Author: admin

AS MANY as 2,830 Clare students will sit state exams this week.

A total of 1,313 Clare teenagers and some more mature students have registered to sit the Leaving Cert exam.

Thirty one more girls than boys will take part in this final state secondary school exam in Clare, as 667 females are officially registers and 646 males.

Another 76 students from the county have already sat year long as- sessments and completed projects as part of the Leaving Cert Applied. As many as 47 boys have taken part in this exam compared to 29 girls in the county.

Another 1,441 Clare students will sit their first ever state exam this week, as 690 girls are signed up to sit the Junior Certificate exam and 751 boys. The number of male participants in the Junior Cert outweighs the female students, while the opposite is the case in the Leaving Cert.

Nationally for the 2013 examinations, 53,749 candidates are entered for the Leaving Certificate examination,

2,853 candidates for the final year examinations in the Leaving Certificate Applied and 60,243 candidates for the Junior Certificate examination.

And for those students who like to torture themselves by pouring over the exam they have just completed or for eager fifth and second year students, this year all written examination papers will be published on the state exam website on the evening that the examination is completed.

Leaving Certificate will only have to wait until Wednesday, August 14, to learn their fate, as the results will be available from 12 noon on that day for Leaving Certificate candidates.

Junior Certificate results will be issued in mid-September and the online results service will be available from 4pm on that day for Junior Certificate candidates.

Some spiritual intervention is also being offered around the county on the morning of the first exam, with a special Mass taking place in Churches like St Senan’s in Kilrush.

IT IS hoped that a new directory featuring information on a range of services available to homeless people in Clare, will help to prevent the death of another person on the county’s streets and combat the growing number of people forced “to live rough”.

Josef Pavelka died on the streets of Ennis last month having come to public attention for sleeping in the county town’s public toilets.

The Clare Homelessness Alliance (CHA), which was launched in early 2012, is now making available a directory of services, while also launching a five-year action plan to combat homelessness in Clare.

The new Directory of Services has been produced by CHA member agencies including the Society of St Vincent de Paul, HSE, the Department of Social Protection, Clarecare, An Garda Síochána, Mid-West Simon Community, Clare Probation Services, Clare Haven Services, Clare County Council, and Kilrush and Ennis Town Councils, and is available from any of these organisations.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy, Chair of Clare County Council’s Housing and Cultural Services SPC (Strategic Policy Committee), said that homelessness in the county has been on the increase in recent years.

“The plight of the homeless and the need to ensure that every effort is made to redress the problem was highlighted in recent weeks as a result of the tragic death of a homeless person in Ennis,” she said.

“The agencies involved in providing services for homeless persons came together last year as they recognised the growing need to address the issue of homelessness in a coherent manner. The directory is the initial outcome of this coordinated approach and sets out information in relation to services and supports available to homeless persons, including necessary contact details.

“During the next month, the CHA will be publishing its Draft five-year action plan to deliver on the objectives of the mid-west regional homelessness action plan 2013-2018. The CHA will continue to provide a forum for the sharing of information and development of awareness of issues and services impacting on the homeless. Its members will also promote best practice in service delivery and provides essential links between services providers,” Ms McCarthy added.

THE office of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) says an investigation into the placement of a CCTV camera in a classroom of a Clare school is continuing.

The school installed the CCTV system recently and within days of their installation a complaint was received by the DPC.

The DPC asked the school to turn off the cameras pending the comple- tion of the investigation. The Clare People understands that the school have been in contact with the office of the DPC and urged them to reinstate the CCTV. The school’s Board of Management are dealing with the issue, it is understood.

A spokesperson for the DPC said the office could not comment on details of the investigation other than to say it is ongoing.

Within the complaint it is alleged that the school in question installed the CCTV cameras in classrooms without consulting parents of children in the school.

In a letter sent by the senior compliance officer of the DPC to the Chairperson of the Board of Management of the school, which has been seen by The Clare People , the officer stated the DPC “will not tolerate the use of CCTV cameras in the classroom”.

The letter stated that an investigation of the complaint is underway.

“The position of this office is that is it is not acceptable under the Data Protection Acts of 1988 and 2003, to have a CCTV camera operating in a classroom,” the compliance officer wrote.

