Month: January 2014

UP TO 14 homes approximately two miles south of Quilty were evacuated during the early hours of Friday morning, as the sea engulfed their homes.

Families living in the coastline houses, some less than 10 years old, broke down yesterday (Monday), as they recalled how they may never again be able to return home so severe is the damage.

Older members of the Tromoroe Castle, Seafield, community whose homes were also flooded in the storm are reportedly terrified of going home again, as a section of land mass has been taken by the unforgiving sea.

This makes the properties very vulnerable according to construction worker Danny McCarthy who was one of the people evacuated.

“The water has gone into the houses and they are afraid of their lives that the sea will break and the ocean will go into them now. We are vulnerable now because the body on the land is gone, it is pulled out to sea and we are open,” he told The Clare People .

“We didn’t expect it,” he said add- ing that the majority of the homes were occupied at the time of the storm.

Debris from the sea continued to float around the rooms of some houses as neither the wind or the sea was ready to relent. There was a great sadness and anger in the community who felt that their plight had been overlooked over the past few days.

“Do you know the saddest thing about it? It felt like we were on our own. No publicity or anything, or no highlights at the amount of destruction created here,” he said.

“Fourteen houses have been affect- ed. Half of my land is gone,” said Mr McCarthy.

Half of the wall at the three and a half year old council water pumping system has also been eroded.

It will take thousands and perhaps millions to repair the physical damage the community maintain, but it will take much more than that to repair the psyche of a community now exposed to the whims of the sea.

Questions have also been raised regarding plans to reinforce the coastline as far back as 2011, if they had been carried out, would the damage have been so severe.

SHANNON Airport became the unlikely battleground for the Soviet Union and America in 1983 as the Irish Government yielded to pressure from America to ban Aeroflot civilian flight from landing at the airport.

Records released last week under the 30-year-rule show that then US president Ronald Reagan sent a direct request to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald (FG) to ban Aeroflot stopovers in Shannon.

The blanket ban was ordered after the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Line Flight 007 on September 1, 1983, near Sakhalin island in the Sea of Japan after it strayed into Russian air space.

All 269 passengers and crew, including US congressman Larry McDonald, were killed in the attack. In a strongly-worded two-page letter, Mr Reagan tried to rally international opposition to the Soviets and called for co-operation and support among friends.

“The Soviet action represents a challenge to the international com- munity. It would be a tragedy if we do not collectively respond in a resolute and clear manner to this action,” he wrote.

According to reports, the world was on the verge of a nuclear World War Three after a Russian army early warning missile detection system gave a false alarm that the US had launched a strike.

Mr FitzGerald confirmed Aeroflot would be banned from Shannon on September 16, 1983, 10 days before the fault in the Oko missile detection system in Moscow.

Irish and US officials had already had private talks on the issue and considered a ban should initially be 60-90 days or until “the Soviet Union responds to our very real concerns”.

Dr FitzGerald wrote a four-page letter back to Mr Reagan to confirm that Aeroflot would not be allowed to pick up or set down passengers at Shannon Airport on flights destined for Moscow.

He also said the Government had deferred a decision on an application by Aeroflot for landing rights at Shannon for flights coming and going from Lima in Peru and Havana in Cuba.

A MAN has been charged after he was stopped by gardaí in an area of East Clare in possession of a fuel siphon pump.

It is alleged that Ennis man James Connors (33) had the pump for the purposes of theft, Ennis District Court heard on Friday.

Mr Connors, with an address at Achabaille, Lahinch Road, Ennis, was stopped by gardaí in an area of O’Callaghan’s Mills on November 26, 2013. The offence he is charged with states that when not at his resi- dence, Mr Connors had in his possession an article – to wit – a siphoning pump and equipment with intention that it be used in the course of or in connection with a theft.

Mr Connors denies having the pump for purpose of theft. During the course of a bail hearing, Mr Connors told the court he uses the pump in his work scrapping cars.

“The pump was my own and not used for any crime,” he said.

Garda Darren McLoughlin of Scariff Garda Station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court he arrested the accused at his home on January 2, 2014. The father of six was later charged and made no reply to charge after caution, the court heard.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the State would consent to bail on condition Mr Connors abide by a curfew between 9pm and 7am.

Insp Kennedy said the State does not accept Mr Connors’ reason for having the pump.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client objected to the curfew condition. Ms Godfrey said her client intends to contest the case. She said a curfew would be “excessively punitive” given the length of time it would take for her client’s case to be heard. She said it was open to the State to re-enter the case if Mr Connors came to Garda attention.

