Month: February 2013

THREE Clare properties, including two hotels will go under the hammer in another auction of distressed properties to take place next month.

The Allsop Space auction will feature the well-known Kilkee Bay Hotel in the seaside town, and the Ashford Court Hotel in Ennis.

A house in Mountshannon is also included among the 155 properties listed.

The familiar landmark hotel on the Ennis Road into Kilkee will go to auction with a reserve not to exceed € 315,000. The 41-bedroom hotel together with bar and function room facilities extend to 18,910.45 square feet. The two-storey hotel neighbours The Kilkee Bay Leisure Centre, a basketball court, and several rows of apartments/holiday homes.

There is extensive car parking to the front of the property.

Meanwhile, the Ashford Court Hotel on the Old Mill Road, Ennis, has a smaller reserve than the West Clare hotel, set at a price not to exceed € 215,000. The 27-bed hotel is being sold on the instruction of receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG.

Set on 0.072 hectares, the property will be sold with all contents to be included.

The property comprises a hotel building arranged over ground and three upper floors. The property includes a restaurant, bar area and ancillary accommodation.

A freehold-detached four-bedroom house with views of Lough Derg will also be on the books at the March 1 auction in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.

The Mountshannon house will have a reserve of no more than € 125,000.

THE only name coming from Kilkee Town Council as a possible contender for the county council election in 2014 is that of Paddy Collins (FG).

Cllr Collins is leaving his final decision until the boundary commission has decided the new electoral areas.

“On a personal level, it depends on legislation in March regarding the size of the districts. It looks like it would be impossible if seats are reduced and the constituency goes up as far as Ballyvaughan. I would need possibly 4,000 votes and there ain’t 4,000 votes back here,” he said.

In Kilrush, councillors Liam Williams (FG), Paul Moroney (Ind), and Tom Prendeville (FF) are likely contenders but again the boundary commission is reducing any commitment.

“I am not prepared to commit. I have an interest but it will depend on the boundary commission,” said Cllr Williams.

Cllr Prendeville said, “I will take all matters into consideration – my family, the people of Kilrush and the boundary commission. If it is favourable, I will stand.”

Cllr Moroney said his family are still young so he would have to take that into consideration. The inde- pendent councillor added that he has already been approached by two parties to run, a fact that he is also taking into consideration.

The boundary issue also proved contentious in Ennis, with Cllr Peter Considine (FF) leaving his decision until it reports.

For other councillors, the decision is more straight-forward. They will not be running in the county election.

Kilrush councillor Tom Clyne (Ind) had already decided to retire after serving 10 years on the council, but others were forced to make the decision.

In Kilkee, Mayor Clare Haugh (FF) said she enjoyed her 27 and a half years on the town council to date, but would not be contesting the county elections.

“I hope I have made a contribution to Kilkee,” she said.

Cllr PJ Lardner (FF) said “There’s enough of them there. I prefer working for the community of Kilkee as I have done since ‘94. Maybe 15 years ago but it’s a no for now anyway.”

Cllr Lily Marrinan-Sullivan (Ind) came to the realisation that being a county councillor to a vastly increased area would be a full-time job.

“I hadn’t even thought about it. I’m still hoping they’ll save the town council. I would have to say no. Well, I have a full-time job and I’m not in a position to give all my time, which is what you would have to do,” she said.

Cllr Elaine Haugh-Hayes (FG) has other priorities at the moment.

“No, not me anyway. I have no intention. I have a new baby so I’m a little busy at the moment,” she said.

In Kilrush, it was disillusionment with politics in general that will help former mayor of Kilrush, Liam O’Looney (FF), to leave the world of politics behind after the next local election.

He said, however, that the town council would be missed when it is gone.

“If I never went, I would like to see a council there.”

TOWN councillors from Clare’s four different authorities who plan to run for the next local election have one major fear in common, that there respective towns will be forgotten in a new larger local authority.

They say that the major driving force behind their intention to stand is to ensure that their town and the surrounding area will continue to have a voice.

“I would prefer to be standing for Shannon Town Council than Clare County Council. I think town councils have a lot to offer and I think the current situation with the councils being disbanded should be reversed,” said Shannon’s Greg Duff (Lab).

Kilrush town councillors Ian Lynch (FG) and Marian McMahon Jones (FG) know what it is like not to have town representation at county level, and it is with this in mind that they both had decided to contest a county election, even if the town councils had remained.