The DPC asked the school to clarify four points as regards the CCTV cameras, namely the scope of the operation, why cameras were installed, what the school are doing with footage captured by the cameras and if there is any signage in the school outlining the purpose of the cameras.

The letter does not identify the complainant who brought the matter to the attention of the DPC.

AND SO it begins. Since Phil Hogan announced a new structure to local government there has been a cold war of sorts over the local elections next summer.

The town councils were going to be dissolved, so there were potentially 36 new candidates with experience of elections already circling the county council seats.

It was also known that those county council seats would be fewer in number, the only question was by how much.

All was to be revealed in May, and on the second last day of the month all became clear.

There would be four constituencies or Local Electoral Areas in Clare as opposed to the six that are currently in place. The areas, particularly two, would be larger with fewer councillors to serve them as the county council membership is to be cut from 32 to 28 after the 2014 local election.

In total the number of local elected representatives in the county will drop from 68 (including town councillors) to 28. That is 40 elected representatives that will retire between now and next summer, or risk swimming in a much bigger shark infested pond.

Those overseeing the next election for the major parties know they have a busy few weeks ahead, but all agree that at least now they know what they are dealing with in terms of the boundary.

The “war” can begin – and nowhere is that more fierce than the battles within political parties.

Ask anyone in the world of politics, the most difficult part is not the election, but the selection process to make it on to a party ticket.

As well as the young guns already signing up and showing an interest, and other councillors changing party allegiances, the incumbents will also be concerned about the impact their party colleagues decision to re-run will have on their own chances of reelection.

There are significantly less seats, and this is even more of a concern when you include eager and in many cases accomplished town councillors in the race.

There will be a lot of soul searching during the coming weeks and months as councillors decide if there is a place for them in their newly-designed electoral area, and if a move to a new one would increase there chances of survival.

When surveyed by The Clare People in February, the majority of county councillors said they would contest the next election.

I would suspect there will be a number of minds changing with the changes to the boundary in the coming weeks, and the reality that two thirds of the town councillors have expressed an interest in the 2014 contest.

The major parties must now decid- ed strategies. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have admitted that they will be drawing up strategic plans as soon as possible.

Conventions will need to be held soon, but a long summer ahead will probably postpone the majority until September at the earliest.

The independent candidates will also have a lot of soul searching to do. In many cases the area to canvass has become significantly larger, and the people behind the doors are no longer neighbours and friends. The added financial cost of this election must also be a consideration for independents as they have more area to cover and people to connect with.

Whatever decisions are made by councillors and potential candidates, there will be some interesting times ahead for political anoraks.

Let the 2014 games begin.

A TWO-tier property market has emerged in Clare over the last five years as demand for properties in urban centres such as Ennis and Shannon far outstripping rural areas.

According to figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 22 per cent of the houses in Clare are currently unoccupied – one of the highest of any county in Ireland.

Clare spokesperson for the Respond housing charity, Paul Hargaden, believes that the recession has created a two-tier property sector in Clare.

“The situation is very different depending on where you are. People might not realise this but there is a demand for houses to be built in places like Ennis at the moment,” he said.

“In other areas there are lots of empty houses that nobody wants and it is hard to see that they will ever be a demand for all of these. The majority of these properties are buy-to-lets or holiday homes in rural parts of the county.

“There is a demand for houses which are located close to where the jobs are located. There is need to build new houses in these areas and there is also a need for more social housing and local authority housing in places like Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush. There is basically a two-tiered housing system at work in Clare at the moment.”

A growing number of Clare families are also struggling to pay their mortgage and Respond are calling for a revamped mortgage-to-rent scheme to save Clare people in arrears.

“We are also seeing a lot of people in Clare who need help and support in maintaining their mortgages. It is a growing problem and it needs to be tackled by the banks and the Government,” continued Mr Hargaden.

“There is virtually no successful claims coming through the current scheme and something needs to be done to address that because people are in over their heads.”

The construction industry in the county has been the hardest hit as a result of the recession with a massive 87 per cent drop in the number house completions between 2005 and 2007.

THE new West Clare area will be the largest local election constituency in the county, almost mimicking in size a small county such as Louth.

