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THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has complained to the Department of Transport over the “aggressive campaign” being pursued to persuade over 500 workers at Shannon Air- port to accept redundancy.

The workforce at Shannon have until Wednes- day of next week to express interest in a redun- dancy package being put forward by the Dub- lin Airport Authority’s Director for Change, John Horgan. In a “survival plan”, Mr Horgan warned that Shannon’s underlying financial sit- uation is untenable, forecasting that the airport will have accumulated losses of €137 million by 2014 if immediate action is not taken.

However, in a letter to the Department’s As- sistant Secretary, John Murphy, from ICTU’s Industrial Officer, Liam Berney, Mr Horgan is accused of “pursuing an aggressive campaign which seeks to pressurise workers into accept- ing redundancy, while at the same time out- sourcing most of the work currently being done by direct employees of Shannon Airport.

“T cannot overstate the difficulties his actions have caused for the unions at Shannon and the wider union movement. Similarities have been drawn between the actions of Mr Horgan on behalf of a state-owned company and that of Irish Ferries management.

“There can be little doubt that his actions fly in the face of commitments given to Congress

by Government generally, by the Taoiseach in particular and the understanding reached as part of Sustaining Progress in relation to Pub- lic Enterprise.”

The letter continued, “It beholds the DAA to refocus negotiations and seek, in partner- ship with employees and their representatives, agreed restructuring. At an early stage, it was made clear to Mr Horgan that while the unions would be willing to have constructive dialogue on the cost base at Shannon, this was predicat- ed on the completion of a detailed analysis of the financial position, within the context that outsourcing of work was not an option.

“The financial position of Shannon is almost complete and the unions will be ready shortly

to engage in dialogue about any cost inefficien- cies. Concern was expressed during the course of the meeting about the future of the bilateral agreement with the United States. There is no doubt that this has provided a strong source of income for Shannon which in turn has sustained employment in the airport and Mid-West, and contributed to balanced regional development.

“While we note your frank assessment of the progress of negotiations between the European Commission and the US and the bilateral dis- cussions between Ireland and the US, careful consideration needs to be given of the possible grave implications for Shannon which may arise if the current arrangements cease, particularly in planning for the future of the airport.”

AN EAST Clare woman suffering from the chronic fatigue syndrome ME has suffered a major setback in preventing her house being demol- ished.

An Bord Pleanala has refused permission to Denise Mitchell of Aughinish, Ogonnelloe to retain the demountable house she erected without planning permission.

Clare County Council has served enforcement proceedings on Ms Mitchell, and the local authority can now request her to restore the site to

its original condition.

Ms Mitchell did not inform the council of her medical condition, but in a supporting letter to An Bord Pleanala, Dr Genevieve McGuire of the Scariff Medical Centre said, “This lady is suffering from myal- gic enphelopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome.

‘She tells me that she is hyper- sensitive to all forms of chemical pollution and, for this reason, has chosen to live in the relatively clean atmosphere of Aughinish, Ogonel- loe, Co. Clare.”

The board inspector “reluctantly”

recommended that planning permis- sion be refused. He stated that there was “no argument that the proposed development is obtrusive or impact- ing negatively on amenities. I con- sider it to be benign in impact with regard to the visual amenities of the area’.

However, the board ruled that the site of the proposed development was located in the vulnerable lake shore environs of Lough Derg, in an area identified in the Clare County Development Plan 2005 as under pressure from urban generated de- velopment.

“Tt is the policy of the planning authority, as set out in the Develop- ment Plan, to limit new residential development in this rural area to serve the permanent housing needs of local rural persons,” the inspec- tor continued.

“Tt is considered that the applicant does not come within the housing need criteria of the planning author- AA

The appeals board also ruled that “the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard, because access to the site 1s by way of a poorly surfaced,

substandard, narrow lane, which is unsuitable to serve additional hous- ing development”.

Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) said this week that he was disap- pointed for Ms Mitchell, but added, “The law is the law and changes should be made to the planning acts to deal with situations like this, though that would prove quite dif- Cove

“Enforcement has been generally haphazard and because you have a medical condition shouldn’t grant you a licence to breach planning Wise

THE drive along the Clare coastline from The Cliffs of Moher to Bally- vaughan recently featured in the Sun- day Times top ten scenic drives in the world — little wonder then that prop- erty capitalising on the views along this dramatic stretch achieve top dol- lar prices.

