Month: January 2013

REPORTER Andrew Hamilton became interested in all things ecumenical during the holy month of November. He reported that the Killaloe Diocese was facing a “crisis” of holy orders, with the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) predicting that the entire diocese will be serviced by a handful of “ShannonDoc priests” in as little as a decades time.

The organisation, which now represents more than 1,000 parish priests in Ireland, said massive changes were required by all the Irish Bishops and the Vatican if this doomsday scenario was to be avoided.

According to Fr Tony Flannery of the ACP, the priesthood is set to become a transient profession in Ireland, with a much reduced number of priest delivering sacrament across many parishes – without having the time to be based in any individual community.

A spokesperson from the Killaloe Diocese told The Clare People , that there had been active moves to engage with lay community in the diocese over the last 12 months – there are some issues which can only be changed at Vatican level.

“Priests in the Killaloe Diocese are already doing the work that three priests would have been doing ten years ago, and this is going to get much worse, very quickly. This is a crisis, no questions about it. In 10 or 20 years time there will be only a handful of priests and they will be just saying mass in an area and moving on – they will be like ShannonDoc priests,” said Fr Tony Flannery.

“The ACP now have more than 1,000 priests in our organisation and it is growing all the time. This is in spite the feeling that priests are being actively discouraged by the powers that be to join. So it shows you that there is a real desire among the priests for change.”

According to Fr Brendan Quinlavin, spokesperson for the Killaloe Diocese, Bishop Kieran O’Reilly had been engaged in a “listening” process over the last 12 months designed to allow lay people to have more say in the diocese.

In a separate story it was highlighted that ordaining women priests was one of the main changes suggested in a revolutionary new document produced by the Diocese of Killaloe as part of the listening process.

The process, which was started by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly last year, involved more than 700 priests and lay church members in the diocese and was viewed as a blueprint for the future of the Catholic Church in County Clare.

The document also recommended the creation of new active roles for lay people in the diocese and fostering a greater appreciation for local priests as two of its other main aims.

The document also highlight the main challenges faced by the church in the Killaloe diocese with mass attendance as low as 10 per cent in some parishes. Other fears also include the prospect of church closures in rural part of Clare, as priest numbers continue to decline.

“This [listening] process is an invitation to engage again and to be an integral part of our future,” said Fr Brendan Quinlivan, spokesperson for the Diocese of Killaloe.” The next step in this process is unclear as many of the recommended changes would require a change of official church doctrine in the Vatican.”

A PROBLEM resident was accused of taunting neighbours plagued by anti-social behaviour in November by claiming he would buy their homes if they want to leave a troubled estate.

The man, a convicted criminal, made the claim in a letter delivered to homes in the estate in Ennis.

Residents suffered numerous instances of anti-social behaviour and raised their concerns in a meeting with senior Gardaí in Ennis during in October.

The situation got so bad for one mortgage payer that it was claimed that he has been forced to leave the area to live in another part of Ennis. Other residents are also believed to be considering leaving.

The typed letter was hand delivered by members of the man’s family to certain homes in the estate.

In it the man boasted that he could afford to purchase homes in the estate and give them to members of his family.

In the letter he refers to a wide circle of cousins who he would like to see move into the estate, if his neighbours felt they wanted to leave.

The letter was delivered after a local newsletter highlighted the pres- ence of Garda patrols in the area.

A delegation of residents of the estate had raised their concerns during a meeting at Ennis Garda Station. The week after this report a Traveller resident in that Ennis estate hit back at what he said was racism at work.

The man rubbished claims by residents that he had been the cause of anti-social behaviour in the estate since he moved some months ago, or that he had been the reason a person moved out of the estate.

“The only thing that’s happened in the five months I’m living there is the young kids took a football and kicked it around the green.

“Children is children. That’s been the size of it,” he said.

The man, who admitted that he had sent a letter to some residents in the estate offering to buy their houses if they wanted to sell, told us that the letter was ‘sarcastic’ in parts.

“I was sarcastic in the letter. I admit that. The bit about the horses eating the grass was sarcastic. I know that.

“But they think they’re better than me. They haven’t taken the time to get to know me. They judged me because I’m a Traveller. And that’s racist,” he says.