Insp Kennedy said the curfew was a “reasonable request”.

Judge Aingeal Ni Chonduin granted bail on condition the accused observe a curfew between midnight and 7am.

Insp Kennedy said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed summary disposal of the case, meaning it will be heard in the District Court.

Mr Connors was remanded on bail to appear at Killaloe District Court on January 7, 2014.

IT WAS unhappy beginning to the New Year for one Crusheen business when it was the target of a burglary last week.

Thieves failed to remove an ATM from the Mace Supermarket but damage was caused to the premises during the incident, which occurred between 2am and 6.30am on Friday, January 3.

Gardaí explained that the culprits firstly broke into the warehouse and they tried to gain access to the supermarket but failed and they then went and tried the roof but failed again.

Eventually they breached a sidewall and gained entry. They tried to remove the ATM machine but failed and then fled the scene.

Gardaí have issued descriptions of three individuals they believe were involved in the burglary.

One suspect was wearing a shiny jacket with the word “jeep” in yellow writing on the back; he also wore a blue hoody. Another suspect was wearing a grey jacket and a black hoody. Gardaí say the business was damaged in the incident.

The supermarket is open for business but owner Brian Clark said this is not the first time the shop has been targeted by thieves.

Mr Clark said that while nothing was stolen damage was caused to a wall. “It’s intimidating really,” he said of the break-in.

“It’s not nice. You have to go into your office in the early hours of the morning and get down on your hands and knees and clean up this mess,” added Mr Clark.

Separately, gardaí in Ennis are investigating the theft of equipment from a service that provides psychological supports to Clare schools.

The break-in at the National Educational Psychological (NEPS) building on Francis Street occurred between 10.25pm and 10.30pm on Saturday, December 28, 2013.

Three youths seen acting suspiciously in the multi-storey car park at Dunnes Stores fled when they saw gardaí. A check of the area where they ran from found computer equipment in a shopping trolley, which had been stolen earlier.

The NEPS supports the personal, social and educational development of all children through the application of psychological theory and practice in education.

The service is organised on a regional basis with psychologists being assigned to a group of schools.

PADDY O’Beirne could be considered the ultimate contradiction – American by birth yet 100 per cent Irish, a man with a strong nationalist upbringing whose father and grandfather were both members of the RIC, a scientist with a steadfast belief in God, a psychiatrist who once had a serious mental illness.

On December 20, 2013, the retired chief psychiatrist at the former Our Lady’s Hospital, Ennis, best known for his fight against a smoking ban in the country’s prisons and mental health institutions, went to meet that God after a long battle with illness.

For those unfamiliar with the retired chief psychiatrist, the make up of his being may seem a contradiction, but for Dr Patrick O’Beirne, one part of his life could not be without the other.

From the darkest parts of his life he found light, from the most painful and horrific he eventually found peace, and from his questioning patients he often found answers to his own uncertainties.

He was one of the first to work to break the stigma associated with mental illness, speaking openly about his own battle with depression and publishing his memoirs.

Dr O’Beirne was born in New York in January 1933 of Irish parents.

He was brought to Ireland as an infant and reared by his grandmother in Mountshannon, following his mother’s death from TB.

Educated in the local primary school in Mountshannon, he later attended St Flannan’s College, Ennis, from 1946 to 1951. Although he once considered the priesthood – following in the footsteps of his two uncles – Paddy opted instead to help his fellow beings through medicine. In 1951 he began studying at the University College Dublin, and graduated with a medical degree in 1958. From January of 1958 to July of the same year he worked as a house surgeon in St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin, before transferring to Portlaoise hospital where he was employed as a house surgeon. In November 1958 he began working in Dr Steven’s Hospital as a house surgeon. It was there he met his wife Marie, a young nurse from Cork. In August 1959 he embarked on a medical career in America, specialising in gynaecology, oncology and general practice before studying psychiatry. Patrick O’Beirne eventually returned to Clare to become chief psychiatrist at Our Lady’s Hospital, Ennis. Through his impressive career, he battled with depression an illness that would see him hospitalised numerous times. He also campaigned for the rights of those with mental health issues and was to the forefront in bringing treatment clinics into the community. Through it all he raised a family with his ever-supportive wife Marie, and maintained a robust sense of humour. He is survived by his beloved Marie, his children Fionnuala, Caimin, Deirdre, Padraig and Grainne, sonsin-laws, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren, family and friends. He was laid to rest in Templemaley Cemetery, Barefield on Christmas Eve.

A CLARE musician says she is excited to be joining some of the giants of Irish music on their United States tour next month.