Brand new on the market this week

is a detached house at Fanore, stand- ing on an elevated half-acre site. The uninterrupted views of the Aran Is- lands, Galway Bay and the stunning mountain scenery in Connemara can all be savoured from its ground floor reception rooms.

Priced at €600,000, the property is on the books with Open Door Prop- erties Ennistymon and selling agent Aine Hussey 1s expecting strong in-

terest from the holiday home market in this property.

The beauty of this house is that it isn’t remote, as it’s only a walk to the amenities at Fanore village. The developer is currently adding the fi- nal touches to the house, which will be finished to a top quality, turnkey standard. It will be sold with a mod- ern fitted kitchen including appli- ances, while the reception rooms will

have high quality wooden floors, and the family bathroom and the ensuite bathrooms will all be fully tiled.

The accommodation comprises four double bedrooms, all of which are en- suite. A very large open plan kitchen cum dining and living room, and a tasteful conservatory with cathedral style windows. There is also a utility room and a guest WC.

Aine Hussey expects strong interest

in the property not only from within the county but also from potential buyers in Dublin, Galway and Limer- ick. “It will appeal to those who want a holiday home close to a beach, with unbeatable views and importantly a new house, fully finished to a high standard, so they don’t have any of the hassle normally associated with house building themselves.

For full details contact 065 707283.

OVER €300,000 has been spent on storing an obsolete mast once proposed for Loop Head.

Throughout the 1990s, the Cross Loran C Action Group in west Clare staved off Gov- ernment efforts to erect the 720 ft Loran C mast. And in response to a Dail question, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey confirmed that it has cost €326,000 to store the mast over the past five years on the outskirts of Paris.

A spokesman for the Loran C group said this week, “Action should have been taken a number of years ago by the Government to dispose of the mast rather than continue to pay these storage costs.

“The reasons now being put forward by the Department as to why Loran C will not be go- ing ahead are the same reasons put forward by the Action Group ten years ago, the primary one being that no one would use the system. The Government knew this, yet persisted with the project at huge cost”.

Green Party councillor, Brian Meaney said, “This is an appalling squandering of money and further evidence of the Government’s lack of care in spending taxpayer’s money.”

Minister Dempsey confirmed that the mast will not be erected on Loop Head or any other Irish location: “Ireland, along with Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, has denounced the North West Europe and North Atlantic Loran C System – NELS – Agree- ment. Denunciation takes legal effect from December 31, 2005”’.

The mast, consisting of an antenna and transmitter, cost €1.9 million and was pur- chased by France and the Netherlands as per an international agreement. The Irish Govern- ment purchased 137 acres at Loop Head, cost-

ing €479,000, for the project, though €13,530 has been recouped in grazing rights over the past three years.

Since 1992, when plans for the mast were first announced, the proposal became ensnared in the planning and legal process due to strong opposition from the Cross Loran C Action Group on health and environmental grounds. Minister Dempsey confirmed that the project has cost €561,000 in legal and planning fees.

The development received the go-ahead from An Bord Pleanala in 1994. However, plans were frustrated by the action group af- ter High Court and Supreme Court victories in 1995 and 1996. In April 1998, the Supreme Court finally paved the way for construction of the mast. The Government agreed that special legislation would have to go before the Oire- achtas, but never moved to enact such legisla- tion. Ownership of the mast was transferred to France in April this year, with the agreement of the Netherlands.

Asked why the Government withdrew from the agreement governing Loran C, a Depart- ment spokesman said: “NELS failed to inter- est the EU in using Loran-C as an augmen- tation system to Galileo, aimed at reducing dependence on GPS. The project has also been hampered by the failure to mass-produce a low cost receiver.

“This placed the whole future of Loran C in doubt and all work on an Irish mast was suspended. A review of Ireland’s marine radio navigation policy was undertaken in Decem- ber 2002. This showed no overwhelming sup- port for Loran C among maritime users. Fol- lowing a Government decision in September 2004, Ireland denounced the agreement”.

He added that future use of the land will be decided upon after a six month winding up ere lorem

A DUBLIN man has been cleared of lar- ceny and burglary charges in east Clare, at Ennis Circuit Court.

Stephen Russell, of 25 Knockmore Grove, Tallaght, Dublin 24, had pleaded not guilty to three counts of larceny and one count of burglary, at various locations in Scariff and Mountshannon.