The letter he had hand delivered to some of the residents in the estate invited them to have a cup of the tea with him.

LESS than a third of Clare’s voters went to the polls to vote on the Children Referendum on Saturday November 10, the lowest turn out in 11 years. Despite the turnout being lower than the national average, the number in favour of changing the constitution was slightly higher, with 61.7 per cent voting yes. As many as 79,905 Clare people were entitled to vote, 197 less than the last referendum. Just 25,808 people from the Banner chose to exercise their democratic right however. As many as 15,868 people voted for the amendment, with 9,846 voting against. There were 94 invalid votes. The county has a history of not going to the polls on questions that would affect the constitution in recent decades, but the November turnout was surpassed only by the weak showing during the first Nice Referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum. In June 2001, just 30.83 per cent of the people of Clare voted on those three referendums. When 49.8 per cent of voters in the county turned out for the Stability Referendum at the end of May voter apathy and lack of information was criticised for what was then the lowest turn out in the county in almost a decade. Six months later it would appear that apathy and lack of engagement has grown to the point where 17.8 per cent more of the county’s population decided not to vote. The drop in voter turnout is significant when compared to June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for “Recognition for Local Government”.

In March 2002, just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turnout for a referendum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on the Citizenship.

From then until the Stability Referendum the turnout remained over 50 per cent in the Banner county, with 52.48 per cent voting on Lisbon 1 in June 2008, 56.9 per cent voting on the second Lisbon referendum in October 2009, while 56.12 per cent voted on the House of the Oireachtais Inquiries and 57.95 per cent on Judges Remuneration during the Presidential election in October 2011.

While the turnout on Saturday was disappointing for the Government, it still considered it “a historic day for children”.

Speaking at the count centre at the Court House in Ennis after returning officer Pat Wallace declared the Clare result of the Children Referendum, Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said, it was “a truly historic day for our children”.

GARDAÍ in Clare are appealing for assistance in solving a number of burglaries that took place during the Christmas period.

Between 2pm on Christmas Day and 5.30pm on St Stephen’s Day, costume jewellery was stolen during a break-in to a house in Westwood, Ennis. The culprit gained entry by breaking a rear window.

A burglar used the same method of entry during a burglary in Showground’s View, Ennis. The breakin took place between 1.30pm on Wednesday, December 26 and 3.15am on Thursday, December 27.

As well as stealing a 32-inch Samsung television, Playstation3 and eight games, a Hewlett Packard laptop, 3D Panasonic TV, DVD player and key to the patio doors, the burglars also stole a white Toyota saloon (00 OY 1070), which was later, recovered.

Efforts were made to steal the copper piping from a bathroom in a house in Ballina sometime between 4pm on Saturday, December 22 and 10am on Thursday last.

A Triton shower was stolen from the house in Beechgrove Grange Road, Ballina, after the culprit broke in through a rear window.

In Kilfenora, a house on Doctor’s Hill was broken into between 8pm on St Stephen’s night and 8am the following morning. The house and its contents were disturbed but nothing appears to have been taken.

The occupants of a house in Killernan Miltown Malbay were not as lucky. A sum of money, including sterling, and a white Citreon Berlingo Van Sl59 OFF were stolen from this home some time between 8.30pm and 11.40pm on Friday, December 28. The burglars gained entry to the house by breaking a side window and then stole the keys of the van.

In Kilkee, between 2pm on Thursday, December 27 and 10.30am on Saturday, December 29, an apartment on Circular Road was broken into through the rear door. A 32-inch Toshiba flatscreen TV and some bed clothing was stolen.

Meanwhile, Gardaí are looking for any witnesses to criminal damage of a car which was parked outside the Church in Roslevan on Christmas Eve. Three of the car’s tyres were slashed between 7.30pm and 8.45pm.

PLANS to create a university campus in Ennis have been sunk – following a decision by the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) to pull out of the ambitious Munster Technological University project.

The project would have seen the amalgamation of LIT, Cork Institute of Technology and IT Tralee into a single university with 25,000 students.

The Munster Technological University plans included the creation of a campus in Ennis which would have offered lectures, initially through video conferencing, while a Clare-based academic staff was being built up.