The eight new councillors will represent 34,449 people spanning an area from Kilballyowen on the tip of the Loophead peninsula to Gleninagh on the constituency’s most northerly point.

The 96 kilometre-long local electoral area was designed by merging the current Kilrush area and part of the Ennistymon Electoral Area.

This new area will also absorb not one, but two, town councils, Kilrush and Kilkee – coastal towns with very distinctive identities who looked af- ter their own needs for more than 120 years.

In its report the Boundary Committee said, “It is proposed that there would be a local electoral area covering the western side of the county along the Atlantic seaboard to be titled West Clare. This would include the towns of Kilkee, Kilrush, Lahinch and Ennistymon.” Despite having a number of urban centres to base the name of this new constituency on, as it the preferred option, West Clare like West Mayo and Cork is unique.

“In a few cases the committee felt it more appropriate to recommend names that reflect a wider local community identity attaching to a geographic location. This situation arose, for example, in the case of the recommended new local electoral areas of West Clare, West Cork and West Mayo.”

It is hoped that this all encompassing name will merge all these very cultural distinctive areas, which have been traditionally considered North and West Clare.

To cover this vast area the eight new councillors will require a quick study of new towns, villages and parishes and a reliable car.

Each councillor will represent an average of 4,306 people. WEST CLARE

THE Irish Cancer Society received just 103 enquiries from Clare last year – that is just .3 per cent of the 28,383 calls being taken nationally.

A spokesperson for the charity said it is hoped that with more awareness even more people with the disease will contact the organisation in the coming year if they need assistance.

With less than half a percent of the calls to the society coming from Clare it is one of the lowest in the country.

However local grown organisations, such as the West Clare Mini Marathon Centre, which is not affiliated with the Irish Cancer Society, is busy providing transport to an from hospital for patients and holistic and psychological support to patients and their families.

In the last month the Irish Cancer Society also announced that it would be providing transport for cancer patients in Clare to and from the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for treatment.

Other Irish Cancer Society services available to Clare patients include the National Cancer Helpline, which is staffed by specialist cancer nurses; and the Society’s Night Nursing service, which provides care to cancer patients in their last days of life so they can stay at home with their families.

During 2012 the society’s night nurses cared for 1,818 patients, providing 7,350 nights of care. 167 nights of care were provided to cancer patients in Clare.

Financial aid is also available to cancer patients suffering financial hardship as a result of their diagnosis. During 2012 financial aid to the value of € 1,047,461 was provided to 1,753 cancer patients across the country. € 24, 530 worth of financial aid was given to cancer patients in Clare.

The society thanked all those in Clare who supported Daffodil Day 2013, which helps to fund such services.

The charity said however that the bad weather impacted severely on fundraising this year, with funding down 50 per cent.

An emergency appeal was launched to re-coup the shortfall and appeal to those that could not donate as usual due to the weather. The appeal saw just fewer than 30,000 people donate following Daffodil Day, with donations being made online, by phone and by text. The response to the appeal saw the initial shortfall recover to within 20 per cent of the original target.

The society is now encouraging everyone who participated in this year’s Daffodil Day campaign to bank their funds as soon as possible.

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) were yesterday accused of “giving the finger” to Clare County Council and the people of North Clare because of its continued refusal to provide funding for a pedestrian crossing at Inagh.

The construction of the pedestrian crossing on the Miltown Malbay road in Inagh has been identified as the top local roads priority by Clare County Council in recent years but the NRA has not yet seen fit to provide funding for its construction.

The Miltown Malbay road currently divides the village of Inagh, with a large amount of community facilities – including a number of resources for young people – located at either sides of the roads.

“I am absolutely amazed the NRA cannot regard this pedestrian crossing as a priority. This is a national secondary route. There are huge volumes of traffic on this road and there and there is a massive numbers of people crossing that road every day,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FG).

“Someone from the NRA needs to come down and have a look at this road.”

Lahinch-based Cllr Slattery (FG) pointed out that this issue has been raised by councillors on four separate occasions in recent years and on each occasions councillors received an identical response from the local authority.

“I received the reply I in January of 2012, Richard [Nagle] got in again in July 2012. We have received the same reply to this on four different occasions and that is not acceptable,” he said.