“It is of the up most importance that we have a strong voice from West Clare,” said Cllr McMahon Jones.

“The town of Kilrush plays a huge part in the development of West Clare. Kilrush needs a councillor on the county council to ensure that the town and West Clare are represented and the concerns and needs of the electorate served,” said Cllr Lynch.

And while Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) may be preparing to contest the county council election, he will forever be a “townie” at heart.

“Look I’m going to have to see what the results of the boundary commission are but I would be intending to go. I would like to see people from the town have someone from the town to vote for. You could have people running that wouldn’t be inclined to have the same love for the town as a townie. I’d be inclined to run just to give people in the town a chance to vote for a townie,” he said.

Cllr Michael Fleming (FG) is keen to represent his town and area but realized getting the opportunity will not be easy.

“It is going to be difficult for anyone to get elected to these new municipal districts, but for people like me who contested their first election in 2009 it is going to be even harder. But despite that I am willing to throw my hat into the ring. I would be a lot happier to run for Shannon Town Council and not this new district,” he said.

THE owner of a well-known hotel has expressed concern that Ennis is falling behind other areas of the country when it comes to attracting tourists.

John Madden of the Temple Gate Hotel called yesterday for a more unified approach to the promotion of the county capital, saying that groups currently involved in the tourism sector are “not working together”.

Mr Madden said he is concerned that Ennis is losing tourists to areas such as Westport, Cork and Galway.

He said, “Are there too many organisations? I don’t know but we need to be acting and working together.”

“There is a huge push going on in Limerick at the moment and it just seems that we don’t have the same push in Clare,” he added.

Mr Madden was speaking at a meeting of Clare County Council’s Community and Enterprise, Tourism and Emergency Services, Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).

He said the recent purchase of the West County Hotel by the Treacy Group could also be a huge boost to the town.

Mr Madden said the hotel’s reputation as a conference venue would continue to be “crucial” to bringing visitors to Ennis.

He explained, “I remember a time when there were up on 19 or 20 conferences a year in Ennis.

“If the West County can be encouraged along, we can get back to that stage again.”

He continued, “We had the AllIreland Darts Championships in the West County at the weekend and the hotels were full.

“I saw families of players coming back to the hotel with bags after shopping in the town. If we can get more of that (type of business), Ennis will do well.”

Mr Madden said all groups involved in the promotion of Ennis should meet and agree on a unified approach.

Director of Service and Ennis Town Manager, Ger Dollard told the meeting that groups such as Promote Ennis are working to bring more tourists to Ennis.

However, Mr Dollard said that both Promote Ennis and the Clare Tourism Forum will have to “gear up for a new reality” when the responsibility for tourism promotion for the mid-west is transferred from Shannon Development to An Bórd Fáilte.

Mr Dollard said initiatives such as the recent Purple Flag are aimed at bringing more tourists to Ennis.

Mr Madden told the meeting that businesses are concerned over the time it is taking for responsibility for the newly independent Shannon Airport to be transferred away from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to the new board.

He said, “It hasn’t really transferred and it is a worry and the people that are going to suffer are businesses.”

He also called for Clare to be better promoted in the arrivals hall of Shannon Airport.

Mr Dollard said a two-person board has already been set up and further appointments are expected.

He said stands promoting Clare will be on view in new destinations serviced by Shannon, such as Phoenix and Washington.

Mr Dollard told the meeting that the Clare Tourism Forum will spend up to € 10,000 this year on signs at Shannon Airport. Ma n u fa c tu re rs o f Bo x P ro file Cla d d in g a n d Co rru g a te d Sh e e tin g a ls o ma n u fa c tu re rs o f No n -Drip In s u la te d Ro o fin g , All Fla s h in g s , Cla p p in g s a n d Gu tte rs e tc Sp e e d y d e live ry, ke e n e s t p ric e s fo r a ll yo u r n e e d s in Ro o fin g Ag ric u ltu ra l o r In d u s tria l

CLARE women were amongst the most likely in Ireland to find themselves in the care of a Magdalene Laundry, according to figures released as part of the McAleese Report published last week.

The report has identified, but not named, 261 different Clare women who each spent various lengths of time in a Magdalene Asylum or Laundry. This means that Clare had the fifth highest number of women in Magdalene facilities in the State. Only counties with much larger populations such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Tipperary had more women in Magdalene Laundries than Clare.