It was alleged he stole a car, valued at £8,000, at Ballyminogue, Scarrif; a Mo- torola mobile phone, valued at £129, at Mid- dleline, Mountshannon, and a Fujitsu laptop computer, valued at £1,600, at Mountshan- non, on August 25, 2000.

He had also been charged with entering Long’s shop, Main Street, Scariff, as a tres-

passer and stealing £4,150 in cash; ciga- rettes, cigars and tobacco worth £8,300 and telephone call cards valued at £1,000, on August 29, 2000.

Witness Eamon Long told the jury he was the proprietor of Long’s supermarket/news- agents at the time of the alleged incident. The shop was on the ground floor, with the living quarters overhead.

At around 7.30am, he said his son called him and he went downstairs. The storeroom door had been burst open and all the ciga- rettes in the shop and store were gone, along with cash and telephone cards.

After hearing lengthy legal argument over a number of days, Judge Con Murphy di- rected the jury that the accused be found not guilty.

ALMOST half of the 500 workers at Shannon Airport have been told that they must take voluntary redundancy, or the airport will have no future.

Currently, Shannon workers are con- sidering the most swingeing cuts in the airport’s 60-year history, in order that Shannon doesn’t accumulate losses of €137 million over the next 10 years.

A ‘survival plan’ circulated to workers by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), states that the current situation is “unsus- tainable’ and that “this serious underly- ing financial crisis is untenable to both management of Shannon and the DAA’.

But SIPTU representatives say that plans to outsource many of the jobs at the airport are ‘not a runner in this en- abKoyenee oss

SIPTU’s Tony Kenny said that the un-

ion views plans to outsource catering entirely and other jobs in security and maintenance as ‘comparable to the Irish Ferries situation.’

Nor is the union willing to bend to a deadline of having negotiations conclud- ed by November 16. “Any deadline is a company deadline. All negotiations will be through the trade union and we will be going to third party intervention if that is what is needed,’ said Kenny.

In the €10 million redundancy plan, long service workers stand to secure pay-offs of up to €100,000.

Airport sources have revealed that all but a handful of workers boycotted management briefings on the matter and workers in one department returned the plan to management in a cardboard box.

The document, ‘Programme for Com- mercial Viability Shannon Aijrport’, states that Shannon Airport is on course to make a profit of €3 million this year,

but only because of US military traffic.

It states that in the preceding three years, Shannon made an accumulated loss of €9.3 million. By 2014, the air- port will have an accumulated loss of €137 million, which excludes interest on existing debt. Some €85 million will be needed on capital expenditure over the next ten years.

It states Shannon must generate new traffic stream; have flexibility on work practices and non-core activities and rig- orous management of costs.

The severance package will only be available if the measures can be agreed and substantially implemented by year end.

Tony Kenny said that the “DAA is proposing to outsource functions from profitable areas of the airport, which is nonsensical.”

CONCERN has been ex- pressed over a move by Clare County Council to rezone an estimated 300 acres of land for commercial development on the outskirts of Ennis that contains EU-protected habi- tats.

In adopting the Ennis and Environs Development Plan, the council along with Ennis Town Council re-zoned land in the Doora area for commer- cial development that gener- ated massive windfalls for the owners of the lands in ques- alone

However, the lands which are subject of the re-zonings are designated as areas of eco- logical constraint in the pub- lished Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the €190 million Ennis by-pass.

The lands contain protected fen and also the Marsh Fritil- lary and the Frog bit plants that are also a protected spe- alae

Asked if the Council had the all the facts in relation to the lands when they were re- zoned, the council’s Director for Planning, Mr Liam Con- neally said: “the zoning of land is based upon balancing information as to development needs and environmental im- pacts.

“At the time of the adoption of zoning in the Ennis and Environs Development Plan the information available to the Planning Authorities was relied upon to determine the appropriate zoning of land. At all stages of making the Plan Duchas were informed.

“All land constitutes some type of habitat and the impor- tance of that habitat at a local

regional or national level is only known where sufficient survey and analysis has taken ee leror

“The National Fen Survey carried out by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2001 did not make a detailed assessment of the Doora area and any information concern- ing any potential habitat value that existed was therefore not available.

“The Development Plan is constantly monitored and re- viewed and where necessary variations to the Development Plan will be carried out.

“The body now responsible for the protection of nation- ally important habitats is the National Parks and Wildlife Service and any recommenda- tions made by them regarding the conservation of key habi- tats will be taken into account in monitoring the Plan.