In a statement last week, LIT confirmed that it was no longer interested in an amalgamation with the Cork and Tralee ITs.

“Following the address by Minister Quinn TD of all higher education leaders at the end of last month and the publication of new policy documents by the HEA, LIT has reviewed its future position in the higher education landscape. A decision has now been taken to prioritise collaboration with partners in the regional cluster (LIT, University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College and IT Tralee) and to pause further development of an earlier proposal to apply for designation as a technological university with Cork IT and IT Tralee,” said a spokesperson.

“This decision, which was unanimous and has met with broad support among external and internal stakeholders who were informed immediately, reflects the ambition of LIT to set the standard for a strong Institute of Technology sector.”

LIT’s decision to pull the plug on the Munster Technological University has been met with some criticism – not least from the institute’s own lecturer Dr Frank Houghton, who said it will foster the continuation of a “twotiered” education system.

“The decision is short-sighted and will harm both the institute and the people of the mid-west in the long term. We live in a highly unequal society, characterised by a two-tier education system at third level,” he said.

“We know that there is a real status difference between universities and the institutes of technology in Ireland. This decision reinforces that division and copper fastens elitism in Irish education.”

Dr Houghton also said that he has “serious concerns” over LIT’s expansions plans and its attempts to build links with foreign universities in an increasingly globalised education sector as a result of this decision.

CLARE is now a more Catholic county that it has been in 110 years but there are also rising numbers of people devoted to other religions in the county, as well as a huge increase among those who don’t believe in any religion at all.

The latest report released on the 2011 National Census of Population by the Central Statistics Office in October revealed that, for the first time since 1901, there are more than 100,000 people who are classed as Roman Catholic living in the county.

The newly released census figures show that there are 101,984 people of Roman Catholic religion in the county – the last time the figures topped the 100,000 mark was with the 1901 census when there were 110,062 Catholics out of an overall population of 112,334.

However, the 2011 census confirms a trend that over the past 20 years has seen significant increases in the nonCatholic population driven by not only growing numbers with no religion but also large increases in the religions of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, coming into the county.

Outside of members of the Roman Catholic faith, the biggest religion, or in this case non-religious grouping, is among member of the population who are of no religion at all or declined to say in their census return of what religious persuasion they were.

There are 6,384 people in the county with no religion – the highest number of areligious people in the county ever and a figure which represents a 4,612 increase over the past decade. A total of 1,795 declined to state their religious faith in the 2011 census return.

The largest religious grouping outside of Catholics are members of the Church of Ireland/Protestant faith that represent 1,960. There are 694 people of Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox persuasion, 283 Presbyterians, 283 Muslims and 52 members of the Jewish faith.

HOUSE values in Clare have more than halved over the past five years as the unprecedented property price crash continues unabated in every corner of the county, The Clare People revealed in October.

This is one of the key statistics contained in a new report published early in the month, which claimed that the prices for houses across a range of sizes in the county have plummetted by just under 53 per cent since the peak of the property price boom back in 2006/2007.

The claim was made by Daft.ie in its latest House Price Report. The study for the third quarter of 2012 has shown the continued acceleration of the property crash in the county, even though it is running at a slower rate than the rest of the province apart from Limerick City.

The average price of a house in Clare in October was € 144, 524, which translated into at 52.9 per cent drop from the peak of € 306,845.

These latest figures. produced by Daft.ie economist Dr Paraic Kenna of NUI Galway. showed that there had been a quarterly fall of 4.8 per cent in the county’s house prices and a drop 19.5 per cent in the past year – this is the biggest year-on-year drop since that property crash started to kick in back in 2008.

Prices in Munster outside the cities fell by 6.8 per cent between June and September, the largest quarterly fall since the crash started.

In Munster, only Limerick County, Tipperary and Waterford City now have lower average houses prices than Clare.

Daft.ie also gave a breakdown of the new average asking prices of housing units in the county, which graphically illustrated the extent of the property crash over the past five years.

The asking price for a one and twobedroom units was € 83,000.

This figures rose to € 124,000 for a three-bedroomed house, € 191,000 for a four-bedroomed house and € 223,000 for a five-bedroomed house.