Tara Breen will play alongside The Chieftains on their North American tour.

The talented fiddle player will perform with the legendary band on their four-week coast to coast tour. The former Rice College student was offered the invitation to play by Chieftains founding member Paddy Moloney.

“I play with this Galician piper, Carlos Nunez and Paddy was saying to him they were looking to do something new and he was asking him did he know any fiddle players,” explains Tara.

“So Paddy came along to one of the gigs and I thought we were just playing with him. Nobody gave me a heads up that it was almost a rehearsal! So I got the invitation after that. It’s great.”

Tara has already played with the band, performing alongside them at a concert in the University of Limerick in November.

The four-week US tour from February 16 and March 18 will take in gigs in California and a St Patrick’s Day concert in New York.

“They’re lovely people and it’s brilliant to be get the opportunity to play alongside them. It should be a good trip. I’ve been to America before but this going to be a lot bigger,” she says.

The invitation caps a busy year for Tara, who teaches music in schools as part of the Comhaltas outreach programme.

She also appeared on TG4’s ‘Geantraí’ Christmas Day special

Tara’s multi-instrumentalist talents came to the fore at the age of 13 when, in one year, she won the All-Ireland U-15 Fiddle, U-15 Fiddle slow airs, U-15 Flute, U-15 Flute slow airs.

In 2006 Tara won the coveted ‘Fiddler of Dooney’ competition, and in 2009 she added the Michael Coleman Fiddle Competition to her list of accolades.

She is a former student of University of College Cork. In 2010 she was selected to join Ciorras, a group put together by music legend Donal Lunny.

TODAY (Tuesday) is the fifth day that six families remain isolated from the rest of the county, as part of the Loop Head Peninsula has been rendered an island.

The storm on Friday morning saw the small rural area of Kilcredaun segregated from the rest of West Clare as water gushed in from Rhinevilla. An estimated 300 acres of land is currently under seawater.

The area famed for its lighthouse and Irish school could remain dis- connected for some time with the people marooned on the “island” still unsure as to when the waters will recede enough to let them access the rest of the county.

Pat Gavin, the postmaster in Carrigaholt Post Office, is one of the people unable to leave the area and as a result the local post office must remain closed.

“God knows when we will get off here,” he told The Clare People .

The West Clare man had been able to get to the village of Carrigaholt for a brief while on Friday with the assistance of a neighbour with a trac- tor.

Sunday night and Monday’s waves however have now washed away that road and any access to the six families.

“We are an island surrounded by the sea,” said Mr Gavin.

“We are left cut off. You can imagine no fuel, no food. Except my neighbour coming up on Friday to bring me out of here for half a day to open the post office [we could not have left]. We are a good community. The post office was flooded on Friday and all the community turned up to clean it. We’ll come back bigger and better than ever,” he said.

However while Mr Gavin is marooned on the island with his neighbours, the post office in Carrigaholt flooded again yesterday morning (Monday).

“I don’t know what we will do when we get out, I am not sure what state it will be in.”

He explained that the homes still have electricity and he feels lucky that his freezer has food for now.

He in angered however that political promises made by the present Government to carry out work along the peninsula were not carried out.

THE number of people using the Western Rail Corridor which connects Ennis to both Limerick and Galway continues to drop.

Despite a number of initiatives designed to increase passenger numbers on the route, new figures show that fewer than 200,000 people used the route in the first 11 months of 2013.

Figures for the route, which was reopened at a cost € 106 million in 2010, show that only 197,780 line passenger journeys took place on the line between the beginning of January 2013 and December 1. This compares with almost 250,000 over the same period in 2012.

It is hoped that the introduction of online booking on the rail service will provide a significant boost to passengers in 2014. Nearly two years after the issue of online booking was first raised with the Iarnrod Eireann, online booking was introduce on the line last month.

Passenger numbers on the route have been growing on commuter routes such as Ennis/Limerick and Athenry/Galway in recent years and it is hoped that online booking may also help to promote business from Ennis, Sixmilebridge and Gort.

“We know this is something which our customers and the wider community have been anxious to see provided for some time,” said a spokesperson from Iarnród Éireann.

“Our fares from € 5.99 each way for adults and € 2.99 each way for children are extremely competitive, giving big savings to families at a time of year when every cent counts.”

“A PIONEER of business, a visionary and a gentleman of the old style.”

These were just some of the quotes used this week to describe Michael Lynch Snr who passed away early on Monday morning aged 85. The Newhall native owned, built and operated the iconic West County Hotel for a number of decades and was known throughout Clare and beyond for his business acumen.

