money that was put in that pot, for a better word. I am wondering be- cause we won’t need to have a town election next time around, so the money that was put away won’t be used for the purpose it was put away for.

“I think there was roughly about € 3, 500 put aside each year since the 2009 election.

“The fact that it wasn’t taken out of this year’s budget drew my attention to it.

“I want to know where the three years of that money has gone,” added Cllr McLoughlin.

The Fine Gael representative has told The Clare People that money should now be ring-fenced for another project in the town.

“There was money put aside for the past three years.

“That’s over € 10,000, which is a lot of money.

“That money is just sitting there, money that could and should be put to use for something in Shannon,” he added.

ONE out of every six houses located in a Clare ‘ghost estate’ is vacant. According to new figures released by the Department of the Environment, Clare has one of the highest rates of vacant properties in unfinished, or so-called ghost, estates of anywhere in the county.

In total, there are 346 vacant houses and 194 vacant apartments located in estates which have been classified as unfinished or ghost estates. These 540 vacant houses in unfinished estates equate to one out of every 80 houses in the county.

According to property website MyHome.ie, there are currently 1,280 properties for sale in the Clare. With a total of 540 vacant houses and apartments located in areas classified by the Department of the Environment as unfinished, it is likely that a sizeable proportion of the properties for sale in Clare are located in these areas.

The results of the National Housing Development Survey also revealed that a large number of unfinished developments still exist in the county.

The Department of the Environment officially classifies 72 locations in Clare as unfinished estates. Many of these estates are fully serviced and largely complete and have high numbers of occupancy.

Indeed, only 23 of these 72 estates were exempted from paying the household charge this year because of being classified as unfinished.

A number of buildings in the 72 estates are virtually complete but, for one reason or another, the developer or receiver has been unable to bring the properties to completion.

According to the survey, 22 houses in the Aisling Estate in Ennis and 20 in Acha Bhille have been classified as “near completed” but have no construction work currently ongoing.

Road infrastructure was a particular problem on developments in the county, with more than 600 properties deemed to have a basic road base, with no completed surfacing work.

A total of 132 properties in the Moyard estate in Shanballa, Ennis, were deemed to have road access, while 97 on the Tulla Road, Roslevan and 72 properties in Cregaun Na Hilla in Clarecastle were classified as having unfinished roads.

Of the 72 estates identified in the National Housing Development Survey, construction work was ongoing on only four projects – the Cluainin and Tullyglass Lowlands developments in Shannon, as well as the Cois Tra and Cregg Beach development in Lahinch. The survey also identified a number of Clare estates where lighting and completed footpaths were a major issue. The names used to describe these estates are presented as identified by the Department of the Environment in the National Housing Development Survey and may be known differently locally.