A NUMBER of strategic sites in Clare were identified as being key to Nazi Germany’s plan to invade and occupy neutral Ireland during World War II, a new top-secret dossier has revealed this week.

The document, which went under the hammer at an auction in England in October for € 2,961 – almost four times the reserve price – was compiled by Nazi spies in Ireland and graphically illustrates that Clare would have been given a crucial part to play in any German war effort conducted from Ireland.

In all, seven Clare sites were singled out by Nazi intelligence as having a role to play in German’s invasion plans in a document that clearly showed that neutral Ireland and the constituency of Taoiseach Eamon de Valera was viewed of strategic importance by the fascist regime.

The detailed document, which includes maps and analysis of the Irish countryside compiled by Nazi spies, shows how under Operation Green/ Sealion, Hitler planned to overthrow the State and turn it into one of six regional hubs for Britain and Ireland.

Ardnacrusha Power Station – which had been constructed by the pride of German engineering, SiemensSchuckert in the 1920s, at the cost of £5.2m, and at that time the biggest hydro-electrical plant in Europe – was circled as being a vital component in the German rule in Ireland.

Other key Clare sites included former capital of Ireland Killaloe, probably because of Lough Derg’s potential to cater for flyingboats, while the key coastal areas targetted by the Nazi regime were the Cliffs of Moher and Blackhead/Ballvaughan area.

The document entitled Militärgeographische Angaben über Irland contains detailed maps and postcards, with a number of images of Ardnacrusha highlighting it importance to the state.

These key places were numbered by military officials before being plotted on a series of eight fold-out maps, which would have been used during ‘Operation Sealion’. However, on September 17, 1940, Hitler was forced to scrap Operation Sealion because of the Luftwaffe’s failure to gain air supremacy over England during the Battle of Britain.

The Nazi offensive never took place after the German defeat in the skies, but experts believe the book reveals what could have happened if the Nazi’s had conquered Britain.

A FULL-SCALE murder investigation began in Clare following the death of a man shot during a wedding celebration.

The victim, who was nRobert Sheehan of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, received numerous shots to the head and body while he stood outside the Bunratty Castle Hotel on a September Sunday morning.

He died later at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.

The 21-year-old was attending a family wedding in the County Clare hotel, and had left briefly for a ciga rette break.

At approximately 3.40am, at least one gunman approached him and shot him a number of times. The culprit was then driven away in a dark saloon-type car.

Gardaí have confirmed that they are examining a “short type fire arm” found near the scene.

It is understood that detectives are following a number of lines of enquiry, including a link to a large row in Moyross in July during which two men were stabbed.

Two men in their 20s were arrested in Cork later on Sunday morning in connection with the Bunratty incident.

The late Mr Sheehan had come into contact with Gardaí previously. He was sentenced to two years detention in October 2007, after he pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering the lives of Gavin and Milly Murray.

He admitted acting as a look-out as two other men petrol bombed a car in which the four and six-year-old were sitting.

ROMANCE was in the air in September as a Canadian dentist travelled more than 8,000 kilometres to track down the love of his life, a Clare woman he met for just two minutes in Ennistymon more than a year previous.

Dr Sandy Crocker from British Columbia put his life on hold for four weeks, as he took an extended break from work to travel Ireland in search of his red-haired Irish beauty.

The story which made international headlines told how the lovestruck dentist was in An Teach Bia in Ennistymon on July 9, 2011, when he noticed the woman who has captivated his thoughts for the last 14 months. He describes her as being in her mid- to late-20s with freckles and redish-brown hair. Sandy spoke to her briefly before she left the cafe, but realised too late that he might have met the love of his life.

“We were on our way to the Cliffs of Moher that morning and we stopped in Ennistymon to grab a bite to eat. She was eating and I didn’t want to interrupt her meal so I waited until I noticed her leaving and spoke to her. I asked her for directions to the Cliffs of Moher,” he told The Clare People yesterday.

“I was leaving Ireland a day later so, at first, I didn’t see the point in pursuing things more – but after she left I decided that I had to. So we paid our bill quickly and myself and my brother started looking for her. We searched the town for an hour or two and couldn’t find her, so we went to the Cliffs but later that evening we came back and looked for her again for another two hours. But there was no trace of her.”