Month: November 2014

WHILE Irish Water may not be anyone’s favourite semi-state company just now, it did begin a process last week which could bring an end to one of Clare’s longest running issues as it formally applying for planning permission for an upgrade of the Shannon Town Wastewater Treatment System.

The system, which is used by both domestic consumers and a number of factories in Shannon, has been blamed for series of gas emissions in recent years – including a prolonger period of emissions in September and October of 2013.

Irish Water last week applied for planning permission for the construction of a new inlet works within the boundary of the existing wastewater treatment plant, located approximately 4.8 kilometres southeast of Shannon Town.

The development will include the construction of a large domestic and industrial balancing tank, more than one tenth of a hectare in size, as well as an odour control unit.

The work is part of an proposed € 3 million overhaul of the Shannon Sewage Scheme announced by the Department of the Environment in February.

The current Shannon scheme is more than 40 years old and is understood to be operating far beyond its original capacity.

Already this year work has been undertaken on four pumping stations on the scheme but the current pressure from domestic and industrial sources is understood to be preventing growth in the area.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Clare County Council received more then 50 complaints about the smell in Shannon in September and October of last year.

continue in Clare, even if the Government introduces measures to water down the controversial charges in the coming days.

The membership of the Clare Says No To Water Charges group has swelled dramatically since Saturday’s protest and the group are now setting up local sub-groups in towns and villages across the county to spread information and organise members who are not contactable online. The group conf rmed yesterday that its members will also attend two national protests in Dublin on December 6 and 10 while a meeting will take place this Wednesday to discuss a number of local actions, which could include pickets and further protests.

An estimated 2,500 people attended protests against Irish Water in Ennis, Shannon and Westbury on Saturday. In excess of 1,500 people turned out in Ennis, with 50 protesting in Westbury and estimated numbers for the Shannon protest ranging from 500 people to 1,200 people.

“It was a good turnout, especially with the bad weather. We’re not shocked though, there is a lot of anger out there. What has happened over the weekend has highlighted this fact and there is more and more people getting involved. We’ve taking more than 200 new people into the group since Saturday alone,” said Paul Whitmore of Clare Says No To Water Charges.

“We are now organising for little groups to be set up in the small towns and villages for the people who don’t have broadband and who don’t have a way of communicating with us. People have a lot of questions and if they don’t have access to the group [online] they can feel isolated. We want this to be one big community group. It’s everyday ordinary people coming together.”

A large group from Shannon are also planning to take part in the Dublin protests – with local organiser Cllr Mike McKee (SF) promising to bring Dublin to a ‘standstill’.

“We’ve had reports of there being up to 1,200 at the Shannon protest so it was a really big turnout – it was the biggest protest in Shannon for very many years,” he said. “We are aff liated with the Right to Water protest on December 10. We will be going to the Dáil on that day and we hope to bring Dublin to a complete standstill.”

SINN Fein members were prevented from carrying party banners during Saturday’s Ennis protest against Irish Water.

A number of party members, including local election candidate Noeleen Moran, took part in the Ennis protest, but were asked not to carry materials belonging to the Sinn Fein party, including banners.

According to the Clare Says No To Water Charges group, who organised the Ennis protest, Sinn Fein was not targeted in the march but it was instead decided that no posters from any party should be displayed.

“It was a non-political protest. We had a meeting last Wednesday and, as a group, we agreed that we were not going under the banner of any political party. That was agreed as a group and that is the way we want to have it,” said Paul Whitmore of Clare Says No To Water Charges. “That is not just an issue with Sinn Fein, it was the same for all the political groups. We are not about politics or a political party. We are Clare Says No To Water Charges and there is no great plan beyond that – this is just about us beating the water charges.” Fianna Fail’s Timmy Dooley was Clare’s only Oireachtas member to take part in the protest but a number of county councillors including Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) and James Breen (Ind) marched in Ennis. The Shannon protest was co-organised by Sinn Fein under the Right to Water organisation with local councillor Mike McKee (SF) addressing the marchers alongside Seónaidh Ní Shíomóin, local elections candidate for the Anti Austerity Alliance. No other elected member from the Shannon area attended the Shannon protest but it is understood that Cllr Gerry Flynn (FG) attended the Dublin anti-water charge protest on Saturday.

will be rescheduled in the coming days.

