This article is from page 17 of the 2009-06-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
RESIDENTS of Cloughleigh no longer feel safe and in some cases are too afraid to sleep at night because of recent violent activity in the area.
The concerns were expressed at a public meeting in Ennis last Friday where there were also calls for En- nis Town Council to more effectively monitor tenants living under shared ownership schemes.
The meeting at Waterpark House was attended by senior members of the Gardai in Ennis, local coun- cilors, TDs, community representa-
tives and a large number of residents from Cloughleigh.
It follows an incident ten days ago when a grenade was thrown into a house on Childer’s Road, the latest in a series linked to a feud between two settled Traveller famillies.
No one was injured though 10 homes in the area were evacuated. Local resident Marie Miller told the meeting that she was one of the peo- ple who had to leave her home on the night in question.
“Tam living in constant fear. I can’t sleep at night,” she said.
A former resident, Tina Lysaght,
described how she had enjoyed a “happy childhood” when growing up in Cloughleigh.
She said there were many decent people living in Cloughleigh but that she was seriously alarmed by the lat- est violence.
“T have three children and I had a happy childhood in Cloughleigh but I wouldn’t bring them up there. It’s not going to happen,’ she said.
Dolores Nevin, community repre- sentative with RAPID, said a strong sense of community existed in Cloughleigh. She praised the com- mitment of gardai but added that
people were afraid.
‘For the first time in my life, in my community, I don’t feel safe. I heard two fire brigades going by the other night and my heart nearly stopped. Thankfully it was nothing sinister. But do we have to live like this,’ she said.
Ms Nevin also called for more ef- fective monitoring by Ennis Town Council of houses rented under shared ownership schemes
The schemes allow residents to enter into a joint ownership arrange- ment on property with Ennis Town Council. Residents agree to pay 50
per cent of the mortgage on a prop- erty with the council responsible for the other half.
Town manager Ger Dollard said that the council maintained a moni- toring role on houses in shared own- ership schemes.
Flan Brennan, community repre- Sentative with RAPID, said that a lot of “tremendous work” had been done through the programme.
He said Cloughleigh had been let down by certain sections of the com- munity, but added that it was only a “small number’ who were engaged in criminal activity.