“People are coming to us with genuine issues regarding this road. What is the point of us putting in these motions and getting the standard response again and again. I know it’s not your fault [Clare County Council] but the National Roads Authority seem to be giving all of us the finger in relation to this road.”

In a response to the motion, local engineer Stephen Lahiff described the crossing as “vital” to the ongoing safety of people using the village.

THE owner of the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis says he expects the business to be fully back in action by Wednesday evening. A temporary closure was needed on Thursday last when a pipe was cracked during refurbishment work. A limited food menu is still available at the Old Ground while bar and accommodation services are running as normal.

In a statement, the hotel said an issue was identified with part of the drainage system of the hotel following a recent refurbishment of the ladies bathrooms.

The statement added, “As a precau- tionary measure, the hotel has taken the decision to temporarily close our main kitchen and we are working in conjunction with our local health authorities towards a speedy resolution of the problem.”

The hotel also apologized to customers for any inconvenience caused. The Old Ground Hotel employs 126 people.

Speaking yesterday, hotel owner Allen Flynn thanked the community and local businesses for the “avalanche of support” given to the hotel in recent days.

Mr Flynn said, “The industry that we are in is in very difficult times at the minute and to have this problem occur just coming into summer isn’t easy. But I suppose if anything has come out of it, it is truly the support of the local community and businesses since the problem arose.

“Truly we have received an avalanche of support from what I would have called competitors – I now call them friends – The Temple Gate Hotel, the Madden Family, Dromoland and especially St Flannan’s College who were more than willing to provide us with kitchen facilities over the weekend.

“They said they were willing to help somebody who does an extra special job of creating as much local employment as possible. It’s great to see support like that coming back to the hotel.”

He added, “We were doing a refurbishment of our ladies bathroom here. We were trying to solve a water issue that we had, we actually ended up cracking pipes underneath and that caused a problem with our drainage. Our drainage experts are back in with us and we’re trying to get all that sorted.”

Mr Flynn said, “At the moment we have a limited menu for food but the bar and accommodation is still running as normal.

“It was wonderful to see again over the weekend the atmosphere that could only be created in a place like Ennis with the Fleadh, with setdancing in the lobby until the wee hours.”

NORTH Clare is set to become the world’s biggest film set in 2014 with two massive Hollywood blockbusters – with a combined budget of more than € 200 million – likely to film in the Burren.

The team behind the new Star Wars film are currently in discussion with the Irish Film Board (IFB) about filming in Ireland with the Burren mentioned as a possible site while it was confirmed over the weekend that a € 80 million on the life of Brian Boru will be shot in-part at the Cliffs of Moher.

The biopic, which is based on the graphic novel ‘Freedom within the Heart’ confirmed that some battle scenes will be shot at the Cliffs – but no other location has yet been confirmed. The bulk of filming could take place at Brian Boru’s traditional stronghold at Killaloe.

Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience, Katherine Webster, said that the film could be a major boost for the North Clare Tourism.

“We would love to see parts of the Boru movie shot at the Cliffs of Moher and we know from experience how movie locations can help promote a tourism destination,” she said.

“We see the positive effect from a promotional perspective of the Cliffs being a location for Hollywood movies like ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ and ‘The Princess Bride’ as well as Irishmade movies like ‘Into the West’ and ‘Hear My Song’. Hopeful the Boru movie will be the next big blockbuster to be filmed in County Clare.”

Meanwhile, Star Wars director JJ Abrams is currently in negotiations with the Irish Film Board about bringing some filming for the new Star Wars film to Ireland.

Abrams, who wife Katie McGrath is of Irish descent, spend a holiday along the Irish coast in 2011. The couple spent time in North Clare, as well as Donegal and Sligo and it is understood that these three areas are in a possible short-list for filming.

“The Irish Film Board, working with Trina Vargo of the US-Ireland Alliance, has been in discussions with JJ Abrams and his team at Bad Robot about filming a number of projects on their slate in the Republic of Ireland,” said IFM chief executive, James Hickey.

“We have provided them with briefings about Ireland’s tax incentive Section 481, our accessible locations, world-class crew and production companies.”

It is understood that original Star Wars cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher will have roles in the new film.