An Post announced in late October that they plan to bring an end to all services currently provided in Cratloe Post Off ce from March of 2015. The local community were shocked by the announcement, which came in the wake of the Cratloe Post Off ce Action Group collecting more than 1,000 signatures from local people and businesses who are committed to supporting the post off ce. The future of Cratloe Post Off ce came into doubt in June of this year when it was discovered that the post off ce was not registered in the name of its current operator, Dermot O’Brien, but in the name of his brother who formally operated the business. This prompted An Post to conducted a review of operations in Cratloe, which found that the post off ce was not generating enough income to justify keeping it open. The Cratloe Post Off ce Action Group has appealed to An Post to give the facility a f veyear stay of execution, to see if the situation could be rectif ed, but that has been turned down by the postal service. According to the Cratloe Post Off ce Action Group, a number of local businesses could also be in jeopardy if the post off ce closes.

CLARE suicide prevention charity, the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, will be forced to close in the coming weeks if urgent funding cannot be found.

The charity, which has provided more than 700 hours of free counselling to vulnerable Clare people over the past two years, is appealing to the people of Clare to get behind the service and help save the organisation.

The charity currently spend roughly € 1,000 a month on counselling hours – all of which must be raised from local fundraising. The foundation was set up by Mark and Caroline Winder in memory of their son William who took his own life in 2012.

According to Mark, suicide is a bigger issue in Clare than anywhere else in Ireland and the demand for counsellor hours is great.

“We need Clare to get behind us. We can only go far but beyond that we need the community to get behind us. This is need in Clare more then anywhere in Ireland. The death toll [from suicide] here is higher than anywhere,” he said.

“To put it plain and simple, if we can’t get the public behind us there is only one way that the foundation will go, and that is to close down. It’s been two years since our son died and we are breaking our backs. The community has been fantastic; we know everyone is on hard times, we’re on hard times ourselves. But we’re talking about people not buying a pint or not buying a packet of fags – that’s saving a life. The public have been fantastic, they really have, but we can’t do this by ourselves anymore. We need the support of the Clare people.

“We can’t colour it up any more than that. We’re looking at what’s coming in and what’s going out and it doesn’t match. I’m not a millionaire, I’m not earning the money to fund this ourselves, I wish I was.”

Despite the huge demand for its counselling service, the William Winder Rainbow Foundation currently operates without any government or HSE funding.

“Without a shadow of a doubt this service is needed in Clare. There are people out there who have no other options. We have not received any government support so far. So I’m basically calling around to companies asking is there any chance for a donation. I’m on the road doing that,” he said. To f nd out more or to make a do nation visit www.williamwinderrainbowfoundation.ie.

stood to have contribute € 5,000 to the event last year with the remainder being made up from the races own cash reserves, which have now been depleted.

A spokesperson from Clare Coun ty Council conf rmed that they would meet with race organisers in the coming days to discuss the 2015 event.

Clare County Council has worked hard with all parties, including the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau, to attract events to County Clare.

The Junior Tour of Ireland held in July and the Ras na mBan held in September have been successfully brought to Clare in 2013 and 2014,” said the spokesperson.

“Both of these events, which run over seven days, create strong economic activity particularly on accommodation and other services. They also help to enhance Clare’s strong reputation as a cycling destination. Both events secure TV cov erage with highlights of both races being shown on international sports channels. “A meeting has been scheduled with the race organisers for early November to discuss the situation around the 2015 event. The council cannot guarantee any support pending discussions and agreement on its 2015 budget.” Ms Sherratt said f nding a race sponsor would be “impossible” in the current economic climate. “We literally don’t have the money. I’m going to have to go out now and see if I can get more sponsors but it’s an impossibility,” she said. “I’ll have to go back to the council in Clare to see if I can get the € 5,000 for next year again, and the same with the IVCA. But I don’t know if that will happen; if it can happen every year. And even with that mon ey and the Cycling Ireland grant, we are still well, well short.”