Indeed, the number of Clare women to have spent time in Magdalene Laundries is likely to be much higher than those presented in the report, as no details of any Clare facilities are mentioned in its findings.

This is despite claims by a large number of local people that a laundry operated in Ennis for many years during the 1940s and 1950s.

The vast majority of Clare women referred to in the report attended the Limerick City Magdalene Asylum. This facility was opened by the Good Shepherd Nuns in 1848 and contin- ued in operation until 1984. While entrants into this facility peaked on the 1930s, there was still a considerable number of girls and women being admitted to the facility in the 1970 and 1980s.

Indeed, according to the McAleese Report, a total of six women were admitted to this facility in 1981 – the last years than any new intake of women was recorded.

Members of the Magdalene Sur- vivors Together met with Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore (Lab) yesterday to discuss the McAleese Report.

Both the Justice for Magdalenes advocacy group and the London-based Irish Women’s Survivors’ Network decline to attend the meeting.

The groups are anxious that they receive an opology from the State over abuses which took place in the laundries.

THE stories of three Clare girls who were sent to Magdalene Laundries in the late 1940s have been recorded as part of the McAleese report into State involvement in the laundry system, released last week.

These records, which were on the file in the archive of Clare County Council, show that the local authority, and many other regional authorities in Ireland, were part of a system of referring girls and young women into Magalene Laundries.

A Clare County Council spokesperson confirm that, up until the enactment of the 1970 Health Act, Clare County Council had some responsibility for the provision of health services in the county. This process ended with the establishment of the Regional Health Boards, which were later replaced by the HSE.

The Clare County Archive includes records from the Clare Board of Health and Public Assistance from 1915 to 1966, as well as records on the operation of the County Home and County Hospital.

There were no records in the Clare archive of girls or women who gave birth outside of marriage being referred to laundries. However, there were a number of reports of “boarded-out children” or foster children, being referred to laundries in the 1940s and 50s.

In those times, financial help to foster parents came to an end when the child turned 15.

“[There was a] frequent refusal of foster parents to provide a home for the children after the age of 15 unless the board continues to maintain them. Recently a girl of 15 was returned to the County Home by her foster parents when payments for maintenance ceased. Nothing is gained by rearing children in foster homes if they are returned to the County Home at the age of 15,” the report says.

Three Clare girls are mentioned in the report – although they are not named. The first was ordered to the Good Shephard Convent in Limerick on December 20, 1947. Records indicate that she was 17-years-old and her mother was alive at the time of admission.

She remained in the Magdalene Laundry for slightly less than two years, before she “went to a situation” or a job.

A second similar case was recorded in 1949 when the 17-year-old girl was also sent to the Good Shepherd Convent in Limerick. There was “no account of parents” for this girl who remained in the Magdalene Laundry for just over five years, at which point she went to the Magdalene Sisters in Belfast.

A third case identified in the records of Clare County Council occurred in 1950. This case involved a 16year-old-girl who was ordered to the Good Shepherd Convent on June 19, 1950. There was no record of parents for this girl, who spent almost three months at the Magdalene Laundry, before she “went to a convent”.

THE group charged with developing tourism in the west of the county is in limbo, as Shannon Development personnel try to find their new role in tourism, and the county council awaits news if the State body is still to take part of the West Clare Economic Task Force.

At yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of the West Clare area councillors, acting senior engineer Cyril Feeney said the area’s marketing officer had written to the body and other inter- ested groups in a bid to regroup for the coming tourism season.

“There doesn’t seem to be an appetite currently for this,” he said, adding that some organisations are involved in amalgamations and restructuring and have not replied.

“But leaving us in limbo is no good to us or ye,” he said.

The West Clare Economic Task Force is in place since 2009, and was drawn up to encourage economic and tourism development in the West Clare region.

It is made up of the council, Shannon Development and other inter- ested tourism bodies.

“I am very disappointed that the agency hasn’t come back. I think a lot of work was done up until now,” said Cllr Pat Keane (FF).

Although not all members of the Kilrush area were as convinced of the vital role the task force had played to date in developing the west.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said, “The task force has been in operation over three years and not one job has been created. We would be deluded to think we have created jobs.”

The Lissycasey man argued that the Loophead Lighthouse project, and the jobs and spin-off jobs it created was the work of Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) who made it one of his pre-election pledges.