“All applications for devel- Opment are assessed on their own merits and the character and landscape of a site is a material consideration in that OC e

However, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) has expressed concern over the rezonings.

He said: “it doesn’t appear that due consideration was given to the lands being areas of ecological constraint and questions still have to be an- swered concerning the rezon- ing.

“The uncertainty over the issue would not have arisen if the new Strategic Environ- mental Assessment Directive was in place at that time which would have investigated in a much more comprehensive way the presence of these pro- tected habitats in the lands in e] erie eye mae

Speeding is on the increase in the En- nis area.

Figures obtained by Fine Gael TD Pat Breen from the Ennis gardai show that speeding offence detection rates have increased dramatically, while more than 100 summonses for loud exhausts have been issued by the Gardai in the

Ennis area.

According to Ennis gardai “a large number of these boy racers have been checked by the gardai. The number of Fixed Charge Notices issues by gardai for speeding offences is over 400 more than for the same period last year”.

Deputy Breen requested to see the fig- ures, after receiving a number of com- plaints from residents in Darragh about

people racing cars on the wide stretch of road at Darragh, on the Kilrush road. Residents also expressed concern that not enough speed traps were in opera- tion on the road.

“The gardai have informed me that speed checks are carried out in the area on a regular basis by both the Division- al Traffic Corps and the District Patrol CFT

THE major new book commemorating the life of Gort’s most celebrated daughter, Lady Augusta Gregory, was launched last week in the Limerick City Library.

‘Lady Gregory: an Irish Life’ is written by Limerick scholar Judith Hill and is an attempt to look beyond the great name of Lady Augusta Gregory, and examine the woman in the context of her time and what surrounded her.

Although she gained her reputation as a patron, playwright and campaigner, behind the fame Lady Gregory was a wife, moth- er, lover, friend, confidante, ally and the chatelaine of Coole Park.

Long overshadowed by the writers she influenced and with whom she collaborated Lady Gregory was also the co-founder of

the Abbey Theatre and a key figure of the Irish Literary Revival.

She herself wrote 42 plays, a well as a bi- ography and countless essays, poems and journals. She was also a celebrated transla- tor of Irish legends.

In this book Judith Hill attempts to get behind the image of a stiff and unapproach- able aristocrat and reveal a woman whose qualities would mark her out in any age; a woman of intelligence, carefully concealed ambition, great passion and vulnerability.

Judith Hill is an architectural historian and writer.

She has written two previous books; “The Building of Limerick’ and ‘Irish Public Sculpture: A History.’

‘Lady Gregory: an Irish Life’ is available in hardback from Sutton Books at a cost of €30.

CALLS have been made to An Post to re-es- tablish its regional sorting office in Ennis, amid claims that the service is descending into chaos.

Business leaders have backed a call from Deputy Pat Breen (FG) for An Post to revert to sorting Clare post in Ennis.

“It is costing businesses in terms of time and money,’ said Ennis Chamber of Commerce, CEO, Rita McInerney.

‘Business people have to follow up on letters when they once could have taken it for granted

that there would be delivery the following day. And there is the expense of having to register or Swiftpost documents on tight deadlines.”

Ms McInerney said that while it is “under- standable from an economic viewpoint that An Post would want to send as much post as possi- ble to Cork, because of the expense involved in the machines they have installed there, it could have been done gradually.

“If we at least had the Clare post sorted in En- nis, it would ensure local post would arrive on time. Then later, when the problems have been sorted out, we could send Clare post down.”

Deputy Pat Breen this week called on An Post

to move the sorting operation back to Ennis.

“With Christmas postings just around the corner, it 1s difficult to see how the current, chaotic system could be expected to cope with the increased volumes,” said the Fine Gael Drea

“It 1s quite clear to me that the new sorting arrangement has failed and is failing the people of Clare. Businesses and homeowners across the county can no longer rely on their postal service, with some letters arriving more than 48 hours after being posted.

On many days in recent weeks, 10,000 let- ters have been left undelivered the next day, be-

cause they could not be taken to Cork in time for sorting.”

Deputy Breen said there had been a tried and trusted local sorting arrangement in place that worked efficiently, but that now doctors could no longer trust the system for sending blood samples, business people could no longer rely on it when making tax returns close to deadline and holidaymakers were “entering a lottery if booking online close to their travel date.

“That system served the region well and if it has to be dismantled in the name of efficiency, the least we can expect is delivery rates remain- ing the same, not a disimprovement.”