A FORMER student convicted of threatening to kill an Ennis based dentist last week sought to take up an offer to reduce his three-year prison sentence.

But at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday, Judge Gerald Keys told solicitor for Eoin Hannan (41) that his hands were tied with respect to the application. Judge Keys said he did not have jurisdiction to deal with Mr Hannan’s application after being told Mr Hannan has lodged an appeal with the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In March a jury unanimously found Eoin Hannan guilty of threatening to kill a dentist at his practice in Merchant Square, Ennis on May 11, 2012

Mr Hannan, with former addresses at Kilrush Road, Ennis and Shear Street, Kilmallock, Ennis was also found guilty of two counts of engaging in behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

The jury at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court acquitted the accused of making a threat to burn down the practice. Mr Hannan had denied all charges. At his sentencing hearing in March, Mr Hannan received a threeyear prison term but Judge Keys said he would suspend 15 months of the sentence if Mr Hannan agreed to enter a bond to be of good behaviour, abide by the directions of the Probation Services, abstain from alcohol and take his medication.

Mr Hannan asked to leave the court to consider the offer and when the case resumed, barrister Michael Collins, who acted for Mr Hannan at his trial, told the court Mr Hannan continued to protest his innocence and did not want to enter into a bond.

At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, Mr Hannan sought to enter the bond to have the sentence reduced. Mr Hannan was represented in court by solicitor Daragh Hassett. Judge Keys told Mr Hassett he did not have jurisdiction to deal with the application as Mr Hannan had already lodged an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

“As far as I am concerned, my hands are tied “, The judge said.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Coughlan, told Judge Keys that in relation to this matter the only order he could make was no order.

THE development of parking facilities at the Cliffs of Moher is still a live project according to Clare County Council, despite delays in gaining planning permission.

The world famous tourist attractions was granted more than half a million euro earlier this year to upgrade facilities in the coach and public parking facility at the cliffs. An application for planning permission for the works was lodged in March with a decision due on May 19 – but no decision has yet been announced.

This planning application is complicated by the original planning permission granted for the construction of the Cliffs of Moher Experience in 2007. Under the 2007 permission granted by Bord Pleanála, the public car park was to be a temporary facility, pending the development of a park and ride facility from Liscannor or Doolin – however, no park and ride has ever been developed.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council yesterday said that the application represented a “tidy up” of the temporary car park, rather than the development of a permanent facility.

“The Part VIII [planning permission] process is very much alive. Observations received from the NPWS required some further assessment work to be undertaken as the site is beside a Special Protection Area for certain species of bird. A specialised environmental consultant is preparing the further detailed data that is required,” said a spokesperson.

“The overall proposal for Part VIII is primarily a ‘tidy up’ of the car park to improve its presentation. Its proximity to an EU designated site requires the detailed analysis which encompasses the potential in combination effects of the recent development of the Cliffs Coastal Walk.”

The cliffs, which attracted in excess of 1 million visitors to Clare last year, has been operating using a gravel public car park for more than seven years now.

A grant of € 550,000 was made available to the facility earlier this year for the development of both the coach car park and the public car park as well the development of a new exhibition in the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience.

IRISH WATER has doubled the charge for treated water in Clare since taking over the utility provision from Clare County Council.

The charge of € 2.44 per cubic metre of water set by Irish Water is a massive 49.1 per cent higher than the € 1.20 charged by the local authority for the same water, which runs through the same pipes and from the same source. A close examination of the water charge f gures also shows that Clare County Council proved better value for money when it came to disposing of waste water with its cost set at € 1.65 per cubic metre, as opposed to Irish Water’s charge of € 2.44. On Saturday, as water fell freely from the sky, almost 2,000 people marched against the water charges in Shannon and Ennis.