Cllrs Christy Curtin (Ind) and Cllr Keane disagreed with Cllr Kelly, and asked that the report on the work of the task force be made public.

REMOVING levies from all developments in the county would give Clare an advantage over other counties and improve the county coffers.

In proposing to rid the county of such development contributions, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) believes this would encourage development within the county boundaries, and improve the rate takings of the local authority.

He told yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of the Kilrush area councillors that he had monitored seven applica- tions for planning for development before the council.

“If they went ahead we would have got planning levies back in terms of rates by now,” he said.

Such developments would also have lead to job creation and knock on benefits for the local economy.

The Lissycasey man requested that the county manager “draw up draft amendments to section 48 levies in order to exempt areas of West Clare, which are in population decline, from charges for industrial and commercial development”.

He later extended the proposal to include all of County Clare.

The Fianna Fáil councillor argued that such a move would give areas like Westbury a distinct advantage over Limerick City, would make areas of West Clare along the estuary more attractive to business than areas to the south in Kerry and such a move would also give Shannon Airport an advantage over Dublin.

Reviewing development contributions as an incentive mechanism was previously referenced in the Shannon Aviation Business Development Task Force Final Report.

“At the moment we have sterilisa- tion. No one is building in the county,” he said.

In his reply Senior Planner with Clare County Council Gordan Daly said that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government issued Draft Guidelines for Planning Authorities o Development Contribution in June 2012.

“This guidance is designed to assist planning authorities to achieve, through their development contribution schemes, a balance between cost recovery for services provided and the need to support economic activity,” he said.

“The council considers that there are a number of issues that require to be addressed on a county wide basis including issues previously raised at county council meetings.

“It would be prudent to await the final guidelines to be issued by the department before the council would initiate any processes to commence a formal statutory review of the current scheme,” he added.

Cllr Kelly argued that these were merely guidelines and any decision in this respect would be made by the county manager and the council members.

A 62-YEAR-OLD man has appeared in court charged in connection with a public order incident at an Ennis estate last month.

Michael O’Neill with an address at 68B Abbeyville, Limerick Road, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

He is charged with the production of wheel brace capable of inflicting serious injury at Abbeyville on January 21 (2013). It is also alleged that Mr O’Neill did engage in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace at the same location and date. Sgt Mark Murphy of Ennis Garda Station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. Sgt Murphy outlined a summary of the alleged facts of the case. He said gardaí were called a number of times to a disturbance at Abbeyville at 1.20am.

He said it would be alleged that the accused came out of his house and started roaring obscenities at another man. Sgt Murphy said it would be alleged that Mr O’Neill took out an item from the boot of his car. Judge Patrick Durcan accepted jurisdiction. Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that her client is disputing the alleged facts of the case. Mr O’Neill was remanded on bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on March 13.

NEW charges have been brought against three people alleged to have been involved in a public order incident at a roundabout in Ennis last October. Christopher McDonagh (38), Bernard McDonagh Jnr (22) and a 16-year-old boy are alleged to have committed offences arising out of the incident at the Maid of Erin on October 14.

Bernard McDonagh Jnr (22), with an address at 1 Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis is charged with possession of an article with intent to cause injury and the production of an article in the course of a dispute.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with possession of a hatchet with intent to cause injuries to John Doherty, Martin Doherty and Jimmy Doherty. He is also charged with the production of a hatchet. Christopher McDonagh, with an address at 1 Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis and Childers Road, Ennis, is charged with production of an iron bar and possession of an iron bar with intent to cause injury to John Doherty, Martin Doherty and Jimmy Doherty.

New charges of violent disorder were brought against all three accused at Ennis District Court on Wednesday. The court heard that in response to charge after caution, Christopher McDonagh said, “I’m very sorry for all of this.”

Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed trial on indictment in respect of all three accused.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett applied to come off record for Christopher McDonagh. He told the court that Tara Godfrey is now representing Mr McDonagh. A book of evidence is also to be served on a fourth man charged in connection with the incident, the court heard.

Bernard McDonagh Snr (45), with an address at 1 Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis is charged with the assault of John Doherty.

He also faces three charges of criminal damage and one charge of dangerous driving. It is further alleged that Bernard McDonagh (45) drove a vehicle in a dangerous and reckless manner, which created substantial risk of death or serious harm to another.

Judge Patrick Durcan adjourned the cases until February 20 for service of the Books of Evidence.