Affectionately known as ‘Mickey’ Lynch, he opened the West County Hotel back in the late sixties originally as a twenty bedroom hotel with a restaurant, bar and grill room. Then Minister from Clare Dr Paddy Hillery cut the ribbon on the original West County Hotel on March 15th 1968.

The first manager of The West County was John Madden, who moved from the Gresham Hotel in Dublin to take over the operation of Clare’s newest hotel. He recalls Mickey Lynch as wonderful to work for, a man of enthusiasm, vision and generosity:

“Mickey Lynch was a man of great ideas, a true visionary. He built and grew The West County. He did that with flair, enthusiasm and he was wonderful to work for,” recalled John this week.

“He never went away anywhere without coming back with new ideas for The West County. Mickey really was ahead of his time. Anytime we spoke about the need for additions, like the function room or more bedrooms, something that might attract tour operators, Mickey would get straight to work and deliver whatever was necessary to grow the business.

“The function room was a perfect example. Once he was convinced of the need for it, it went up in no time. Before we knew it we had over a thousand people coming to our hotel weekly for functions, dress dances, dinners and shows. People came from all over Munster to attend events in the West, Mickey was the instigator of all that,” remembers John.

Mickey Lynch was also remembered this week as a proud Clareman, good to his community and generous to a fault. As John Madden pointed out, he was very supportive of his native county and its people.

“If a local organisation was in need, Mickey was first in line to give. He was generous with both his time and his money. He was also very good to his employees. And I suppose one of the qualities I most remember was Mickey’s ability to have a good dis- cussion, disagreement even, then five minutes later we moved on, it was forgotten about. I learnt a lot from Mickey Lynch,” John told The Clare People. Mickey Lynch originally was a builder and set up Lynch’s Joinery across the road from where the West County is now situated. Michael Lynch Limited is now fifty seven years in business and over that time has employed many hundreds of Clare people from all over the county in the various family enterprises.

One of Mickey Lynch’s oldest friends Pakie Tuohy from Tiermaclane in Ballyea remembered Mickey Lynch this week as a business man with the common touch:

“Mickey was a gentleman of the old style. He was a very visible presence in the West County and a wonderful host. Always generous, Mickey was great company, he knew everyone and everyone knew him. It was always ‘hail fellow, well met’ with Mickey,” Pakie recalled this week, going on to emphasise the impact the newly opened West County had on Ennis in the late sixties, seventies and eighties.

“It should be remembered Mickey really brought entertainment back to Ennis with The West County. From dinner dances to music in the bar on Saturday nights, the hotel very quickly became a focal point for gatherings. Always a well run establishment, we had many great nights there and Mickey was on hand for all of them. He really was ahead of his time,” Pakie fondly remembered.

Michael Lynch is survived by his wife Chrissie, sons Seamus and Michael Jnr, daughters Geraldine, Colette, Martina, Annette, sons and daughters in-law and a host of grandchildren. He will be reposing at the family home on the Clare Road, Ennis, on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the house private on Thursday morning. Funeral Mass for Michael Lynch will take place on Thursday at 1pm at the Cathedral in Ennis, following by burial in Drumcliffe.

IT IS estimated that almost one third of Clare babies are delivered by caesarean section.

According to a Health Service Executive (HSE) survey of the country’s 19 maternity units, the c-section rate at Galway and Limerick maternity hospitals is almost twice that recommended by the World Health Organisation.

At the Regional (UCHG) Maternity Hospital Galway as many as 29.56 per cent of deliveries were by caesarean section in 2011, and 27.43 per cent of births at Limerick Maternity Hospital.

The WHO recommends that the nation birth rate by caesarean section should be no higher than 15 per cent. The highest caesarean birth rate was in St Luke’s Hospital, Kil- kenny, at 38 per cent, almost double of that in Sligo General Hospital at 19.3 per cent.

As well as showing a wide regional variation in caesarean section deliveries, the survey released under the Freedom of Information Act, also revealed that Limerick Maternity Hospital had the lowest breast-feeding rate in the country.

The 2011 figures show that 32.5 per cent of babies at the Limerick hospital were exclusively breast fed on discharge. Just 38.6 per cent were combined fed – bottle and breast.

In Galway the figure for mothers exclusively breast feeding on discharge was at 39.8 per cent, with the majority of mothers – 59 per cent – opting to combine feed their new borns.

Limerick hospital had a higher rate of non-instrumental deliveries in 2011 at 55.98 per cent compared to Galway at 52.92 per cent.